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      Traffic Volume Data (Range Data)

      A summary of Urban SDK's Traffic Volume Range Data specification.

      Traffic_Volume-2

      1.0 Introduction

      Traffic Volume metrics are calculated based on Urban SDK's Traffic Volume model and quantify the number of vehicles that travel along a segment of road. The data is processed to calculate the following metrics:

      • Traffic Volume (AADT range)
      • Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT range)

      2.0 Methodology

      Data Collection

      Urban SDK leverages data inputs from public Permanent Count Stations (PCS) as well as Location-Based Services (LBS) data to develop a model to estimate a single value traffic volume (AADT), rounded to the nearest 100th, on every segment of road.

      Data Processing

      Urban SDK develops and maintains its own Traffic Volume model to estimate AADT. The model takes inspiration from FHWA's AADT methodology, however while FHWA uses simple equations, weights, or regression models, Urban SDK uses more complex statistical models and machine learning. This offers the ability iterate, learn, improve, and expedite predictive AADT outputs. This is an iterative approach that strives to produce the lowest mean average deviation (MAD) for factored AADT.

      AADT_model_graphic

      Traffic Volume (AADT Range)

      Traffic Volume quantifies the estimated Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) volume along a segment of road. This is a daily value provided annually as a sum of traffic along the road.

      The data uses the following rounding rules to output the single value:

      Volume Range Rounding Applied
      0-1,999 Rounded to the nearest 100
      2,000-9,999 Rounded to the nearest 500
      10,000-29,999 Rounded to the nearest 1,000
      30,000+ Rounded to the nearest 5,000

      💡Tip: The AADT model developed for estimating Traffic Volume leverages machine learning to improve and enhance the accuracy of results based on new traffic counts and features that are continuously adjusted by Urban SDK's data scientists to reduce the Mean Average Error (MAE) of output results.

      Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT Range)

      Vehicle Miles Travelled quantifies the estimated upper and lower range of annual vehicle miles travelled along a segment of road. This is an annual value provided as a sum of miles travelled.

      • Vehicle Miles Travelled: The Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) is multiplied by the road segment length and the product is multiplied by 365 days.

      Vehicle Miles Travelled = AADT * (Road Segment Length) * 356 Days

      The following bins are used to represent annual VMT ranges within the data specification:

      bin_id bin_name
      1 1 - 14,999 miles
      2 15,000 - 22,499 miles
      3 22,500 - 29,999 miles
      4 30,000 - 37,499 miles
      5 37,500 - 44,999 miles
      6 45,000 - 54,999 miles
      7 55,000 - 64,999 miles
      8 65,000 - 79,999 miles
      9 80,000 - 99,999 miles
      10 100,000 - 149,999 miles
      11 150,000 - 249,999 miles
      12 250,000 - 499,999 miles
      13  500,000+ miles

      3.0 Data Specification

      Metadata Fields

      Metadata fields that are provided for all data are detailed in Urban SDK's Linear Referencing System (LRS) specification.

      Data Fields

      The following table is the format in which downloaded Traffic Volume data will be provided:

      Field Type Description
      year integer The year associated with the provided data.
      data_value string

      Identifies which data is provided:

      • Traffic Volume; or
      • Vehicle Miles Travelled
      bin_id integer ID for the Traffic Volume and VMT bins used to categorize data.
      bin_name string String that concatenates the lower and upper data values as one string (i.e. "2,000-4,999")
      bin_lower integer Lower numeric value of the data bin.
      bin_upper integer Upper numeric value of the data bin.

      💡Tip: The nature of developing a model to estimate Traffic Volume results in a range of accuracy. For convenience a lower and upper range for volume and VMT values are provided for added context on the expected range of activity that is estimated along a segment of road.