HW#2 Problem 3 - Professor is Kate Hyunn PDF

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Professor is Kate Hyunn...

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Problem 3 – Advanced Data Collection Methods (Word Count – 476) Over the years, new and advanced technologies are revolutionizing how we collect and process data on all fronts. Many of those technologies includes GPS devices, smartphones, Bluetooth, Internet, and much more. For this essay, two alternative data collection methods in GPS devices and smartphones will be compared to the conventional travel diary data method. The first conventional travel surveys in United States began in 1950 and where conducted through paper and pencil by interviewing households door-to-door. Then in 1970s, surveys were interviewed by telephone but still a paper and pencil interview. This method of survey is costly compared to GPS devices and smartphones that could also be done in a fraction of a time with more available, accurate, and unbiased data. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite based positional system that achieved full operational capacity in 1995. This data collection method was done by providing a GPS device in a person’s vehicle or wearable devices that would continuously record trip to trip geographic data using the satellite system. In comparison to conventional travel surveys, research has found that data obtained from GPS has differed greatly in distances and durations in a positive way. Results in GPS data has also shown that they are effective in capturing travel behavior details for specific population sub-groups especially young adults in what was considered at the time elusive. However, it also had a unintentional bias against lowincome and less-educated population sub-groups. For wearable technology devices, they would typically ask the households to wear the device for 3 days or whatever the desired time frames to collect data on their trips. The data provided by GPS enabled transportation planners to model objective measures of trip rates, trip distances, trip times. Data could also model networks, congested areas, intelligent transportation systems, route choice, activity space analysis, and so much more. Smartphones are becoming more and more popular as the primary means of data collection. In todays world, just about everybody in the United States as a smartphone including kids. This provides an enormous economical, diverse, and amount of data collection benefits. With the rise of cellular and WiFi, the data can be transmitted and collected at the same time providing real-time information in which conventional and GPS travel surveys would not be able to do alone. The downside is that we would be receiving a huge load of information that it would require a centralized location or hub to store and process the data. This would mean more energy consumption, cost and privacy issues. Overall, we can see that these new technologies provide an enormous benefit over the conventional method in providing more accurate, available, economical, demographic, geographic, and diverse data. Smartphones are the next new thing after GPS that will dominate the world in our primary means of data collection.

Works Cited Sudeshna, Sen, and Bricka Stacey. “Data Collection Technologies – Past, Present, and Future.” iatbr2009.asu.edu/ocs/custom/resource/W7_R1_Data Collection Technologies Past Present and Future.pdf....