Development of a Post-Processing Automation Procedure for the GPS-Based Travel Time Data Collection Technique

Abstract

The travel time data collection method is used to assist the congestion management. The use of traditional sensors (e.g. inductive loops, AVI sensors) or more recent Bluetooth sensors installed on major roads for collecting data is not sufficient because of their limited coverage and expensive costs for installation and maintenance. Application of the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) in travel time and delay data collections is proven to be efficient in terms of accuracy, level of details for the data and required data collection of man-power. While data collection automation is improved by the GPS technique, human errors can easily find their way through the post-processing phase, and therefore data post-processing remains a challenge especially in case of big projects with high amount of data. This paper introduces a stand-alone post-processing tool called GPS Calculator, which provides an easy-to-use environment to carry out data post - processing. This is a Visual Basic application that processes the data files obtained in the field and integrates them into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for analysis and representation. The results show that this tool obtains similar results to the currently used data post-processing method, reduces the post-processing effort, and also eliminates the need for the second person during the data collectio n.