3vivekb
commented
6 years ago Is My San Jose collecting location data outside of where there are issues?
Honestly I think a more nuanced use of agent based modeling + Census/ACS or other OD data sources might be more useful to solve VMT calculation problems. You and the modeling team at the VTA should have a discussion.
There will be more interesting and useful traffic data collection going on with https://mapzen.com/blog/announcing-open-traffic/ but that will take a little bit. Not sure if large patterns will be stored.
Obtaining accurate source and destination travel information for the travel plans of its citizens is always a challenge for the San Jose Department of Transportation. Understanding traffic flows becomes especially important as the city moves from a Level of Service to a Vehicle Miles Traveled paradigm.
One way to understand the traffic patterns would be to aggregate location data obtained from the "My San Jose" app. Implicit in this approach is the app would have to gather location data in the background. As importantly, user privacy would have to be ensured and that only aggregate data would be available to the D.O.T. Additionally, maybe there could be monthly prizes awarded (instead of paying for the manual cord measurement, it could go towards prizes).
Further, it would probably make sense to make this an extra opt-in. For instance, there might be some sort of messaging and additional opt-in after the app is downloaded that would say something like,
"To provide a real-time understanding of traffic flows in San Jose, please opt-in for this feature, so that, like other popular apps do already, your location data may be aggregated with other citizens of San Jose. The difference is that, instead of you being the currency like popular social media apps, this data will not be sold or used to sell things to you. But the aggregated data collected from you and your fellow citizens will be invaluable in helping the Department of Transportation better plan for the movement of vehicles and people. And, instead of spending the money on out-dated ways of measuring traffic in non-real-time traffic, some of that money will be provided in the form of monthly prizes. With this app feature, it really pays to be a good citizen."