CE 457

Urban Transportation
Planning and Management

Transport Data - Time and Space

By Dr. Md. Hadiuzzman, Professor, Dept. of CE, BUET
Transport Data - Time and Space
 Types of data
 Aggregated
 Disaggregated

 Data collection
 Sampling vs population
 Sampling approaches

 Space
 Zoning systems
 Networks
Data
 Travel is a phenomenon that takes place in time
and space
 Where travel will take place
 When travel will take place

 Travel Data
 Disaggregate - Data is always collected at this level
 Aggregate - Data is often reported at this level

 How do we prepare/plan for this phenomenon?

Transport Data
 Travelers
 People and their demographic profile
 Age
 Level of education
 …
 Place of residence
 Place of work, recreation, shopping

 Data can be reported at the individual, household or

zonal level
Transport Data
 Travel
 Flows of people, goods, etc. (OD matrices)
 Attributes of the flows
 Size
 Time
 Cost
 …

 Data can be reported at the individual, household or

zonal level
Transport Data
 Built environment
 Land use inventories
 Residential zones
 Housing density
 Commercial and industrial zones
 Parking spaces
 …

 Data can be reported at the individual, household or

zonal level
Transport Data
 Transport infrastructure
 Networks
 Attributes of the networks
 Capacity
 Level of service
 Bus stops, metro/train stations
 …

 Simplified or complete networks

Transport Data - Space
Space - Zoning Systems
 Study region is typically divided into traffic
analysis zones (TAZ)
 Originally, computing constraints (250 zones – matrix
is 62,500 cells)
 Contemporary applications use typically 1,000-2,000
but sometimes as many as 5,000 zones
Zoning Systems - Example
Zoning Systems
 Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP)
 Many models are sensitive to changes in the
definition of the zoning system

 Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

 Zoning system design
 Data pre-processing, processing, analysis functions
 Non-zone-based analysis
 Zones may still be required for data display purposes
Zoning Systems
Columbus, Ohio

Space-Time Path

Mei-Po Kwan
3-D GIS gallery
at Ohio State
University
Zoning Systems
Portland, Oregon

Space-Time
Paths, African-
American Women

Mei-Po Kwan
3-D GIS gallery
at Ohio State
University
Space - Networks
 Transportation Networks
 Supply side of the transportation system:
 what the system offers to satisfy movement needs of travelers

 Different levels of aggregation

 No specific links
 In a GIS, a line layer with “nodes” (points) and “links” (lines)

 Uni-modal, multi-modal, inter-modal

Networks
 Attributes
 Links
 Capacity
 Length
 Nodes
 Transfer costs
 Turn rules
Networks
 Transit networks
 There is not an established relationship between
capacity and travel time
 Different operation speeds (e.g. express, limited
express, local service)
 Realistic representation of common maneuvers (short
turns, loops, etc.)
Sampling Transport Data
in Time and Space
Definitions
 Population of interest

The complete group

about which information
is being sought

Population
Definitions
 Sample

A collection of units that

has been especially
selected to represent a
larger population with
certain attributes of
interest

Population
Sample
Sampling
 Sample size Trade-offs

 Cost – A Large sample

size is more reliable but
also more expensive

 Accuracy – Small
sample size is cheaper
but may be subject to
unacceptably high
variability
Sampling
In most cases, population is large and it is impractical as
well as costly (time, money) to study all people.

We limit our study to a subset of the population; this

smaller group is called the sample.

Population Sampling Procedure Sample

Probability Sampling Methods
• Probability sampling refers to a number of strategies used
to choose a sample

• Every person has a fixed and known probability of being

selected to be part of the sample

• Sampling methods allow for:

1. Generalization of the results from the sample to the

population

2. Estimation of error that could be expected from these

estimates
Random Sampling
It is the basic selection process, and all other procedures can be viewed as
modifications.
Each individual has the same probability of being selected in the sample.

* Step 1:
An identifier (number) is associated
to each unit/individual in the
population

* Step 2:
Selection of numbers randomly to
obtain the sample

Population Random sample

Simple Random Sampling
 Truly random
 Pseudo-random
o Look-up tables
o Recursive mathematical equations
 Stratified Random Sampling
* Stratification denotes selection from several subpopulations, called strata, into
which the population is divided.

* Step 1: Information is required only regarding stratum/class (e.g., car

ownership level, income class, number of household members, etc.).

* Step 2: Random sampling is conducted within each stratum

! With stratified
$0 – $10,000 R sampling,
$10,001 – $20,000 R minorities can
$20,001 – $30,000
R be identified
and stratified
> $100,000 R
Random
Population Selection Sample
Procedures
 Stratified Random Sampling
* Stratify by Family Size:
Family No. of
Size households No. of trips

1 9000 1058 Example: Random sampling of

2 1451 2450 households with size one (1)
3 1580 5048
4 or more 745 1500

* Stratify by Family Size and Auto Ownership Level:

Auto Ownership Level

0 1 2

Family No. of No. of No. of

No. of No. of
househol househol househol No. of trips
Size trips trips
ds ds ds
1
100 250 450 500 200 300

2
150 250 1121 1500 350 450

3 or
more 180 1500 1002 2000 230 500
 Choice-based Sampling
The population is stratified based on the result of a choice process under
consideration (mode choice: car, metro, etc.).
* Main Disadvantage
The sample may not be random and
therefore there might be risk of bias.

An appropriate number of choices is

selected for detailed analysis through
random sampling.
Two alternatives exist:
* All individuals within each choice are
included in the sample, making a
total enumeration or census within Choice-based
that cluster. Population
sample
* A random sample of individuals is
taken from each choice.
Errors of Sampling
There are two types of errors, when dealing with samples:

1. Sampling Error (simply Standard Error)

2. Sampling Bias
Errors of Sampling
1. Sampling Error
This is just because we are dealing with a sample and not with
the entire population. It is always present due to random
effects.
This type of error does not affect the expected values of the
means of the estimated parameters; it only affects the
variability around them.

population

sample

mean = µ
Errors of Sampling
2. Sampling Bias
It is caused by mistakes while defining the population of
interest, when selecting the sampling method, the data
collection technique (mail, telephone, personal interview)
or any other part of the process.

population
sample

bias
mean = µ
 Errors of Sampling
Sampling (Measurement) Error Sampling Bias

population
population
sample
sample

mean = µ
bias
mean = µ

Do not affect the mean , Affect the mean by

but increase variability introducing BIAS
Sampling
 Sample size

se(x ) : standard error of the distribution of the

sample mean
S : standard deviation of the sample (inherent
variability)
n : sample size

1 1 1
S se se se
se( x ) = 2 4 8
n 4n 16n 64n
Sampling Approaches (Example)
 Population

Middle High Total

Income Income

Bus User 0.55 0.05 0.60

Car User 0.25 0.15 0.40

Total 0.80 0.20 1.00

Sampling Approaches (Example)
 Stratified sampling (MI=70%)

Middle High Total

Income Income

Bus User 0.481 0.075 0.556

Car User 0.219 0.225 0.444

Total 0.700 0.300 1.000

Sampling Approaches (Example)
 Choice-based sampling (Bus=70%)

Middle High Total

Income Income

Bus User 0.642 0.058 0.700

Car User 0.188 0.112 0.300

Total 0.830 0.170 1.000

Sampling Approaches
 The distribution of the population and the sample is the
same under random sampling

 The distribution of the sample is different for each

stratified sampling scheme

 The actual proportion of observed choices is identical

between the population and the stratified sample