Urban Data
As the world's population becomes increasingly urbanized, researchers and agencies have devoted increasing attention to understanding travel patterns in urban areas. Many of the existing data topics (temporal, spatial, travel survey) overlap with urban data as they are all various facets of the data needed for local governments and MPOs to make decisions about how to invest in infrastructure. The purpose of this page is to tie together some of the concepts of other data and models to bridge the gaps between the problems urban planners seek to solve, the models available to study these problems, and the data both necessary and available to answer questions related to urban travel.
# Summary
Members and Friends of the TRB Committee on Urban Transportation Data and Information Systems (ABJ30) (opens new window) have compiled a list of commonly used data sources and tools. In compiling the content for this section, contributors included data sources and tools that they regularly use or are exploring. Contributors also included some information about emerging trends and issues to consider with respect to some of these data sources.
# Data Topics
| Date Type or Name | Brief Summary | Sources for More information |
|---|---|---|
| Big Data | Large-Scale Passively Collected Urban Transportation Data | |
| Bike/Ped Data | Count data, demographic data, and spatial details about non--motorized travel. | Bicycle and Pedestrian Data Subcommittee ABJ35(3) (opens new window) |
| Census and Employment Data | Population, employment and travel data gathered in 1-year, 5-year, or 10-year surveys. | |
| Health and Transportation Data | Data linking health and transportation planning efforts. | TRB Committee on Transportation and Public Health AME70 (opens new window) |
| Open Data Sources | Open data sources. | |
| Safety Data | Safety data used in urban areas | |
| Traffic Data | Traffic/Congestion Data | |
| Transit Data | Transit Data | |
| Travel Behavior Data | Travel behavior data (including emerging trends) | |
| Travel Time Speed and Reliability Data | Travel Time Speed and Reliability Data | Travel Time, Speed and Reliability Joint Subcommittee (opens new window) |
# References
The following are good places to go for more information about various types of data: