Data-Oriented Travel Behavior Analysis Based on Probe Person Systems

The last three decades have shown that the information contained in results of conventional household travel surveys can be used in analyzing a rich spectrum of behavioral aspects as the evolution of the activity-based analysis field has demonstrated (Jones et al. 1990, Kitamura 1990). Spatial elements, however, have continued to be the weak link, and geocoding trip ends to the point in a transportation study is rather an exception than a norm even now. Another weakness is the error in reporting trip beginning and ending times (Kitamura 1990). Recent developments in information and communications technology, however, are changing this situation by making possible acquisition of precise time and location information from survey respondents. A Global Positioning System (GPS) unit integrated into a cellular phone transforms a survey respondent into a “probe” (subsequently called “probe person” rather than “probe vehicle”) whose trajectories in space and time can be recorded with levels of accuracy unimaginable from the conventional questionnaire-based surveys. This paper summarizes the results of several pilot surveys conducted in Japan by using probe person systems. It shows technical requirements for new travel behavior surveys that are based on the results of these pilot surveys and discusses the possibility of data-oriented travel behavior analysis.