TXDOT ITS DATA ARCHIVING RESEARCH PROJECT ACTIVITIES

The objective of this project was to assemble guidance for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in further developing data archiving systems across the state. This guidance, which is contained in the companion Report 2127-3, includes information on: 1) basic principles of data archiving; 2) determining what data and how much to archive; 3) performing quality control to ensure data meets certain quality requirements; and 4) developing a data archiving system using relevant architecture and standards. This report (2127-2) summarizes the research activities conducted during the project. These activities were primarily focused on four basic tasks: 1) stakeholder meetings and interviews to discuss issues and ideas about data archiving; 2) preliminary assessment of archived data needs; 3) analysis of archived data for accuracy and quality; and 4) gathering information on data archiving architecture and standards. The authors recommend that TxDOT begin or continue the dialogue to determine who will be responsible for maintaining ITS data archives at the statewide and district level. The development of one or two modest prototypes of single-source data archives will enable TxDOT to demonstrate proof of concept to system developers as well as potential data users. The authors recommend that TxDOT consider the data archiving guidelines in Report 2127-3, as well as the results from ongoing federal activities, when further developing data archiving systems.