Innovative data collection techniques for roadside origin-destination surveys

Described are the results of a pilot application intended to automate the data collection and data reduction phases of roadside origin-destination (O-D) studies Most techniques used to obtain O-D data are quite labor intensive, during both the data collection and the data reduction phase. Frequently, they result in extensive data quality checks and long turnaround periods between the data collection work and the submittal of the corresponding survey report. The application described automates the data collection and data reduction phases by using portable, handheld data collection devices. These devices can be connected to a desktop or laptop computer to transfer the O-D data to a depository database. Included are a brief background discussion, a description of the hardware and software used and the design and development of O-D applications, a description of two applications of the handheld data collection devices, and a list of lessons learned.