Estimating spatial measures of roadway network usage from remotely sensed data

Roadway network usage is measured for purposes as diverse as design, planning, maintenance, operation, management, and research. Traditionally, these measurements are made with ground-based sensors. The sensors provide a temporally rich data set, but an individual sensor's lack of spatial coverage limits use and application. High-resolution imagery, remotely sensed from satellite or airborne platforms is an attractive alternative that can potentially supplement and enhance the existing traffic monitoring programs with a spatially rich data set. Spatial measurements of network usage as extracted from remotely sensed data are demonstrated.