Jan 06

A Note From Our Chair

Dear Members and Friends of the TRB ABJ60 Committee:

Please join us at the ABJ60 business meeting, which will take place on Tuesday, January 13, 2015, 7:30 PM–9:30 PM, Marriott Marquis, Capitol (M4).  We have a meeting agenda packed with items and presentations (TRB ABJ60 2015 Comm_Agenda).  The agenda also includes a listing of TRB workshops and sessions that ABJ60 is sponsoring (listed below).

Also our draft Triennial Strategic Plan (TSP)ABJ60 Triennial Strategic Plan 2015 -2018 DRAFT_12_15_14 will be discussed at the meeting which sets the future direction for committee activities.  Please review in advance of the meeting if time permits.

Further, we have for your review the 2014 Meeting Notes.  Please review for accuracy. ABJ60 2014 TRB Meeting_Notes

I look forward to seeing you at our business meeting if not sooner.  Please email me if you have any questions.

Best wishes,

James Hall

Chair, ABJ60, Geospatial Information Science and Applications Committee

 ABJ60 Sponsored Sessions

No. Sponsor Function Title Location Time
Workshop 110 ABJ50, ABJ60 Sensing Technologies for Transportation Applications Convention Center, 154 January 11, 2015 9:00AM – 12:00PM
Workshop 118 ABJ60, ADC10, ADC30, ADC50, ADD50 Geospatial Tools and Applications to Optimize Multidiscipline and Multi-Jurisdictional Decision Making Convention Center, 145B January 11, 2015 9:00AM – 12:00PM
Workshop 156 ABJ60, ADB40, ADD30 Emerging Data Technology and Analytic Frontiers in Integrated Land-Use and Transport Modeling Convention Center, 140A January 11, 2015 1:30PM – 4:30PM
Session 199 ABJ20, ABJ50, ABJ60, ANB20 Improving Safety Programs Through Data Governance and Data Business Planning Convention Center, 146C January 12, 2015 8:00AM – 9:45AM
Session 261 ABJ60, ABJ95, AFB70, AFB80, AFH10, AFH30, AFH40 Advanced 3D Model-based Planning-Design-Construction-O and M Civil Integrated Management (CIM) Best Practices, Lessons Learned, and Case Studies for Transportation Project Delivery Convention Center, 151A January 12, 2015 10:15AM – 12:00AM
Session 333 ABJ60 Advances in Geospatial Technology Applications in Transportation Convention Center, 151A January 12, 2015 1:30PM – 3:15PM
Session 377 ABJ50, ABJ60 Information Technology Applications in Transportation 2015 Convention Center, Hall E January 12, 2015 2:00PM – 3:45PM

 

 

Jul 23

Upcoming T3 Webinar:Open Data Policy Guidelines for Transit – Maximizing Real Time and Schedule Data-Legalities, Evolutions, Customer Perspectives, Challenges, and Economic Opportunities – Part II

A T3 webinar on the topic “Learn from the Experts: Open Data Policy Guidelines for Transit – Maximizing Real Time and Schedule Data-Legalities, Evolutions, Customer Perspectives, Challenges, and Economic Opportunities – Part II” will be hosted by the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Professional Capacity Building Program of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (U. S. DOT) ITS Joint Program Office (JPO).

As transit agencies continue to address increasing service demands and decreasing budgets, maximizing technology and data investments through open data policies is necessary to retain and attract customers. Webinar participants will be introduced to the opportunities that open data provide and the challenges to overcoming technology and implementation strategies. This session will also focus on the legalities of open data in transit, including copyright laws, licensing, political and legal barriers, customer perceptions, confidentiality, governance, and economic development .

Date: Thursday, August 7, 2014
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET
Cost: All T3 webinars are free of charge

Presenters:

Mr. Martin Catala, Manager, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Informatics Group, Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR), University of South Florida, will give a brief overview of the project underway with the Federal Transit Administration on “Open Data Policy Guidelines for Transit.” The webinar will focus on transit data relating to legal frameworks, 3rd party developers, schedules and situational status, such as passenger load, predictive arrival time, and vehicle location. The findings from this webinar will be incorporated into a guide for transit agencies interested in successfully implementing and sharing open data within the transit industry.

Dr. Larry W. Thomas, J.D., Ph.D, founder of The Thomas Law Firm in Washington, D.C., will discuss whether and to what extent there is legal protection for an agency’s real-time or other data. Dr. Thomas will discuss whether data may be protected under the copyright laws and whether there are alternative means that agencies may use to protect their proprietary rights in data.

Mr. Lou Milrad, B.A., LL.B, founder of MilradLaw in Toronto, Canada, will relay an overview of the legal framework and economic development opportunities for open data. This will include open data opportunities for collaboration; differentiating open data terms’ uses from commercial licensing, addressing privacy and confidentiality concerns, and economic development and community engagement.

Dr. Kari Edison Watkins, PE, PhD, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, will share her experiences working as the interface between developers and transit agencies both locally in Atlanta and nationally. She will discuss the evolution of the presentation of transit data, how data standards enable better communication to riders, and case study findings from discussions with transit agencies about open data.

Mr. Dan Overgaard, Supervisor, Systems Development and Operations, King County Metro Transit, Seattle, WA, will address King County Metro’s evolution in providing real-time information, managing customer expectations, and the data management and organizational challenges involved in improving the quality of real time information.

For registration and more Information please click here.

Jul 02

Webinar: CTPP Data Release – Thursday, July 17, 1-3pm EDT

The Census Data for Transportation Planning Subcommittee of the Urban Transportation Data and Information Systems Committee (a subcommittee of the Transportation Research Board) invites you to a webinar and discussion on the newest CTPP data release.

Webinar will have three speakers present their work with the CTPP data followed by an open discussion on user’s experiences accessing and working with the new data set. This will be a great opportunity for CTPP users to share their knowledge as well as see what others in the field are doing. For those who do not work with CTPP, this will be a chance to learn what the data set is about and how it can be used.

Presenters:

I. Jim Hubbell, Mid-America Regional Council 101 Exciting Uses of CTPP Data

II. Vladimir Livshits, Maricopa Association of Governments Developing and validating regional travel forecasting models with CTPP data: MAG experience

III.Brian Bresolin, Santa Barbara County Association of Governments Santa Barbara County State of the Commute: A comparison of the CTPP and LEHD Commute Flows

If you have any questions, please contact Clara Reschovsky at creschovsky@mwcog.org or Mara Kaminowitz at mkaminowitz@baltometro.org.

Join the conference call:

Phone: 866-528-2256

Access Code: 763-7719

Meeting ID: 248-570-913

To join the meeting please click here.

Jun 06

Calling all developers: Participate in the TriMet data hackathon June 25,2014

TriMet is excited to announce its first data hackathon, Wednesday, June 25,2014 The hackathon, which will be the second event in TriMet’s Open Data Developer Series, is an opportunity for developers to work together to enhance transit applications building on innovative data and ideas.

Anyone with an interest in transit applications is encouraged to participate in the event. The TriMet hackathon will be part of the 2014 Open Source Bridge conference, June 24-27. TriMet will hold the event during this year’s conference on Wednesday, June 25, starting at 6 p.m. in the Hacker Lounge at the Eliot Center in downtown Portland.

The Open Data Developer Series is a partnership between TriMet, the Technology Association of Oregon, Isite Design, INIT, Tait Communications and Metro.

For further information please click here.

May 16

U.S Census Bureau: A New Interactive map “Census Explorer”

sepop

U.S Census Bureau  has introduced Census Explorer a new online tool that displays demographic information on maps of states, counties, and neighborhoods. The Bureau has also  released the new commuting edition of the interactive map Census Explorer, which gives Web visitors easy click-and-zoom access to commuting statistics for every neighborhood in the U.S. It also shows how commuting has changed since 1990 at the neighborhood, county and state level — including how long it takes to get to work, commutes longer than an hour, and number of bikers. Census Explorer includes not only the latest American Community Survey five-year statistics (2008-2012) but also information from the 1990 and 2000 censuses. County Business Pattern data are available for 2000 and 2011, for both states and counties.

The topics currently available in are people, education and  income.

To make new discoveries about your neighborhood  and for further information please click here.

May 13

FTA Webcast: Public Transportation Priorities in the GROW AMERICA Act, May 22, 2014

Federal Transit Administration (FTA) will be hosting a live webcast on the topic ” Public  Transportation Priorities in the Grow America Act”.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will provide kick-off remarks for a public webcast highlighting the major public transportation priorities and new programs in the Administration’s four-year surface transportation reauthorization proposal, known as the GROW AMERICA Act.  At the conclusion of the presentation, FTA will address selected questions submitted through an online chat function. The entire webcast will be made available on FTA’s website for later viewing.

Date: Thursday, May 22, 2014
Time: 3:30-4:30 pm Eastern

The live webcast will be conducted by FTA and to view  online please click here.

 

 

 

 

Apr 29

Data Driven Bus Service Will Begin Soon

Matthew George, 23-year-old Middlebury College graduate has found a  mass transit system that could figure out on a daily basis where people are and where they want to go, and then get them there — nonstop — on luxury buses for just a few dollars more than a T ride costs. The first-of-its-kind bus service scheduled to begin trial runs in mid-May with at least four nonstop commuter routes in Brookline, Boston, and Cambridge. Within three months, buses on 18 routes could be shuttling commuters around in Boston and nearby suburbs, said founder Matthew George, and more are planned.

George wants to create a “living, breathing” public transportation system for the 22d century. He said that by harnessing vast amounts of online data that show where people live, work, and play, his bus line — it’s called Bridj — can predict areas of peak demand on any given day and adjust its schedules accordingly.At $5 to $8 a trip, to start, Bridj will be pricier than MBTA buses and trains, but interest in the service — and its high-speed Wi-Fi, leather seats, and complimentary snacks — is already high.

Riders sign up online, and the company collects their home and work ZIP codes, eventually drilling down to specific streets. It also scours the Internet for Foursquare check-ins, tweets, and Facebook updates to gauge travel patterns and factors in significant events such as a Red Sox game. A software program crunches the real-time data to anticipate what routes need to be added, using smaller shuttles to serve less popular destinations.With no stops along the way, travel times would be faster on Bridj than on the T, said George.

For futher reading please click here.

Apr 25

Upcoming T3 Webinar:Innovative Approaches to Real-Time System Management Information- May 21, 2014

The purpose of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) Section 1201, Title 23 in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 511 is to establish a Real-Time System Management Information Program (RTSMIP) to monitor in real time the traffic and travel conditions on the major highways across the U.S. In addition, the RTSMIP shares this data to address congestion problems through enhanced operations and facilitates traveler information.The program will be implemented on all interstate routes by November 2014 and on other significant roadways as identified by the States and local agencies by November 2016. 

This webinar will feature speakers from three U.S. DOT Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Division Offices. The presenters will give a status of their State’s RTSMIP and innovative approaches towards compliance with the Federal regulations.

The webinar will be hosted by Ray Murphy of the US Department of Transportation – Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Office of Technical Services. The featured speaker is Robert Rupert of the U.S. DOT- FHWA’s Office of Operations-Transportation Management.  The webinar presenters are Karen Gilbertson, ITS/Traffic Operations Engineer, FHWA Kansas Division Office; Nick Renna, Operations Program Manager, FHWA Tennessee Division Office;  and Kevin Korth, Traffic Operations Engineer, California Division, FHWA, U.S. DOT.

Date:  Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Time:  1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET

For information and registration please click here.

Apr 14

AASHITO: GIS -T Symposium “Seasons for Change” – May 5-8, 2014

gis t

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials sponsors the annual GIS for Transportation Symposium. It is a chance for persons in government and private industry who are interested in the use of GIS for transportation purposes to get together and share experiences, see state-of-art software, and learn more about this field.

“Seasons for Change” is the theme of this year’s 27th Annual GIS-T Symposium which is being held in Burlington, Vermont on May 5th – 8th, 2014. Early registration  ends on April 18, 2014.

The Symposium offers keynote speakers, discussion forums, workshops, presentations, and a technology hall where exhibitors showcase their services. Organizations and individuals with information related to GIS in transportation are encouraged to share their experience by presenting at the Symposium.

For registration and further information please click here.

Apr 11

Webinar Recording Available:Educating Students for ITS Careers: Are Universities Meeting the Challenge?

T3 Webinars are brought to you by the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Professional Capacity Building Program (PCB) of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (U.S. DOT) ITS Joint Program Office (JPO), Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA ). As a part of the T3 series a webinar was presented in the topic Educating Students for ITS Careers: Are Universities Meeting the Challenge? on February 6, 2014.

This webinar  featured speakers from two universities, who  discussed their ITS education programs as well as the educational needs for the delivery of ITS learning. In addition, two speakers from regional and State transportation agencies discussed their perspectives on educational background needs for hiring entry level ITS engineers. Challenges, successes, ideas, needs, and future directions of university ITS education were discussed.

For those who are interested , the recorded version is available.

To access the recording of the webinar please click here