FSUTMS Comprehensive Modeling Workshop - Cambridge ...

Study Area Boundary
The area that is expected to take on urban characteristics in the next 20 to 30 years (by
the end of the planning period).
TAZ
Traffic Analysis Zone - a small geographic area that serves as the primary unit of analysis
in a travel forecasting model.
Traffic Count
The observed number of trips collected at a specific location. Used to assist with model
validation.
Transit Legs
Distinct units of a transit line representing a segment from one stop to the next. Transit
paths are built by assessing the relative costs of available transit legs.
Transit Line
A collection of transit stops arranged into a route along which public transport vehicles
travel. A system of interacting transit lines is a transit network
Transportation Model
A mathematical description of a transportation system’s characteristics including traffic
volumes, land use, roadway type and population. After a mathematical relationship is
established, the model is used to predict traffic volumes based on anticipated changes in
the other characteristics.
Trip Assignment
The process of determining route or routes of travel and allocating the zone-to-zone trips
to these routes.
Trip Distribution
The process by which the movement of trips between zones is estimated. The data for
each distribution may be measured or estimated by a growth factor process, or by
synthetic model.
Trip End
Either a trip origin or a trip destination.
Trip Generation
A general term describing the analysis and application of the relationships that exist
among the trip makers, the urban area, and trip making. It is used to determine the
number of trip ends in any part of the urban area.
Trip Purpose
The reason for making a trip, normally one of several possible purposes. Each trip may
have a purpose at each end; (e.g., home to work) or may be classified by the purpose at
the non-home end (e.g. home to shop).
FSUTMS Comprehensive Modeling Workshop– Glossary of Terms Page 20