Conference Proceedings 26 - Transportation Research Board

SUMMARY OF PEER EXCHANGE ON DATA FOR PERFORMANCE MEASURES 199PEER EXCHANGE ON DATA FOR PERFORMANCE MEASURESCOMMITTEE ON STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEMSMADISON, WISCONSIN, AUGUST 25–26, 2000: PARTICIPANTSNiels Robert Bostrom, Division of MultimodalPrograms, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet,125 Holmes Street, Frankfort, KY 40622Ed Christopher, Bureau of Transportation Statistics,400 7th Street SW, Room 3420, Washington,DC 20590Tremain Downey, Chief, Office of PerformanceMeasures and Data Analysis, TransportationSystem Information Program, MS-38, CaliforniaDepartment of Transportation, 1120 NStreet, P.O. Box 942874, Sacramento, CA94274-0001Tony Esteve, Federal Highway Administration,400 7th Street SW, DOT Building, Room3306, Washington, DC 20590Barbara Mason Haines, Manager, TransportationPlanning Division, Bureau of Planning andResearch, Pennsylvania DOT, P.O. Box 3555,Harrisburg, PA 17105-3555Kim Hajek, Director, Data Management, TransportationPlanning and Programming Division,Texas Department of Transportation, P.O. Box149217, Austin, TX 78714-9217James P. Hall, Assistant Professor, Department ofManagement, Information Systems, Universityof Illinois, P.O. Box 19243, Springfield, IL62794Jonette Kreideweis, Director, Office of ManagementData Services, Minnesota Department ofTransportation, Mail Stop 450, 395 JohnIreland Boulevard, St. Paul, MN 55155Mark C. Larson, Director, Measurement andEvaluation Section, Office of Business Planning,Minnesota Department of Transportation,Mail Stop 450, 395 John Ireland Boulevard,St. Paul, MN 55155Thomas M. Palmerlee, Senior Program Officer,Transportation Data, Transportation ResearchBoard, 2101 Constitution Avenue NW, RoomGR-326C, Washington, DC 20418Roger Petzold, HEPS-20, Room 3301, FederalHighway Administration, 400 7th Street, SW,Washington, DC 20590Steve Pickrell, Cambridge Systematics, Inc., 1300Clay, Suite 1010, Oakland, CA 94612Ronald W. Tweedie, 3 Carriage Road, Delmar,NY 12054Anita Vandervalk, Manager, Transportation StatisticsOffice, Planning Division, Florida Departmentof Transportation, 605 SuwanneeStreet, MS 27, Tallahassee, FL 32399-0450William Walsek, Chief, Highway InformationServices Division, Maryland State HighwayAdministration, 707 N. Calvert Street, MS C-607, Baltimore, MD 21202Data Quality and IntegrityData quality is a significant concern of every agencythat participated in the exchange. There are severalaspects to data quality: currency (or timeliness), consistency(whether two sources agree) between differentpublished data sources, precision (level of detailor ‘‘grain’’), and accuracy (whether data are corrector not). Expectations of public access to high-qualitytransportation data have grown as more data havebeen made accessible over the Internet. Such expectationsinclude demand for accurate, real-time databy those interested in assessing current traffic conditionsand for comprehensive traffic counts andlong-term forecasts, often for project or development-relatedanalysis. Agencies need to anticipateand budget for public access to avoid public relationsproblems.Specific concerns expressed by meeting participantsinclude the following:• As mentioned, data accuracy is a significant concern.Agency staff acknowledge that they may sometimeshave to make available data that they knoware imperfect. A good Department of Transportation(DOT) staff continually corrects or improves theirdata sets. One way to achieve better data accuracy isto expose it to the light of day. As more data aremade available and put to use, there will be morepublic pressure and hence management support fordata quality, timeliness, and accuracy.