Have you ever wondered how roads are planned? How does the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) determine where to improve roadways or know which routes will be used in the future? For years, decisions about where to build or upgrade roads have been made using tools that do not offer a complete visual picture of how people travel. This is about to change.
Steven Gehrke, associate professor at the Department of Geography, Planning and Recreation, along with Ashish Amresh, associate professor at the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, are working on a project for the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to look at what notable visualization tools are available to transform complex travel data into a clear visual display. The project is part of a recently formed research partnership with ADOT and the three state universities, which allows them to bid for projects put forth by the agency.
“In this particular project, we are looking at visualization tools that display information from what’s called a travel demand model,” Gehrke said. “This is a planning tool that is used to forecast future trends and guide long-range transportation decisions. ADOT is planning to initially use this tool internally but with a lens toward conveying this information down the road to other stakeholders, whether that is the public or other agencies they partner with to show how outcomes from this travel demand model reflect changes that we may see in the ways people get around our state.”
The tool will transfer forecasted travel data that relates to ADOT’s roadway network. Currently, ADOT uses software internally to study travel patterns and measure congestion, traffic volumes and changes in travel behavior; however, the information typically comes in spreadsheets and not in a way that can be easily visualized and communicated.
“What we are proposing to do is to develop a prototype visualization tool, like a dashboard, that more folks can use,” Gehrke said. “This will be a tool where ADOT staff can change different outputs of the travel demand model, and toggle between different switches to display new information. Something more dynamic than just a map that shows one or two details.”
Gehrke said that although the impacts to individuals may not be immediate, the impact on ADOT and its partners will be significant since they will be able to better understand what the model is doing through visualization, allowing them to predict where future roads may be needed and what traffic patterns to expect in the future.
Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu
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