Integrating Online Geocoding Sources into Web-Based Household Travel Surveys
Corresponding Author: Marcelo Simas, Westat
Presented By: Marcelo Simas, Westat
Abstract
The increased availability of online geocoding and place search services from companies such as Google and Microsoft has made it possible to deploy web-based surveys with rich support for online geocoding and place searches. That is especially important in Household Travel Surveys since location is such an important aspect of travel. The quality of the geocodes returned by these online services is an important aspect to monitor in Household Travel Surveys, especially the relationship between the returned coordinates and the street network. This is because Transportation Analysis Zone boundaries often follow street network center lines, so having a geocode offset to the wrong side of the street can allocate that destination to the wrong zone. This presentation will detail how online commercial geocoding services were integrated with look ups of an address point file and street network database to support into online survey instruments for the Michigan Statewide Household Travel Survey (MTC III, sponsored by the Michigan Department of Transportation - MDOT) and its Detroit sub-sampling area (sponsored by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments - SEMCOG). Special focus will be given to the implemented quality control processes and review procedures and how they were implemented using the Open Source PostgreSql database.