White Paper Series Crowdsourcing Pedestrian and Cyclist Activity Data

expressed in this publication are those of the Author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Federal Highway Administration. Executive Summary Collecting cyclist and pedestrian activity data can be challenging due to data gaps and unique characteristics of active transportation that set it apart from other modes. Technological advances continue to improve data collection for demographic, infrastructure, and motorized travel data, much of which is made available online. However, active transportation data resources that can be used to better understand detailed spatio-temporal (location and time-based) travel patterns and personal experience may be absent or difficult to find. Crowdsourcing, or the process of obtaining information, insight, and knowledge from user-generated data provided through web and mobile applications, can help address these data gaps efficiently. In addition to increased data availability, crowdsourcing offers many additional benefits to active transportation planning, such as broad and diverse perspectives, local knowledge, data timeliness, and direct dialogue between planners and those affected by planning decisions. Existing crowdsourced datasets can serve as resources for many types of active transportation planning projects. New crowdsourcing applications developed for a specific use or planning implementation can produce high-quality, project-specific data about cyclists and pedestrians while at the same time opening lines of communication between planners and those contributing data. Data providers including public agencies, open source projects, and commercial developers are making data easier to find, and in some cases these resources are freely available. When used carefully and creatively, user-generated cyclist and pedestrian data has great potential to inform and add value to active transportation planning projects. This paper considers how crowdsourcing applications and crowdsourced data are currently being applied, as well as potential new uses for active transportation research and planning efforts of various types. The objectives of this white paper are to review existing crowdsourced bicycle and pedestrian data resources and crowdsourcing tools; discuss potential planning implementations of crowdsourced data for a sample of bicycle and pedestrian project types; and provide examples of how crowdsourcing is currently being used to inform decision-making. Potential issues related to crowdsourced data are also considered (e. research presented here highlights a decreasing skepticism over the quality of volunteered, user-generated data www.pedbikeinfo.org 2 provided by amateurs (as opposed to professionals) in light of a desire to open the lines of communication between the planning world and those affected by planning decisions, directly addressing (rather than being discouraged by) data limitations. …