HIT: A GIS-Based Hotspot Identification Taxonomy

The purpose of this GIS-based hotspot identification taxonomy is to bring together strategies for planning and evaluation of selective traffic enforcement programs (STEPs). The HIT model is specifically designed for enforcement programs that focus on events and countermeasures that can be spatially and temporally described. The HIT model encompasses four core activities that are tightly integrated: data-collection, linear hotspot identification (HISD), presentation and assessment. Event location data is preprocessed using geographic information systems (GIS) then three types of hotspots are identified. First order hotspots locate road segments with a high frequency of a specific type of event. Second order hotspots locate road segments for which the ratio of event counts to countermeasure duration is minimized or maximized. Third order hotspots locate road segments with a high frequency of events and where a countermeasure is historically effective.