Every Day Counts-5 Crowdsourcing for Operations...Every Day Counts-5 Crowdsourcing for Operations Ohio LTAP Webinar March 19, 2019 1. Center for Accelerating Innovation PRESENTER &

Center for Accelerating Innovation

Every Day Counts-5

Crowdsourcing for Operations

Ohio LTAP Webinar

March 19, 2019

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PRESENTER & AGENDA

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Source: Pixabay

James Colyar, Transportation Specialist

FHWA Office of Operations

Agenda

1. Overview of EDC, Operations, and Crowdsourcing

2. Crowdsourcing for Operations Opportunities &

Considerations

3. Advancing Crowdsourcing and Available

Support

4. Question & Answer

Source: Idea SV, El Salvador Milonario

B: 50% of the timeA: 95% of the time

C: 30% of the time D: 75% of the time

How often is the “ask the audience” life line correctin the game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”?

Life Lines 50:50 Phone a Friend Ask the Audience


EDC-5 Operations & Crowdsourcing

An Overview

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Source: Unsplash


What is “Every Day Counts” (EDC)?State-based model to identify and rapidly deploy

proven but underutilized innovations to:

✓ shorten the project delivery process

✓ enhance roadway safety

✓ reduce congestion

✓ improve environmental sustainability

▪ EDC Rounds: two year cycles

▪ Initiating 5th Round (2019-2020) - 10 innovations

▪ To date: 4 Rounds, over 40 innovations

FAST Act, Sec.1444

For more information: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/

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https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/


Transportation Systems Management

and Operations (TSMO)

• Optimizing use of existing facilities.

• Treating capacity as an asset to manage.

• Matching demand to supply.

• Targeting solutions to congestion causes.

• Buying the most mobility for the least cost.

• Maximizing performance of the system.

• Getting you there safely – both people and goods.

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Effective operations is built on a foundation

of monitoring current conditions.


Real-Time Monitoring: A Weakness in the

Foundation of Operations

There are 4 primary limitations in our typical

approach to real-time monitoring:

1. Big gaps in geographic coverage.

2. Lags in timeliness of information.

3. Cost to build-out and maintain field

equipment.

4. Jurisdictional stovepipes.

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These limitations reduce the ability to efficiently

and (cost) effectively operate the system. Source: FHWA


What’s New for Operations?

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Cheaper, accessible, monitoring,

processing, and use of real-time data.

CAV

Machine Learning

CLOUD

COMPUTING

IoT

Source: Adapted from FHWA


Crowdsourcing: A Potential Solution

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When integrated with an agency’s existing efforts,

crowdsourcing helps agencies:

• Expand geographic coverage and resolution.

• Reduce time lags for real-time situational awareness.

• Reduce dependence on and cost associated with

roadside sensors and systems.

• Overcome jurisdictional stovepipes.

• Implement proactive operations strategies.

Crowdsourcing is a proven lower-cost solution

to improving safety and overall operations.

Source: Pixabay


What Exactly is Crowdsourcing?

Crowdsourcing is the practice of addressing a need or

problem by enlisting the services of a large number of

people via technologies. Crowdsourcing:

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✓ Addresses a need or problem outside of an organization’s

resources or means.

✓ Leverages the collective wisdom and unique insights of a

crowd by distributing the workload across a large group.

✓ Uses technology and new forms of communication and

interaction to document, share, and reflect on the world.

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B: 50% of the time

C: 30% of the time D: 75% of the time

How often is the “ask the audience” life line correctin the game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”?

A: 95% of the time

Source: Idea SV, El Salvador Milonario

Life Lines 50:50 Phone a Friend Ask the Audience


Crowdsourcing Examples

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2008: Lego Ideas

• Users post their ideas with designs for

potential Lego products.

• If an idea generates 10,000 views within

a year, it qualifies for review by Lego.

• A successful idea launch entitles person

1% of the product’s revenues.

2000: Folding@home, Stanford Univ.

• Volunteers allow use of their computers’

idle processing power to simulate protein

folding and drug design.

• 2M sign-ups = 5th most powerful

computer in the world.

• Enables research into Alzheimer’s,

Cancer, & more.

• Passive participation

• Motivate through

competition

Source: Bruce Blaus

• Outsource ideation

• Motivate with ‘fame’ and

potential financial gains

Source: Unsplash


Crowdsourcing is Everywhere

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• Airbnb

• Best Buy

• Citizenscience.gov (GSA)

• Department of Defense

• Eucrowd (EU)

• Facebook

• Federal Bureau of

Investigation

• General Electric

• Google

• Harley Davidson

• Kraft Foods

• Lego

• Mattel

• McDonalds

• Microsoft

• NASA

• Netflix

• New York City Simplicity

• Paypal

• Procter & Gamble

• Sony

• Starbucks

• Wikipedia


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Crowdsourcing for Operations

Opportunities & Considerations

Source: Shutterstock


Sources of Crowdsourced Data

• Data extracted from social media

platforms.

• Data acquired from third-party

crowdsourced data.

• Data collected from specially

developed mobile apps.

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Source: PixabayData is sourced whenever and

wherever people travel


Types of Crowdsourced Data

• Probe – speed and travel time.

• Event – crashes, stalled vehicles, weather, etc.

• Travel Behavior – where, when, how people travel.

• Social media – capture sentiment on road and agency performance.

• Vehicular – heavy breaking, wiper on/off, temperature, and more from connected vehicles.

• Mobile Infrastructure / IoT – for example, work zone cones sharing location, surrounding speed.

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Source: Pixabay


Crowdsourcing Overcomes Monitoring Challenges

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Eliminates Geographic Gaps

– find out what happens between sensors

– find out what happens in rural regions, arterials, and

other streets with few sensors

– find out what happens beyond jurisdictional boundaries

Improves Information Timeliness

– some data is pushed real-time to TMC with no lags

Improves Cost-effectiveness

– some data is free with little cost to ‘ingest’ data

– some data at cost point better than new monitoring

infrastructure outlays

Because data is sourced whenever and wherever people travel…


Using Crowdsourced Data to Go Beyond Monitoring

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Crowdsourcing benefits Transportation Operations:

Enables quicker assessment of system

Enables more targeted and timely response

Enables strategic / programmatic operational improvements

Benefits beyond Transportation Operations…

Promotes acceptance of public decisions.

Improves transparency & efficiency of public expenditures.

Promotes a sense of community & greater public satisfaction.

Source: Pixabay


Crowdsourcing Applications in TransportationD

ata

So

urc

es

Crowdsourced Data including• Citizen Calls• Third-Party Data

ITS Field Devices

Other Third-Party Sensor Data

Partner Data

Service Patrol

Cro

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Traveler Information

Incident Management

Freeway Traffic Management

Arterial Management

Road Weather Management

Planned Events

Many other possible applications such as

work zone management or performance assessment and reporting.19


Louisville Metro – Assessing Signal Retiming Effectiveness

Background: Had been sharing real-time road closures data

though apps like Waze, Google, and Apple Maps. Exploring

how archived crowdsourced data might benefit our agency.

Goal/Action: Built a tool that allows Metro employees to quickly and easily conduct traffic studies, on-demand.

Outcome: Applied Power BI with Waze database. Within 5

minutes, showed effect of signal retiming on corridor:

• 30% drop in the overall congestion (Waze jam count metric).

• 38% drop in PM Peak congestion.

Other uses: monitoring for faulty equipment, traveler information to public.

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Source: Unsplash


City of Austin – Signalized Corridor Prioritization

Background: Historically signals were retimed on 3-year

rotation with results measured using “floating vehicle”

travel time runs.

• Bluetooth on 53% of corridors; many with only 2 sensors.

• Cameras and/or radar on 18% of corridors.

Goal: Shift to a data-driven, needs-based schedule

with more cost-effective method for measuring impact.

Action: Purchased CS data from third party.

Outcome: More efficient allocation of resources for

signal retiming based on need, and improvements in

corridor performance.

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Source: City of Austin


Oregon DOT – Crowdsourcing & Traveler Information

Background: Historically ODOT has provided real-time

information to travelers through their TripCheck website using

fixed detector and monitoring infrastructure.

Goal: To expand quantity and quality of information and

promote informed, cost effective, and environmentally-

friendly driving decisions by the citizens of Oregon.

Action: ODOT partnered with organizations like Waze, HERE and ESRI to illustrate real-time congestion and incidents.

Outcome: More accurate information enables citizens to

make better travel decisions and experience better travel.

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Source: Oregon DOT


Background: INDOT purchases real-time

probe data. Data downloaded every 60

seconds. Created Traffic Ticker, to process,

visualize & use data (Purdue University).

Goal: Use Traffic Ticker to guide operations

changes and assess system performance.

Identify other uses for Traffic Ticker.

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Indiana DOT – Managing Traffic with Probe Data

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Event: Unplanned I-65 bridge closure

caused reroute –took 4 hours on day 1.

Outcome: Operations changes over five days based on Traffic Ticker data

helped stabilized travel to 64 minutes.

Tool is used within INDOT and among

broader TIM stakeholders for training.

Nu

mb

er

of

Mil

es

+25

20

15

10

5

018:00 00:00 06:00 12:00 18:00 00:00 06:00 12:00 18:00 00:00 06:00 12:00 18:00 00:00 06:00 12:00

Speed (mph) along Detour

55 - 65 45 - 54 35 - 44 25 - 34 15 - 24 0 - 14

Source: Indiana DOT

Source: Indiana DOT


Crowdsourcing Applications

• Florida DOT uses CS data with CAD data to

improve the response for crashes and road closures. They also share data with CS provider.

• Michigan DOT reviews minute-by-minute CS

data to update travel time messages on

dynamic message signs.

• San Francisco MTC uses CS data to monitor live

traffic conditions and to increase the coverage

area and accuracy of its 511-traveler information system.

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Other

+3

Crowdsource

Applications


POLL THE AUDIENCE

Is your agency currently leveraging

crowdsourcing for transportation operations?

If yes, please share a few words about the

application in the chat pod and a point of contact

so that we may learn more from you.

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EDC-5 Crowdsourcing InnovationTo Advance or Not to Advance?

Source: Shutterstock


Crowdsourcing is for you if your agency ….

▪ Is using Crowdsourcing at a small-scale or for one application, and

• wants to increase its value and effectiveness.

• wants to use this data for other application areas.

▪ Would like to do TSMO better, shifting from reactive to proactive operations.

▪ Wants to expand real-time visibility by which to operate (basically everywhere people travel –urban, rural, freeway, arterial).

▪ Is considering investment for roadway monitoring or finding it difficult to maintain your existing monitoring system.

▪ Wants to shift the needle from data poor towards data rich, and ready for big data that will accompany connected and automated vehicles.

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EDC-5 Crowdsourcing Support Tools

• Webinars

• Workshops tailored to local needs. For example:

• Identifying the right application and data source

• Fostering executive and technical buy-in

• Skills development to support innovation advancement

• Peer exchanges.

• On-site and/or remote technical assistance.

• Training materials, FAQs, videos, case studies, and marketing materials to

expand crowdsourcing use across operations areas.

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EDC-5 Crowdsourcing for Operations Team

✓ 8 FHWA Office of Operations staff – that are leading initiatives

related to TSMO, Planning for Operations, Traffic Incident

Management, Active Transportation & Demand Management.

✓ 5+ State DOT & Local Agency Subject Matter Experts – that lead

applications of Crowdsourcing within their agencies.

✓ Consulting Team Experts

─ Offer expertise in data management, enterprise architecture,

data analytics and visualization, and transportation operations.

─ Have helped 30+ State Operations teams & TMCs transform tool,

technology, or policy use with a previous EDC program.

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EDC-5 Funding Opportunities

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State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) Incentive

✓ Up to $100,000 per STIC per year to standardize an innovation

✓ https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/stic/

Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration

✓ Up to $1 million available per year to deploy an innovation not

routinely used

✓ https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/grants/

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/stic/

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/grants/


Disclaimer

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The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers.

Trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because

they are considered essential to the objective of the document.


Contact Information

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James [email protected]

(360) 753-9408

Paul [email protected]

(202) 366-5465

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc_5/crowdsourcing.cfm

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc_5/crowdsourcing.cfm


Question & Answer

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Documents

Every Day Counts-5 Crowdsourcing for Operations...Every Day Counts-5 Crowdsourcing for Operations Ohio LTAP Webinar March 19, 2019 1. Center for Accelerating Innovation PRESENTER &