Enhancing GPS-Assisted Travel Data Collection Through Smartphones

The use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology for travel data collection has become of interest to address requirements regarding modern transport modelling. However, such use is associated with several practical limitations including, among others, a need for significant participant involvement and considerable cost of implementation. These limitations restrict large-scale deployment of GPS-assisted data collection methods. Recent developments of positioning and communication technologies in smartphones have provided opportunities to address some of these limitations. This paper evaluates potential advantages of using smartphones through an experimental travel data collection application. The results reveal some capabilities of smartphones in improving the spatiotemporal accuracy of collected data. The paper provides a series of recommendations for more efficient deployment of GPS-assisted travel data collection using smartphones.