Travel Survey Systems and Methods

• US 20150198722A1
• Filed: 01/12/2015
• Published: 07/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Ben-Akiva, Moshe E., Pereira, Francisco C., Zegras, Pericles C., Zhao, Fang
• Granted Patent: US 10,024,978 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0133 for classifying traffic situation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/42 for mass transport vehicles, e.g. buses, trains or aircraft

Abstract

Systems and methods for collecting travel data include a mobile application capable of being executed on a mobile computing device and configured to monitor and log travel data related to travel of the mobile computing device, and to communicate the travel data over a network. A networked data processing device may be coupled to receive the travel-related data from the network and analyze the travel-related data to identify a mode of travel of the mobile computing device. A graphical user interface allows a user of the mobile computing device to verify accuracy of the identified means of travel.

Claims

1. A system for processing travel-related data, the system comprising:

a mobile application capable of being executed on a mobile computing device and configured to monitor and log travel data related to travel of the mobile computing device, and to communicate the travel data over a network;

a networked data processing device coupled to receive the travel-related data from the network and analyze the travel-related data to identify a mode of travel of the mobile computing device; and

a graphical user interface that allows a user of the mobile computing device to verify accuracy of the identified means of travel;

wherein the data processing device is configured to receive the identified means of travel after it has been verified and analyze subsequently travel-related data based on the identified means of travel.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the data processing device is further configured to identify one or more events associated with the travel of the mobile computing device, and the graphical user interface is further configured to allow the user to verify accuracy of the identified one or more events.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the data processing device is configured to compile a series of travel activities and stop activities based on the travel-related data.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the data processing device identifies the means of travel by analyzing the travel activities and stop activities to determine a speed of travel, a location of travel, an apposition of the locations of the travel to public transportation routes, and/or an apposition of times of the travel to public transportation times.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the data processing device is configured to identify whether the data indicates the mobile computing device is stationary or traveling by analyzing hand-offs and, to determine that the device is stationary if accelerometer data and/or cellular data indicate no change in location when the hand-offs occur.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the data processing device is configured to identify whether the data indicates the mobile computing device is stationary or traveling based on GPS data, accelerometer data, cellular data, and/or Wi-Fi data.

7. The system of claim 3 wherein the data processing device is configured to determine a type of the stop activities based on proximity of the mobile computing device to an area or structure.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the graphical user interface allows a user to verify the identified means of travel by entering a type of travel.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the data processing device is configured to verify whether the type of travel entered by the user is consistent with the travel-related data.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the data processing device is a server computer.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the graphical user interface is a web interface.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the mobile application is capable of disabling use of GPS systems to reduce battery consumption.

13. A method comprising:

collecting data about location and travel of a user by a mobile device of the user;

transmitting the data to a central server;

analyzing the data by the central server to;

identify one or more modes of travel undertaken by the user;

identify one or more activities of the user;

providing a web interface including features to verify the modes of travel and activities of the user; and

identifying whether information entered by the user via the web interface is consistent with the collected data.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising arranging the data into a journey comprising one or more travel events and one or more stop events in time sequential order.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the web interface is configured to present the journey to the user for verification.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising identifying the activities of the user based on contextual data.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the contextual data includes one or more of:

past verifications made by the user, maps of the area, local events in the area, and land use information.

18. The method of claim 13 further comprising collecting registration information about the user.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the registration information include one or more of:

age, gender, marital status, employment information, education, race, income, housing information, mobility information, and frequently visited places.

20. A method comprising:

collecting data about location and travel of a user by a mobile device of the user;

transmitting the data to a central server;

analyzing the data by the central server by;

filtering one or more false-stops from the data;

segmenting the data into travel segments;

determining data features from the data for identifying a type of travel of one or more of the travel segments;

classifying one or more of the data segments as a stop and/or classifying one or more of the data segments as a mode of travel;

providing a web interface including features to verify the modes of travel and stops of the user.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein analyzing the data further comprises merging data segments to eliminate false stops and/or false trips.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein analyzing the data further comprises classifying the mode of travel data segments to determine a type of travel.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the type of travel includes one or more of:

car travel, bus travel, and train travel.