Expenses associated with collecting data to produce estimates of annual average daily traffic (AADT) and vehicles miles traveled (VMT) could conceivably be reduced by using high-resolution satellite imagery. Vehicles can be detected in 1-m satellite-based panchromatic imagery now available to the civilian world. However, the short observation period and low sampling frequency of high-resolution satellite sensors pose a potential impediment to using satellite-based data to improve AADT and VMT estimation. We address this difficulty by developing computer software to simulate AADT and VMT estimation errors with and without the use of satellite data. Results indicate that adding satellite-based data to ground-based data would decrease AADT and VMT estimation errors and allow for a substantial reduction in ground-based samples for a large range of inputs. Other numerical results show that using satellite-based data could lead to improved estimates while reducing the number of the permanent automatic traffic recorders used to determine temporal adjustment factors in traffic monitoring programs and that there are decreasing marginal benefits from increased satellite supply.
Improving AADT and VMT Estimates with High-Resolution Satellite Imagery: Simulated Analytical Results
Seventh International Conference on Applications of Advanced Technologies in Transportation (AATT) ; 2002 ; Boston Marriot, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
2002-07-31
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
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