Dealing with the data deluge: Effectively

using NPMRDSDr. Christopher Upchurch

Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization

How many of you have heard of

NPMRDS?

How many have downloaded NPMRDS data and looked at it?

How many of you have done something with NPMRDS data?

What is NPMRDS?

NationalPerformanceManagementResearchDataSet

What is NPMRDS?

• Travel time data for road segments• 5 minute increments

• Covers the National Highway System

What is NPMRDS?

• Based on vehicle probe data• Gathered from cellphones and in-vehicle navigation

systems

• Goes back to 2011• 2011 and later for freeways• 2013 and later for surface streets

• Data from HERE• Provided to states and MPOs by FHWA

What is NPMRDS?

• Raw Data• No post processing

• Not provided with any tools

Getting NPMRDS Data

• Email HERE to get an account set up• Must be an elgible agency (state DOT or MPO)

• Log into the HERE portal

Getting NPMRDS Data

Getting NPMRDS Data

Getting NPMRDS Data

Getting NPMRDS Data

Getting NPMRDS Data

Opening NPMRDS

Opening NPMRDS

• Microsoft Access• Database Server• Write your own software

NPMRDS Data

TMC DATE EPOCHTravel_TIME_ALL_VEHICLES

Travel_TIME_PASSENGER_VEHICLES

Travel_TIME_FREIGHT_TRUCKS

119N04404 8272015 114 50 49 58119N04404 8262015 217 59 59119N04404 8262015 160 50 49 58119N04404 8262015 103 57 55 65119N04404 8262015 46 62 62119N04404 8252015 206 65 65

NPMRDS Data

TMC DATE EPOCHTravel_TIME_ALL_VEHICLES

Travel_TIME_PASSENGER_VEHICLES

Travel_TIME_FREIGHT_TRUCKS

119N04404 8272015 114 50 49 58119N04404 8262015 217 59 59119N04404 8262015 160 50 49 58119N04404 8262015 103 57 55 65119N04404 8262015 46 62 62119N04404 8252015 206 65 65

NPMRDS Data

TMC DATE EPOCHTravel_TIME_ALL_VEHICLES

Travel_TIME_PASSENGER_VEHICLES

Travel_TIME_FREIGHT_TRUCKS

119N04404 8272015 114 50 49 58119N04404 8262015 217 59 59119N04404 8262015 160 50 49 58119N04404 8262015 103 57 55 65119N04404 8262015 46 62 62119N04404 8252015 206 65 65

NPMRDS Data

TMC DATE EPOCHTravel_TIME_ALL_VEHICLES

Travel_TIME_PASSENGER_VEHICLES

Travel_TIME_FREIGHT_TRUCKS

119N04404 8272015 114 50 49 58119N04404 8262015 217 59 59119N04404 8262015 160 50 49 58119N04404 8262015 103 57 55 65119N04404 8262015 46 62 62119N04404 8252015 206 65 65

NPMRDS Data

TMC DATE EPOCHTravel_TIME_ALL_VEHICLES

Travel_TIME_PASSENGER_VEHICLES

Travel_TIME_FREIGHT_TRUCKS

119N04404 8272015 114 50 49 58119N04404 8262015 217 59 59119N04404 8262015 160 50 49 58119N04404 8262015 103 57 55 65119N04404 8262015 46 62 62119N04404 8252015 206 65 65

NPMRDS Data

TMC DATE EPOCHTravel_TIME_ALL_VEHICLES

Travel_TIME_PASSENGER_VEHICLES

Travel_TIME_FREIGHT_TRUCKS

119N04404 8272015 114 50 49 58119N04404 8262015 217 59 59119N04404 8262015 160 50 49 58119N04404 8262015 103 57 55 65119N04404 8262015 46 62 62119N04404 8252015 206 65 65

Cutting NPMRDS Data Down to Size• Most of us are not interested in an entire state

Cutting NPMRDS DataDown to Size

Cutting NPMRDS DataDown to Size• Get a list of the TMC codes inside the MPO

boundary• Throw away everything that doesn’t have one of

those TMC codes

Caveats with NPMRDS Data• Has not been post processed• Outliers• Missing data

Caveats with NPMRDS Data• Outliers• Anomolously high or low travel times

• Addressing outliers• Remove or adjust anomalous travel times• Use percentile based metrics

Caveats with NPMRDS Data• Does not have travel times for all epochs• More likely to have times for:• Higher volume roadways• Peak periods

• Measures that require speeds on multiple segments in the same epoch can be problematic

Caveats with NPMRDS Data• Addressing missing data• Fill in data using surrounding values• Ignore missing data• Use system level metrics

Using NPMRDS

• WAMPO's Current Uses• Planning Time Index (PTI) – MTP Performance Measure• Travel Time Index (TTI)• Buffer Time Index

• Future Uses• Bottleneck area studies

Thank You

cupchurch@wichita.gov316-268-4457

Questions?

cupchurch@wichita.gov316-268-4457