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In the recent past, mobile technologies that track the movement of people, freight and vehicles have evolved rapidly. The major categories of such technologies are reviewed and a number of attributes for classification are proposed. The willingness of people to engage in such technologically based surveys and the reported biases in the make-up of the sample obtained are reviewed. Lessons are drawn about the nature of the samples that can be achieved and the representativeness of such samples is discussed. Data processing is addressed, particularly in terms of the processing requirements for logged data, where additional travel characteristics required for travel analysis may need to be imputed. Another issue explored is the reliability of data entered by respondents in interactive devices and concerns that may arise in processing data collected in real time for prompting or interrogating respondents. Differences, in relation to the data user, between data from mobile devices and data from conventional self-report surveys are discussed. Potentials that may exist for changes in modelling from using such data are explored. Conclusions are drawn about the usefulness and limitations of mobile technologies to collect and process data. The extent to which such mobile technologies may be used in future, either to supplement or replace conventional methods of data collection, is discussed along with the readiness of the technology for today and the advances that may be expected in the short and medium term from this form of technology.

Over the past decade, transportation researchers have leveraged global positioning system (GPS) technology to improve the accuracy and increase the depth of spatial and temporal details obtained through household travel surveys. While earlier studies used GPS as a supplement to traditional household travel survey methods, measuring the accuracy of trips reported (Wolf et al., 2006), studies are now underway to identify the methods and tools that will allow us to do away with paper diaries entirely and simply rely on GPS to obtain trip details. This paper finds that while GPS clearly helps to improve participation among some groups, it decreases participation among others. Thus, it should be considered a tool in the household travel survey toolbox and not “the” solution to non-response issues in household travel surveys.

Purpose — The Regional Household Travel Survey (RHTS) was a large-scale regional household travel survey that covered 28 counties in the New York, North New Jersey, and Connecticut regions (i.e., the New York City “megaregion”). Data collection for the survey began in October 2010 and concluded in November 2011.

The chapter discusses the multiple modes and methodologies used in the RHTS, and presents the participation rates and trip rates obtained using this multimodal approach.

Methodology/approach — This survey used a combination of web, telephone, and mail-out/mail-back methods to collect household and travel information from approximately 18,800 households. Ten percent of the sampled households participated in the survey by using wearable global positioning system (GPS) devices that collected detailed travel data which, in turn, were processed and presented back to the households in a GPS-based prompted recall interview administered by web or telephone. The GPS component was used to generate trip rate correction factors for the other 90% diary-based households.

Findings — This large regional survey was the first to use this specific combination of methods and technologies, and provides many insights into the success of targeted survey modes and methods for different population groups.