Model data collection: Time to go back to school?

Emma Cockburn, a transport planning team leader at Somerset County Council, was involved in the project management of the initial phases of the South-East Dorset Multi Modal Study and accidentally stumbled across the STHC data as a result of a random conversation while embroiled in RSIs and other data collection activities

09 December 2010

Emma Cockburn

An aerial view of an STHC pupil plot

A male greater black backed gull will often weigh in excess of 2kg (depending on exactly how many chips he has stolen from you). Put that evil looking bird at the end of a 1.25m arm on top of an 8m column and that is a fair bit of stress...

Anyone who’s ever been involved at the early stages of developing a transport model will understand the slight note of trepidation in the voice; that twitch in the eye accompanying the announcement that “of course we’ll have to undertake comprehensive origin-destination data collection”. O-D surveys are synonymous with roadside interview surveys (RSIs), possibly the most difficult part of any data collection programme. They’re very expensive, they...