GPS based pilot survey of freight movements in the Midwest region.

PDFTech ReportCFIRE 04-13258k683Freight transportationTruckingTravel patternsGlobal Positioning SystemData collectionTravel surveysOrigin and destinationRoute choiceTrip lengthWest North Central StatesNational Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)Mohammadian, KourosKawamura, KazuyaSturm, KarlPourabdollahi, ZahraUniversity of Illinois at Chicago. Dept. of Civil and Materials EngineeringUnited States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology AdministrationNTL-FREIGHT-FREIGHTNTL-PLANNING AND POLICY-SurveysUS Transportation CollectionThis report explains the methodology and results surrounding a recently completed study of a major grocery trucking firm\ue2\u20ac\u2122s travel patterns. The research group used Global Positioning System (GPS) logging devices to trace the temporal and spatial movements of grocery trucks throughout the study period in the spring and summer of 2012. At the end of this survey, the research team successfully recorded 108 logs that represented a full truck-days\ue2\u20ac\u2122 worth of GPS data.GPS data collection is passive and only requires participants to ensure that the GPS devices have sufficient battery power and satellite visibility. In this study, the research team did not require the participant\ue2\u20ac\u2122s truck drivers to do anything. Even without driver logs or written surveys, the GPS devices collected a great deal of information that the research team used to make behavioral inferences. Logistical decisions and behavior gleaned from this collected GPS data included destination choice, route choice, time-of-day choice, and trip length. The variables reflecting these behaviors, as well as those of speed and time management, are denoted to illustrate the practicality of modeling freight travel via this methodology.The information presented here has been collected through the cooperation of a major Illinois based grocery chain with their headquarters and distribution center located in the Chicago region. The research team used the digital log files extracted from GPS tracking devices and the driver logs filled out during distribution tours as part of the analysis. The research team cleaned, processed, analyzed, and summarized this data