The Role of Classification Systems In Freight Trip Attraction Modeling

This paper describes different classification systems that have been used in the literature for Freight Trip Attraction (FTA) modeling, and explores the implications of using industry and land use classification systems for FTA modeling. The paper places a special focus on the North American Classification System (NAICS) and the City of New York Zoning Resolution (NYCZR) to analyze their similarities, and assess the performance of the FTA models derived based on those classification systems. The models ability to replicate FTA is assessed in both the calibration dataset and a validation dataset from receivers based in New York City (NYC). The application to NYC shows that in spite of grouping establishments using very different criteria, the NAICS-based and the NYCZR-based FTA models produce similar estimates