From Ad-Hoc to Organized
January 8, 2017
1:30 - 4:30 PM
Convention Center 145A
This workshop represents the next step in establishing the Zephyr Foundation, a rigorous, community-wide framework for improving travel analysis methods. Attendees will work in teams to develop scopes for specific projects that improve travel analysis in order to support better decision-making and the public good.
Summary Notes Now Posted
Scroll down and click-thru to get a summary of take-aways that will help inform the future of Zephyr.
Projects Explored
The following is a list of the projects that were discussed at the workshop. These are a selection and combination of the many submittals that we received and only represent possible projects. The Zephyr Board will be in charge of selecting projects that the organization will pursue. Click-thru to read notes on what each team came up with at TRB.
Reproducible Research
As our data sets become larger, and our models more complex, the limits of the scientific paper as the basic unit of trade are increasingly clear. What can Zephyr do to help incentivize practical reproducible research?
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Before and After Studies
Before and after studies are useful to to analysis and model developers as well as planners and policy-makers to learn from mistakes, calibrate tools, and bookend probable outcomes. What could Zephyr do to support systematic before after studies in our industry?
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Community-owned Travel Modeling Software
Well-managed and designed community-owned software projects could be broadly applicable to a number of public needs obviating unnecessary duplication. Unfortunately many of open-source projects lack a permanent and actively managed home. Would Zephyr be a good home for such projects?
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Exploring Uncertain Topics
How do we consider impending transformational changes within the span of our forecasts that are clearly outside the bounds of elasticities we can currently observe? This project considers “uncertain topics” such as the introduction of automated and connected vehicles and discusses how Zephyr could help.
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Model vs Model
This team explored what it would take to rigorously assess model performance in a testbed environment and determine what resources would be needed to make it successful.
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Count Dracula's Lab
Travel analysis will increasingly be relying on massive amounts of data collected using imperfect and inconsistent methods. Yet data wrangling can easily eat up a lot of bandwidth or budget. This team explored if it would be helpful for Zephyr to incubate an open-source data wrangling interface.
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General Travel Network Specification
This team explored what it would take for Zephyr to support a standardized network format.
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Improved Data Standards and Data Management
Effective travel analysis, planning, and policy-making requires credible and useful data that can be efficiently exchanged, analyzed, and validated. This group explored why and how Zephyr and professional organizations can develop data standards and guidelines.
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