:: THIRD-PARTY ACCURACY CASE STUDY

Background
Albeck Gerken, a leading transportation engineering firm in Florida, recently released a whitepaper titled "Accuracy Comparison of Non-Intrusive, Automated Traffic Volume Counting Equipment". An accompanying presentation was given by Jeff Gerken, P.E., PTOE at the Florida ITE Meeting on Nov 5th, 2009 titled "Innovations in Data Collection".

Albeck Gerken undertook the case study in order to evaluate Miovision's platform for automating turning movement counts. Specifically, Albeck Gerken was determining whether Miovision's platform is:

• Portable, non-intrusive & easy to use
• As accurate as manual counts
• A durable system, immune to fatigue
• A secure system, blending into roadside environment (i.e. doesn't create hazard, low possibility of theft / vandalism)

Methodology
The case study was conducted as follows:

• Miovision's platform was deployed on three arterial test locations of either four or six lane cross-sections.
• Albeck Gerken also deployed field staff to conduct manual counts at the same locations
• Albeck Gerken then conducted a manual count of the video file to use as a control.
• Albeck Gerken also utilized data from a case study conducted by the Montana DOT.

Accuracy Results

Compared to the manual counts done off the video file, Miovision's system was more accurate than the on-site manual counters in 2 out of the 3 tests. It's notable that Miovision was more accurate than the manual counters in the dataset that covered the most time and highest volume of vehicles. On the surface, this supports the contention that longer, higher volume counts are the most difficult for manual counters to perform.

It is also worth noting that the accuracy rates for the Montana DOT and Albeck Gerken manual counters are among the highest Miovision has seen over the course of hundreds of field tests / case studies done by our customers. When field staff data is compared to our system's data, Miovision typically sees a wide range of manual accuracy rates, starting as low as 80% but usually not exceeding 92%. Commendations are therefore in order to Albeck Gerken and Montana DOT for the quality of their training and data collection processes.

Concluding statement from Albeck Gerken:
"Miovision VCUs are accurate. The additional benefits of easy deployment, reduced requirements for trained staff, and the unique aspect of an audit trail make Miovision a viable alternative to traditional manual turning movement counting." (slide 16, source).

How does data accuracy impact your transportation decisions - and what can you do to improve your data collection process to get more accurate data? Learn more about our system for automating turning movement counts:

Sources:
Jeff Gerken, P.E. PTOE & Bryan Guy, P.E. "Accuracy Comparison of Non-Intrusive, Automated Traffic Volume Counting Equipment". Link.

Jeff Gerken, P.E. PTOE & Sandra Gonzalez, P.E. "Innovations in Data Collection". Link.