NACIS 2016 Presentation Elisabeth Leaf, University of Washington, Urban Studies Britta Ricker, Ph.D. University of Washington Alexa Brockamp, University of Washington The Husky Lines research project takes a mixed methods approach to identifying barriers to public transit usage for the student population of the Tacoma campus of the University of Washington. The first step was to illuminate existing public transit deserts and simultaneously implement a student survey to measure student perceptions of transit use. Based on these findings, the team is recommending new bus stops and bus lines to better serve the student population in an effort to increase usage of public transportation by the students. Taking this approach a step further, this specific study aims to collect perceptions of daily commute and actual daily commute patterns. A mobile application, tapping into built-in sensors, measures actual commute patterns and is augmented with a traditional travel diary to measure perception of commutes. Finally, this study provides an example of how mobile technology can be used to support transportation surveys.

1. Husky Lines Mobile App
ADAPTING TRANSPORTATION STUDIES TO OUR
CHANGING TECHNOLOGIES
Elisabeth Leaf
elisabethleaf@gmail.com
leafe@uw.edu

2. Masters of Science
Geospatial Technologies
2
University of
Washington
Tacoma Campus

3. Husky Line Research Project
Green Seed Fund grant recipient
Started with the UWT Chancellor’s Advisory
Committee for Sustainability
Team of 5 researchers:
Dr. Britta Ricker, Dr. Jim Gawel, Alexa Brockamp, Elisabeth
Leaf, Greg Lund
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4. Husky Line Research Project
Researching:
1) Current and future transit options for UW Tacoma Campus
2) Student perceptions of transit and barriers to transit use
3) Ways to incorporate technology and GIS into transit studies
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5. Retrieved from http://blog.nskinc.com/it-services-boston/small-business-challenges-and-
mobile-solutions
Retrieved from
http://charlestonup.com/strategies/transportation-mobility/
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6. Underlying Problem:
Transportation planners often use self-reported data via travel
surveys and travel diaries to gather information on
transportation. They use this information to create travel
demand models and estimate changes in transportation activity
over time.
However, self-reported data can only measure perceptions of
transportation usage, not actual habits.
6

7. Underlying Question:
How can we use mobile technology
to improve the way we conduct
transportation studies?
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8. How can we use mobile technology
to improve the way we conduct
transportation studies?
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sensors

9. How can we use mobile sensors to improve
the way we conduct transportation studies
by estimating a user’s mode of
transportation?
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10. Husky Lines Mobile App
Spring Quarter:
Choose target device(s)
Create paper prototype
Conduct literature review
Summer Quarter:
Develop app
Write findings
 iPhone and iPad
 Storyboard designed in XCode
 Literature review found many examples of
research exploring similar use of sensors and their
accuracy

11. The Vision:
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1) Standard main menu
2) Consent form and demographic
survey on the first start-up
3) Daily transportation diary that is
pushed to the device nightly
with notification via text or
email
4) Record location when in study
participant is in motion
5) Record accelerometer data
when in motion
6) Upload all data nightly to a
remote server
7) Provide the participant with a
visualization of their data

12. Reality:
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1) Standard main menu
2) Consent form and
demographic survey on the
first start-up
3) Daily transportation diary that
is pushed to the device nightly
with notification via text or
email
4) Record location when study
participant is in motion
5) Record accelerometer data
when in motion
6) Upload all data nightly to a
remote server
7) Provide the participant with a
visualization of their data
ResearchKit Framework
ResearchKit Framework
Tested separately but not
included in app
Access through
Core Location
Access through
Core Motion
Not possible to finish
within time constraints

13. Mobile App
Main Menu
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14. 14

15. Consent
Form PDF
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16. Mobile App
Main Menu
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17. Survey
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18. Survey
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19. Accelerometer History
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Record Accelerometer
Record Location

20. 20
Accelerometer

21. Get Accelerometer History
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22. Record Accelerometer Live
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23. Record Location
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24. What are the challenges to building a
mobile application for research?
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25. • Core Motion requires
testing outside of the
Xcode simulator
• Apple Developer License
has some hurdles in set-up
Working with new
technology
• Lack of documentation
• Limited examples
• Subtle differences in
syntax between versions
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Apple Developer
License
Working with Swift
& Objective-C
• Apple uses both Swift and
Objective-C
• Syntax can be quite
different and is not
interchangeable
Findings: challenges in creating the app

26. Findings: ResearchKit has many possibilities
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27. Findings: Filters used in CMMotionActivityManager
(accelerometer history) can, and should, be improved
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28. Next Steps
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● Build out the survey modules, set up notifications, and improve user interface
● Research the filters used in CMMotionActivityManager to see how they could be
improved
● Set up server and automated data uploading
● With both live location and accelerometer data, limit the data collection to
‘when in motion’
● Work with “raw” accelerometer data to predict the mode of transportation

29. Any Questions?
Elisabeth Leaf
elisabethleaf@gmail.com
leafe@uw.edu
www.linkedin.com/in/elisabethleaf
twitter.com/ellieoftheworld