Introduction to Transportation Data and Analysis Tools

Instructor: Dr. Ryan Avery, Deputy Director of UW TRAC

When: May 6th - May 7th, 2 days - 8:30am - 1pm each day

Where: Synchronous (Live) Online

Cost: $200

Description:

A key requirement of many transportation professionals is to be able to effectively analyze data and communicate findings and recommendations to decision-makers. However, planners and engineers now encounter larger and more varied datasets today than ever before and may need to learn new tools to accomplish the task. In this course, participants will learn about transportation data, collection, and quality control. Participants will also learn the basics of geographical information systems and data visualization tools and techniques. Upon completion, participants should be better equipped to identify appropriate visualization tools and harness resources for continued learning and support.

Modules

Transportation Data

• Learning Objectives
• Types of data and examples from planning and engineering datasets
• Traditional and emerging data sources
• Data Collection
• Quality Control
  • Common pitfalls: data formats, caution with Excel and CSV files

Geographic Information Systems

• Learning Objectives
• Introduction and Theory of Geographic Information Systems
• Overview of common software
• Increasing creation/availability of geospatial data

Data Visualization Techniques

• Learning Objectives
• Tools of the Trade:
• Traditional: Excel
• New generation: Tableau, Power BI
• Programming: Python (Jupyter Notebook), RStudio, etc
• Demonstrations & case studies
• Resources for continued learning and discovery

Instructor Bio:

Ryan Avery is the Deputy Director of the Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC) at the University of Washington, where he facilitates connections between UW researchers and state and local agency needs. Ryan also supports research projects and specializes in large-scale data analysis, applying his database and programming knowledge to efficiently process and analyze massive datasets to support public transportation agencies. He is the lead architect for data reporting in the vendor environment for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Toll Division, where he has supported data reporting efforts since 2014. He is also the lead data architect and developer for a research project using ORCA fare card data to develop data dashboards to support transit analysts at King County Metro and Sound Transit.

He is also highly skilled in the use of geographical information systems (GIS) to support planning efforts and perform detailed geospatial analysis. During his previous experience as a consultant, Ryan worked as a GIS specialist and transport planner and has multimodal transportation planning experience working on numerous transit studies in the Puget Sound as well as international experience working on the Dubai Metro and performing a high-speed rail feasibility study in Abu Dhabi. He is also an Affiliate Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, teaching courses in sustainable transportation planning and transportation engineering. These courses require him to stay at the forefront of trends.