Dive summary:
- Collecting traffic data in hopes of understanding what people want built and where has depended on interviews and has proven less than totally reliable, sometimes at steep costs to developers, but cell phone data may be the key to much better information.
- By analyzing volumes of anonymous cell data – where people are traveling and when without needing to know who they are – it's possible to draw a more accurate picture of traffic patterns, and that should make it easier for developers, planners, engineers and architects to come up with projects that contractors can build.
- Approximately 90% of Americans own cell phones or tablet computers, and those are generating tons of data that can be mapped as they move around the cell system.
From the article:
Embracing better market-analysis technology that mines big data does not have to mean discarding tried and true. It can, however, provide the winning edge that gives communities and developers the confidence needed to give ambitious projects the green light, and contractors the projects to build. ...
