The Workplan

The project proposal envisaged six inter-related streams of work.

The first stream will develop a generic statistical theory for the optimal combination of diverse partial data sources, taking into account data sources that provide both direct and indirect information on the relevant population parameters, data at different levels of aggregation, the aging and updating of data, the effect of sampling and non-sampling errors and the opportunities presented by new data streams from IST systems themselves. In parallel, we will also develop underpinning process metadata methods to support the generic description and application of these statistical methods in different domains.

The second stream of work will concentrate on specialising these generic methods to the particular domain of transport planning, involving the application of transport-domain knowledge and the development and implementation of operational metadata, database and estimation software.

The third stream will focus in a series of application studies. Two forms of application studies are proposed.

• Pilot studies: These will involve (a) the specialisation of the generic OPUS methodology to a particular application domain and study area and (b) the application and testing of the OPUS using specific real datasets
• Feasibility studies: These will involve the specialisation of the generic OPUS methodology to a particular application domain and study area but will not entail formal application and testing using real data.

Two pilot studies in the transport domain are proposed:

• London: focusing on the estimation of indicators of urban mobility and
• Zurich: focusing on the estimation of regional origin-destination flows.

Three sets of feasibility studies are proposed:

• Milan: addressing issues related to traffic congestion and parking
• Belgium: addressing issues of estimating regional and national levels of mobility and cross border passenger and freight traffic.
• Italy: addressing the health impacts of socio-economic factors and environmental hazards.

The fourth stream of work is concerned with the critical evaluation of methods developed, both at the conceptual stage and with respect to the empirical results obtained from the application studies.

A fifth stream will be concerned with maintaining liaison throughout the lifetime of the project with potential users in many different domains. A User Forum will be established as a focus, both for their input to the development of the work and as an important means of disseminating results.

A sixth and related stream of work, also to be undertaken throughout the project, is concerned with the dissemination and exploitation of the results by means of publication in relevant academic and profession journals, conference attendance and the establishment of a project web site (this site).

Work Packages

The project includes the following work packages. Click on a row to see the details