VIZ19 24B | Ross Wang | Developing a Matrix for Visualizing National Household Travel Survey Data

Presenter Name: Chieh (Ross) Wang 

Title: Developing a Chart Selection Matrix for Visualizing National Household Travel Survey Data 

Abstract:
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has been collecting and distributing passenger travel information through a probability-based random sampling survey, now known as the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), since 1969 to help understand how, when, why, and where people travel in the United States. Results of NHTS have been provided as a public dataset for researchers, state departments of transportation (DOTs), and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to better understand travel demand and travel behavior for transportation planning purposes. With the advancement in data availability and visualization techniques, numerous types of charts and graphs have been used to visualize data. However, not all charts are suitable to tell all stories and some charts are considered better ways to tell certain stories. As a result, various chart selection diagrams have been developed to help form general ideas of storytelling through graphs; nevertheless, these diagrams can sometimes be overwhelming and may not be specific. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop a chart selection matrix that is geared toward to visualizing the NHTS data and help discover new information that has not been revealed in traditionally available tables. The chart selection matrix will take into account the type of variables (i.e., numeric or categorical), the number of variables considered and their relationships, the size of variable categories, the level and size spatial categories (e.g., county, MPO region, state), temporal information (e.g., day of week, time of day), and other factors that are unique to the 2017 NHTS data; and suitable chart types will be identified by the matrix. Based on this chart selection matrix, ORNL is in the process of developing a web-based, interactive, Advanced Analytics (AA) tool that can be used to (1) extract; (2) tabulate; (3) visualize; and (4) export NHTS data and charts with information that can further support data-driven and informed transportation planning decisions. Examples of potential interactive graphs for NHTS data, created using D3.js, are shown below.

TRB,TRBVIZ,TRBVIS,ABJ95,Symposium,Visualization,2019,Transportation,