GPS-data in bicycle planning: “Which cyclist leaves what kind of traces?” Results of a representative user study in Germany

Abstract In the recent decade, numerous scientific studies investigated the utility of GPS data to bridge the existing data gap in cycling. Almost all studies faced the lack of representativeness of data because the participation in data collection was influenced by self-selection of participants. Thus, the GPS data were biased by dominant user groups. However, the difference between biased samples and representative data has not been quantified, yet, as there was no data from representative selected samples that could be used for comparison. The present work investigates whether and how cycling behaviour of different groups differs. It furthermore examines the parameters cycling behaviour depends on. For this purpose, nearly 200 cyclists were selected according to representativeness regarding age, gender and type of cyclist. The study participants recorded their ways using a GPS smartphone app during a two-week field study. Data analysis revealed little influence of the user group on cycling behaviour, only. In contrast, the variables age, gender and trip purpose show a strong influence on cycling speed, distance, acceleration and frequency. The study results point out the need for representative data collection in GPS-based studies on cycling.

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