Cell Phone Enabled Travel Surveys: The Medium Moves the Message

Abstract Purpose — To assess how cell phone technology might impact the collection of travel data in the future. Design/methodology/approach — Two different types of cell phone enabled studies are considered. First, we examine how the text feature of phones can be used for person-to-person surveys, and second, we explore an aggregate level survey enabled by an anonymous and passive GPS trace. Findings — This study explores the types of travel information that are likely to be inferred from text surveys and cell phone traces. It recognizes that a passive GPS trace might change the level of measurement and the inferences we make about travel behaviors. Research limitations/implications — The study is prospective. It anticipates that over the next 10–15 years cell phone tracking technology will improve, as well as the speed and capability of algorithms for post-processing the information. Practical implications — Cell phone enabled studies may provide a new tool and new level of measurement, as traditional survey response rates decline, and it becomes more difficult and expensive to conduct conventional travel surveys. The capacity of cell phones for travel survey work is improving, but it is not fully realizable today (2012). Originality/value — This study provides a context to understand how the technology of the cell phone might be integrated with more traditional travel surveys to streamline data collection, and produce new types of spatial detection, measurement, and tracking.