Traditionally, traffic and pedestrian counts have been sourced from municipalities. While many larger municipalities conduct regular, statistically representative studies, other smaller municipalities conduct such studies infrequently or not at all.
Furthermore, many traffic studies are based on small sample periods such as a single day or maybe only part of a day and that data is extrapolated as if it were representative of typical traffic volumes for that area.
Nevertheless, this data is a valuable location analysis tool, particularly when assessing the busyness of two sites in the same city. To learn more about PiinPoint's traditional traffic feature click here.
Mobile Location Data (MLD) is a game-changer when it comes to tracking daily traffic volumes. PiinPoint's Custom Vehicle Traffic Query allows you to look at average annual daily traffic (AADT) and pedestrian counts for any major road segment in Canada. That includes far-flung communities like Fort St. John, British Columbia.
Key Differences between Mobile Data Traffic and Municipal Traffic Counts
Mobile Data Traffic is not restricted to areas where municipal counts are available. Any major road segment can be queried.
Mobile Data Traffic counts are segment-based, meaning they capture average volume of traffic and pedestrians over a road segment. Municipal Traffic Counts are generally intersectional, meaning that they capture cars moving in any direction through an intersection. This does not allow you to pinpoint traffic which is specifically moving past your location unless your location is at the intersection itself.
How to use MLD
To activate MLD, open the Traffic panel and click the green vehicle icon. Click on any road segment to drop that marker on any road segment.
💪 Pro Tip
For road segments in which directional traffic is separated you can select the side of the road on which you want to place the marker.
The segment of road that you select will be highlighted in blue and pink (each colour denotes one direction of traffic), and nearby segments that also have counts will be identified by a grey highlight. The panel that will open in the top right-hand corner displays the average traffic volume for the segment of road selected as a total. You will also see traffic by day of the week and by hour. Hover over either of the graphs to get a figure for a specific day or time of day.
You can click on nearby greyed road segments to pull counts for those segments without having to navigate back to the Traffic feature panel.
To toggle to pedestrian counts, simply click Pedestrians at the top of the panel.
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If you have more questions on this topic feel free to contact your Customer Success Manager via the Chat or email support@piinpoint.com.