Symposium examines big data’s role in transportation

Fewer traffic jams. Better gas mileage. Safer roads.

Those are just a few benefits of transportation informatics, a growing field of research that centers on analyzing massive amounts of information, or big data, to address critical transportation issues.

Leaders in this emerging field are gathering this week in Davis Hall for Big Data Analytics Transforming Transportation Operations, Management and Safety, the first annual symposium organized by a UB-led research group called Transportation Informatics (TransInfo) Tier 1 University Transportation Center.

The symposium, which includes members of academia, industry and government, covers a broad range of topics including, but not limited to:

• Developing computer models to predict border crossing delays.
• Using unmanned aircraft systems to inspect bridges.
• How connected vehicles can improve transportation systems.
• Mining social media data to predict traffic.

Transportation systems in the U.S. and abroad are stressed, creating environments that can be unsafe, unhealthy and expensive, said Adel Sadek, professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering in UB’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and director of TransInfo.

Transportation informatics addresses these problems through research-driven results, he said.

Shanjiang Zhu, assistant professor of transportation planning at George Mason University, explained to the more than 100 symposium attendees on Thursday how he is working to improve one of the nation’s most traffic-clogged metropolitan areas: Washington, D.C.

He is developing computer models that analyze real-time data collected by sensors along major thoroughfares to help the Virginia Department of Transportation best react to traffic accidents and other incidents that cause delays.

“We have to develop a system to assist them in developing the best strategies” to control traffic, he said.

William Smith, director of access and safety at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, explained the nonprofit’s holistic approach to address transportation and parking issues includes working with everyone from UB and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority to GO Bike Buffalo.

With new large development projects, including the forthcoming move of UB’s medical school downtown, Smith said the need to provide fast and reliable forms of transportation, especially public transportation, will increase.

“We view the Metro Rail as a critical element for our parking and transportation solutions moving forward,” he said.

Faroog Ibrahim, executive director at Savari Networks, explained how the Michigan-based company is working with such companies as GM and LG Electronics to develop technology for connected cars — automobiles connected to the Internet.

TransInfo Tier 1 University Transportation Center formed in 2013 when UB and partners — George Mason University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and Cheektowaga-based research firm CUBRC — received a $1.4 million federal Department of Transportation research grant.

It came a few months after UB established the Institute for Sustainable Transportation and Logistics (ISTL) through its 3 E Fund initiative. An internal grant program designed to help make UB one of the nation’s premier public research universities, the“3 Es” stand for excellence, engagement and efficiency.

ISTL is led by the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the School of Management. Sadek serves as its director.