An early task in the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) TOPMS project was to compile a summary scan of internal data sources that have at least some potential bearing on traffic operations performance management. The scope of this task does not include detail on the many and varied sources of data from other providers, although some are mentioned below for completeness. This data sources inventory is intended to be a living online resource not only for the TOPMS project but for use by others.
The organization of this begins with a summary table, followed by brief descriptions of each source within data type categories. Use the table of contents at right to skip down to a section of interest.
Chief among the resources available to obtain traffic operations data is the WisTransPortal transportation data hub. Hosted by the Wisconsin TOPS Lab, this is the central source for traffic operations, safety, and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) data, archiving, and real-time services for Wisconsin highways. Because of its prominent role in this performance management project, unfamiliar readers are encouraged to first familiarize themselves with some basics about the WisTransPortal by starting here: About WisTransPortal.
Those interested in learning more about where ITS devices and communications are located through the state should start at Wisconsin ITS Inventory.
All questions, corrections, and suggestions related to this page should be directed to inventory@topslab.wisc.edu.
The following is a summary table of the sources described in more detail below.
Source | Content | Description | Updates | Access | Link |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Data feeds | Speeds, travel times, incidents, closures, and more | Real-time feeds for 511 and other users | Every minute or 10 minutes | XML | see below |
Cameras | Traffic cameras | Snapshot or streaming views of traffic cameras statewide | Three minutes for snapshots, or live streaming | 511, web links, or WisTransPortal LINK | 511 or LINK |
FHWA probe data | Travel times | Five-minute average travel times on NHS TMCs | Monthly | Via WisDOT contact | n/a |
InterCAD | Incident information | Law enforcement CAD data | Continuously | WisTransPortal web interface, email, XML | InterCAD* |
MetaManager | AADT, LOS, crashes, and many others | Statewide data by link on state trunk network | Four months | By special request | n/a |
MV4000 | Crashes | Crash data archive | Monthly | WisTransPortal web interface | Crashes |
Neighboring agencies | Varies | ||||
Private data providers | Varies, focusing on speeds here | Speed data for a fee, available in a variety of formats, coverages, and granularity | Real time or periodic | From vendor | Varies |
Projects | Varies | Miscellaneous data collected by individual projects | Varies | Via WisDOT or project staff | n/a |
RWIS | Road weather | 65 ESS points statewide providing surface and atmospheric weather conditions | 30 Minutes | WisTransPortal web interface | RWIS* |
TIA | Incident alerts | Alerts system for higher impact incidents and media alerts | Continuously | WisTransPortal web interface | TIA* |
TRADAS | Volume, speed, classification | Statewide data from ATRs and periodic tube counts | Monthly | Via WisDOT staff or WisTransPortal | Counts |
V-SPOC | Volume, speed, occupancy | Archive of 5-min and 1-min ATMS detector data, where available | Daily | WisTransPortal web interface or TOPS queries | V-SPOC |
WisLCS | Closures | WisLCS encompasses all closure information statewide | Continuously | WisTransPortal web interface, XML | WisLCS |
* password required, see below for more info
To the greatest extent possible, The Wisconsin TOPS Lab develops all systems, databases, and data feeds to industry standards. Some of the most pertinent ones are mentioned here.
The foundational geographic basis for almost all traffic operations data originating from WisDOT is the State Trunk Network (STN). The STN includes all interstates, other freeways, expressways, and other State Trunk Highway (STH) routes in Wisconsin. It does not encompass county or local roads. The STN has a strong geographic information system (GIS) basis, with both a chain and a link-offset representation, access point and landmark locations, and other core attributes. In addition, many data sources are built upon STN, many of which are described below. These include MetaManager and its multiple components; the Wisconsin Lane Closure System; the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS); and much of the 511 traffic data, including incident locations, closures, and winter road conditions (by 2014).
The Wisconsin Information System for Local Roads (WISLR) is a second GIS basis for roadways in Wisconsin. Although the coverage is more expansive than the STN to include local roads, it lacks some of the core GIS and linear referencing features that STN offers for operational data. More information: WISLR.
The Traffic Message Channel (TMC) is a world wide standard arising from FM radio broadcasts of traffic conditions. This is a geographic basis used by many private data providers, including TomTom (TeleAtlas) and HERE (Nokia-NAVTEQ). WisDOT and the TOPS Lab have experience with TMC-based data sets from both TeleAtlas and NAVTEQ, and this will be the mapping basis for the forthcoming FHWA probe data, described below.
These include sources providing information on volumes, flows, speeds, occupancies or densities, forecasts, and levels of service (LOS).
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has acquired a National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS) of average travel times for use in performance measurement. This data set is being made available to States and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) as a tool for performance measurement. This is made available through the Freight Performance Management (FPM) and Urban Congestion Relief (UCR) programs. The data are furnished by Nokia's HERE business unit (which encompasses NAVTEQ), and consists of the following:
The data are available as of October 2013. The TOPS Lab is supporting WisDOT in the understanding and use of the data, including performance metrics and mapping. Visit the GLRTOC website for several examples. More information on accessing this information is on the WisTransPortal.
The MetaManager is a WisDOT data management system built upon the State Trunk Network (STN) GIS that integrates a wealth of data across many functional areas. MetaManager is heavily utilized throughout WisDOT for asset managment, performance management, conditions monitoring, investment decisions, planning, and other The information is refreshed three times per year and distributed in April, August, and December. Requests for this data should be directed through your WisDOT project contact.
There are approximately 23 thousand MetaManager segments, averaging 0.6 miles in length, ranging from very short (~50-foot minimum) to 5.75 miles. The majority of segment lengths are within 0.2 to 1.0 miles. Segments are categorized in many different ways, including by divided (directional), undivided (both directions), and one-way.
The total centerline mileage of the coverage includes approximately 740 miles of interstate, 420 miles of other freeways, 480 miles of expressway, and 10,130 miles of other routes (90% of which is undivided).
MetaManager data is bundled into the following sets:
The mobility data in MetaManager has four main components.
The mobility data also includes many attributes from related sources, e.g., projected AADT from the Traffic Forecasting section, posted speeds from Cartegraph SignView, etc.
Since 1993, archived hourly volume count data are available through WisDOT's TRAffic DAta System (TRADAS, a product from Chaparral Systems). TRADAS is managed by the Bureau of State Highway Programs. It houses continuous (e.g., from fixed automated traffic recorders (ATRs) and short duration (e.g., pneumatic tube counts) volume, speed, and vehicle classification data.
The data cover tens of thousands of locations around Wisconsin, housed in an Oracle database, and accessible in a number of ways.
WisDOT operates around 4000 real-time traffic detector locations - mostly inductive loop detectors, but increasingly microwave detectors. The coverage of these detectors, which operate through the Statewide Traffic Operations Center (STOC) Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS), are largely in the Milwaukee area, to a lesser extent in Madison, Fox Valley, and other locations. Detailed maps of the controller locations are available upon request. The coverage is approximately reflected on the Wisconsin 511 map as well, for example, Wisconsin 511 map showing taffic speeds.
All data from these detectors from 1997 to present are archived in 5-minute bins by the Wisconsin TOPS Lab and made available via the WisTransPortal Volume, SPeed, and OCcupancy (V-SPOC) application. A summary of V-SPOC is here: WisTransPortal V-SPOC information.
The application also provides the users with graphical summaries and a wide variety of other utilities. A WisTransPortal login is required to access the data. Larger or more complex queries are available through TOPS Lab staff.
These include sources providing information on crash rates, crash severities, and specific crash data.
Refer to the general MetaManager description above.
The crash data provided as part of MetaManager are the results of a processed, systems-level analysis. Every mile of the STN is assigned one of twelve functional peer groups, and baseline statistics are applied to each group. In addition to crash counts and rates, summaries are provided by a selection of classifications, followed by a selection of indicator flags for relatively higher crash occurrences of different types. A second set contains spot analyses from a rounding and aggregation process.
MV4000 refers to Wisconsin DOT's motor vehicle accident report. the WisTransPortal is the primary point of access to the crash data archive of all reported crashes in Wisconsin from 1994 to present. Learn more and access the archive here: WisTransPortal crash data.
Though no longer available, there previously existed a Wisconsin Safety Data Resource Portal that provided comprehensive information about a wide variety of data sources both central and related to crashes and safety. Several of the data sources summarized here on this page were also described in the safety portal. The portal had been sponsored by the WisDOT Bureau of Transportation Safety.
There are two primary types of information on road weather conditions in Wisconsin. First is the segment conditions as reported by the Wisconsin State Patrol (WSP). These are actual field observations, updated several times per day, or more frequently if conditions are changing. The coverage is most primary routes in Wisconsin, with about 120 fairly fixed segments (varies slightly between each season). The coverage is shown on the Wisconsin 511 map at Wisconsin 511 map showing winter road conditions. The page WinterRoads.info also provides alternative views. Unfortunately there is currently no data feed available, nor is there a usable archive available. By about January 2014 the vendor-provided system that WSP uses is being replaced by a new application that is part of the WisTransPortal call the Winter Roads System (WRS). When that change occurs, winter road conditions will be provided via real-time XML, and all conditions will be archived for multiple purposes later. This subsection will be updated when that happens.
The second type is a set of point observations from environmental sensor stations (ESS) that are part of Wisconsin's Road Weather Information System (RWIS). As of September 2013 there are 65 ESS locations statewide, shown on the map below. The locations will be available on an interactive map in the future.
Until the middle of 2013, WisDOT provide a real-time RWIS map on their website, but that is not longer available. The Clarus initiative was a nationwide portal for RWIS data, but that is currently being transitioned to NOAA's MADIS (more info). Nonetheless, the WisTransPortal provides tabular RWIS data from 2006 to present via a web interface query tool. A WisTransPortal login is required, then access that at WisTransPortal RWIS data. The data are updated every 30 minutes, and current tabular views for atmospheric conditions and road weather conditions are provided. The site also provides a very good user guide with complete descriptions of all the available fields. Atmospheric conditions include temperature, wind, humidity, pressure, visibility, and others. Road surface conditions include surface temperature, subsurface temperature, moisture characteristics, and more.
The WisTransPortal also houses data on incidents and lane closures. Incident data includes the following two resources:
All lane closures on WisDOT facilities are entered into the Wisconsin Lane Closure System (WisLCS), also a part of the WisTransPortal. In addition to being a tracking and approval system, all closures are archived. More information is available here: WisTransPortal WisLCS. A WisTransPortal login is required to access the archive. Closure information includes detailed location, description, dates, and times. The WisLCS data is also provided in real-time via XML (see below).
Two XML feeds provide the majority of the ongoing real-time traveler information. Requests to access these should be directed to WisDOT STOC by email, and this will ensure you receive the latest information and future updates. Associated ITS inventory locations is available from the TOPS Lab, also by email.
Please be aware that to view any of the links below, you need an unzip utility, e.g., right click links to save, then unzip using any desktop unzip utility. Developers will automate this with scripting via Python, Perl, Java, etc.
There also exists a separate internal special events XML as part of WisLCS, updated nightly.
There exists a wealth of traffic data that is collected by individual project or study efforts, but that is not captured in any central database. For these, inquiries need to content.dot.wipropriate WisDOT staff or the consultants involved. A prominent example of this is the Madison Beltline origin-destination (OD) study completed fall 2012 in Dane County, utilizing 120 Bluetooth detectors over a six week period, resulting in several million OD pairs, accurate and rich travel time data, and trip routing detail.
WisDOT operates over 300 cameras statewide for monitoring traffic conditions and assisting with incident response. These cameras are controlled at the STOC, but outside the control room there are a few ways to see the views.
WisDOT operates many dynamic message signs (DMS) statewide, about 85 of which are shown on the 511 website (click here to view map, then hover or click over a DMS icon to see the contents). Messaging often includes current travel times by default, with incident or lane impacts displayed as needed. On occasion, select DMS are used for safety messaging, e.g., Buckle Up. A list of DMS is available via the ITS Inventory, noted in the introduction. Queries about the DMS message history can be requested through the STOC control room. With an identified start date, all messages displayed would be summarized, with durations.
In many cases, traffic information outside Wisconsin is relevant to Wisconsin's traffic operations performance. Some options follow for accessing operational data from each neighboring agency.
The Gateway Traveler Information System (GTIS) is developed and hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago. In partner ship with Lake Michigan Interstate Gateway Alliance (LMIGA) agencies, GTIS serves as the central real-time traffic data portal for Illinois and the surrounding region. The current geographic coverage is shown in the image below. Visit TravelMidwest.com to see more.
These are just links to neighboring traveler information resources to give you a sense of the traffic data and coverages available. More information is available by contacting the TOPS Lab.
Many other sources of transportation data are available at the national level. This WisDOT page has a comprehensive list: WisDOT Transportation Statistics.