Analyzing of Quality of Traffic Data Acquisition Infrastructure – Procedure and First Results

An error-free data base is essential for an effective traffic management. A correspondingly high quality of traffic data results in informed decisions. This applies not only to drivers but also to operators in traffic control centres as well as to control algorithms. However, local authorities have no possibility to verify the quality of their data base. Within the German research project TRAFFIC IQ algorithms for determining the quality of traffic data and traffic data collection devices are being developed to solve this problem. The Malfunction Sniffer, a tool to carry out on-site quality checks of detection infrastructure was designed in order to support the development of any quality analyzing algorithms. It was developed and prototypically implemented by the Department of Traffic Engineering and Transport Logistics of the University of Kassel in cooperation with the City of Dusseldorf. After an initial on-site search for defective detectors, long time monitorings of the identified detectors took place. This paper presents the procedure of executed long time monitorings and successive evaluation of detectors. The results will be discussed too.