Leveraging Big Data to Improve Traffic Incident Management NCHRP 2017 75

As the era of “Big Data” is upon us, there is an overwhelming number of data sources to draw from to improve traffic incident management (TIM). Big Data is not just “a lot of data,” it is a fundamental change in how to collect, analyze, and use data to uncover trends and relationships. In general, advances in technology have significantly increased data quantity, improved data quality, and enhanced data analytics. There is an urgent need for transportation agencies to become fluent in these technologies and to successfully integrate them within their operations so that they may benefit from the large set of existing and emerging Big Data data sources and tools. Big Data holds the potential for leveraging the greatest return on investment in traffic incident management and associated public safety outcomes.