Can smartphone generated cycling data contribute to the improvement of the bicycle infrastructure?

Abstract

Smartphone generated data could make an important contribution to learn more about cycling behaviors to support the decision making process. As part of the Oldenburg Bicycle Challenge a huge amount of app based data was gathered in the German Oldenburg region. In combination with weather and counting data new knowledge on bicycle use can be generated. Parameters as distances and durations of the trips, hourly values, the distribution of the trips to recreational and utilitarian purposes, brakings and waiting times are analyzed and discussed as part of this work. GPS data of cyclists is not only gathered by smartphone apps but also by bike sensors that are attached to the bicycle as many projects has shown (e.g. ECOSense). As part of the conclusion, the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches regarding acquisition of participants, effort for data collection, data quality, potentials for cycling data analysis etc. will be discussed.