Crowdsourced Social Media Monitoring System ... Crowdsourced Social Media Monitoring System Development 5. Report Date: August 2017 6. Performing Organization Code: 7. Author(s): Dr.

FINAL REPORT

Crowdsourced Social Media Monitoring System

Development

OFFICE OF RESEARCH 15 KENNEDY DRIVE

FOREST PARK, GA 30297-2534

TECHNICAL REPORT STANDARD TITLE PAGE

1. Report No.: FHWA-GA-17-1614

2. Government Accession No.:

3. Recipient's Catalog No.:

4. Title and Subtitle:

Crowdsourced Social Media Monitoring

System Development

5. Report Date: August 2017

6. Performing Organization Code:

7. Author(s):

Dr. Amit Kumar, Dr. Catherine L. Ross, Dr. Alex

A Karner, and Rohan Katyal

8. Performing Organ. Report No.: 16-14

9. Performing Organization Name and Address:

Georgia Tech Research Corporation

College of Design

Center for Quality Growth and Regional

Development (CQGRD)

760 Spring Street, Suite 213

Atlanta, GA 30332-0790

10. Work Unit No.:

11. Contract or Grant No.:

2014-32, RES PROJ 16-14

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address:

Georgia Department of Transportation

Office of Research

15 Kennedy Drive

Forest Park, GA 30297-2534

13. Type of Report and Period Covered:

Draft Final; May 2016 – August 2017

14. Sponsoring Agency Code:

15. Supplementary Notes:

Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration.

16. Abstract: Crowdsourcing is a relatively new area of research, but it is already generating an enormous amount of

interest among both researchers and practitioners, and is finding applications in multiple domains. It is

particularly useful for efficient traffic management and increasing public participation. Many state DOTs

are already using crowdsourced technologies and others are exploring its applications for traffic

management. Researchers are using sensor-rich mobile phones and online social networks for fetching

data from network users. Despite recent advancements, there remain gaps between the state of the art and

practice that need to be bridged. Programs like the Waze Connected Citizens Program and Strava Metro

Data Program are success stories in practice. This study explores the implementation of crowdsourced

traffic management by Georgia DOT (GDOT) and the challenges specific to them. The reliability of data

and filtering high volumes of information were found to be the two primary concerns. The team proposed

a system which can potentially tackle those challenges. The system consists of a mobile application and a

text mining application that together leverage the existing Twitter technology stack. Based on interviews

with traffic management professionals and a visit to GDOT, the report contains recommendations that

would improve the workflow at the TMC. Computer vision, data management and social media analytics

would be particularly beneficial to decrease operator burden. A system with multiple sources of

information integrated into one would be particularly beneficial. We are on the cusp of a revolution with

respect to big data and crowdsourcing. This is the ideal time for GDOT to invest in crowdsourcing

technologies to reap the benefits in the future.

17. Key Words: Crowdsourced Traffic

Management, Social Media Monitoring, Incident

Management

18. Distribution Statement:

19. Security Classification

(of this report):

Unclassified

20.Security

Classification

(of this page):

Unclassified

21. Number of Pages:

844

22. Price:

Form DOT 1700.7 (8-69)

GDOT Research Project No. 16-14

Draft Final Report

CROWDSOURCED SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

By Dr. Amit Kumar (Principal Investigator)

Dr. Catherine Ross (Co-Principal Investigator) Dr. Alex Karner (Co-Principal Investigator)

College of Design

Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development (CQGRD) Georgia Tech Research Corporation

Contract with

Georgia Department of Transportation

In cooperation with

U.S. Department of Transportation

Federal Highway Administration

August, 2017

The contents of this report reflect the views of the author(s) who is (are) responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the Georgia Department of Transportation or the Federal Highway Administration. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.

ii

Crowdsourced Social Media Monitoring System Development

Table of Contents Abbreviations ..................................................................................................... vi

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................. vii

CHAPTER l. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1

Organization of the report ......................................................................................... 2

CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 4

Introduction ............................................................................................................... 4

Types of Crowdsourcing for Traffic Management ................................................... 5

Advantages and Disadvantages of Crowdsourcing Types ........................................ 6

Benefits of Crowdsourcing ................................................................................... 6

Disadvantages of Crowdsourcing ......................................................................... 7

Active Crowdsourcing .......................................................................................... 8

Passive Crowdsourcing ......................................................................................... 8

Combined Crowdsourcing .................................................................................... 9

State of the Art .......................................................................................................... 9

Sensor Based Crowdsourcing Systems ................................................................. 9

Human Mobility Based Crowdsourcing Systems ............................................... 10

Gamification Techniques to Encourage Participation ......................................... 11

Extracting Relevant Data and Filtering ............................................................... 12

State of Practice ...................................................................................................... 12

Advanced Crowdsourced Data Applications ...................................................... 14

Strava Metro Data Service .................................................................................. 14

Waze Connected Citizens Program ..................................................................... 15

Adoption of Crowdsourced Technologies in a TMC Workflow......................... 15

Commercially Available Traffic Management Technologies ............................. 16

Summary ................................................................................................................. 17

About the Center for

Quality Growth and

Regional Development

The Center for Quality

Growth and Regional

Development (CQGRD) is

an applied research center

of the Georgia Institute of

Technology. The Center

serves communities by

producing, disseminating,

and helping to implement

new ideas and

technologies that improve

the theory and practice of

quality growth.

For more information, visit

www.cqgrd.gatech.edu

iii

CHAPTER III. CHALLENGES AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM

PRACTICE ....................................................................................................... 19

Introduction ............................................................................................................. 19

Questionnaire Design .............................................................................................. 19

Selection of Respondents and Data Collection ....................................................... 21

Analysis of the State of Practice ............................................................................. 23

ATMS and ITS .................................................................................................... 23

511 System .......................................................................................................... 23

Online Social Networks ...................................................................................... 24

Waze Connected Citizens Program ..................................................................... 28

Dedicated Platforms Developed by DOTs .......................................................... 28

Challenges faced by