Four RSGers led two sessions during the virtual 2020 Fall North Carolina Model Users Group (NCMUG) meeting, which was held on Wednesday, December 2 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET. The 2020 meeting focused on COVID-19's impact on travel behavior and data collection as well as the use of passively collected data (“big data”).

The presentation given by RSG Director Michelle Lee and RSG Senior Analyst Abigail Rosenson, titled “Longitudinal Surveys to Understand Short- and Long-Term Impacts of COVID-19,” discussed survey methodology best practices to achieve representative samples using panels and described primary panel data applications. Their presentation also discussed COVID-19 travel implications nationally and in North Carolina, with a particular focus on demographic implications and attitudes about travel resumption. A recording of their presentation can be viewed here.

The presentation given by RSG Senior Consultant Stephen Tuttle and RSG Consultant Steven Trevino, titled “Big Data & Pivoting in the NC Statewide Model (NCSTM),” provided an overview of the location-based service data processing and expansion methodology used in the NCSTM. Their presentation detailed the application of passively collected data to the NCSTM via the pivot process, provided a review of the results from data expansion, and described future big data applications, including post-COVID-19 uses and forecast scenarios. A recording of their presentation can be viewed here.

About NCMUG: The vision of NCMUG is to provide a forum for sharing knowledge and experiences of using state-of-practice transportation modeling tools, techniques, and innovations appropriate to answer transportation planning and policy questions for the State of North Carolina, and promote its implementation across the State.

New mobility technologies and COVID-19 have dramatically accelerated the pace of personal travel behavior changes. This makes it increasingly important for practitioners to understand how and why people travel.

On Tuesday, December 15 at 1:00 p.m. ET, RSG Senior Director Mark Bradley will present tips on how to account for age-cohort-related differences in travel behavior in applied travel demand models. The presentation is part of a panel event sponsored by Zephyr.

Attendees will hear from several experts on how mobility technologies, along with shifts driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, have affected many of the behavioral dynamics that go into modeling individual travel behavior.

Seven Days newspaper recently published an article on the future of commercial drone delivery in Vermont. The article features an interview with RSG's Eddie Duncan who, along with Ken Kaliski and Erica Wygonik, authored RSG's recent white paper on commercial drone noise and strategies for mitigation.

More companies are beginning commercial drone delivery pilot programs across the United States as the technology matures and there is more of a demand for these types of services. RSG's white paper uses the Burlington, Vermont, region to demonstrate how community noise mapping can be used to plan for and mitigate (or mask) the potential noise from commercial drone delivery operations.

RSG's Eddie Duncan and Ken Kaliski will present at the Aerial Mobility: Noise Issues and Technology workshop on Wednesday, December 2 at 2:10 p.m. ET. They will lead a discussion on reducing community noise from delivery drones through route optimization.

Noise will become an increasingly important issue facing communities as more companies begin drone delivery operations. Our latest white paper, “Three Considerations Around Drone Noise and Strategies for Mitigation,” explores some of these issues and offers proactive solutions for policymakers and industry leaders. You can read our white paper here.

The Technology for a Quieter America virtual workshop, which is being hosted by the National Academy of Engineering, was organized by the INCE Foundation in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration.

RSG’s Mark Bradley will present at the Big Data Meets Survey Science Conference (BigSurv20) on Friday, November 13 at 11:45 a.m. ET.

Mark's presentation, titled Smartphone-based travel surveys: An example of controlled data fusion, discusses findings from work done with RSG's Jeff Doyle. Their research offers unique insights into “controlled” data fusion methods that can be used to impute trip purposes and modes in cases where the reported data from household travel surveys are suspect. The presentation gives background on the smartphone-based survey approach and experiences, describes the fusion/imputation methods developed and applied thus far, and discusses future directions for development.

This second edition of BigSurv20 is being held virtually this year on Fridays throughout the months of November and December. BigSurv2020 gathers a diverse group of practitioners who discuss how big data and data science can improve the quality of statistics production and use.

BigSurv20 registration is free and required to attend. Attendees receive access to the full event program and can view the prerecorded presentations and ask questions of the presenters during the last 15 minutes of each prerecorded session. Click here to view a recording of Mark's presentation.

The Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE) honored RSG Senior Director Kenneth Kaliski, PE, QEP, INCE Bd. Cert. with The William W. Lang Award for the Distinguished Noise Control Engineer. The award, which is given every two years, acknowledges Ken’s meaningful service to and enthusiastic support of INCE Board Certification, notable contributions to the field of wind turbine acoustics, and use of rigorous analytics and novel approaches to advance the field of noise control engineering.

INCE’s traditional awards ceremony was canceled this year due to the pandemic. Instead, INCE’s president, Michael Bahtiarian, INCE Bd. Cert., traveled to RSG’s headquarters in White River Junction in September to present the award to Ken in person during a socially distanced ceremony attended by a small group that included RSG’s CEO (Stephen Lawe), President (Thomas Adler), and members of RSG’s acoustics services team.

Ken has been with RSG for over 30 years since our founding in 1986. During that time, he served for 15 years on our Board of Directors. His work focuses on community noise monitoring and modeling, architectural acoustics, transportation noise, and industrial noise control projects. He also works on complex modeling projects in the fields of market and energy research. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors for INCE where he is Board Certified, he is certified as a Qualified Environmental Professional through the Institute of Professional Environmental Practice and is a member of the Acoustical Society of America.

To read more, check out this article in Vermont Business Magazine.

Working with data requires a unique skill set to ensure accurate processing and handling while delivering the greatest benefit to users. On Thursday, November 12 at 2:00 p.m. ET, join a group of experienced transportation data scientists for a Data Workflow Tools + Tricks learning session sponsored by Zephyr and organized by RSG Data Scientist Leah Flake.

Attendees will learn from experts in the field as they share how their workflows help them extract knowledge from data and model output, the tools they rely on, and lessons they’ve learned from working with data.

RSG's Eddie Duncan will present at this week's Quiet Drones e-symposium in Paris, France on Tuesday, October 20. The event has been organized by INCE/Europe in association with CidB and with support from the International Institute of Noise Control Engineering.

As drone technology takes off, this first-of-its-kind event gathers acousticians, governments, and industry experts to discuss drone noise issues and solutions. Eddie will present the findings from his paper, “Commercial Delivery Drone Routing: A Case Study of Noise Impacts.” The paper was co-authored by RSG's Ken Kaliski, Isaac Old, Erica Wygonik, and Justin Culp.

Noise will become an increasingly important issue facing communities as more companies begin drone delivery operations. Our latest white paper, “Three Considerations Around Drone Noise and Strategies for Mitigation,” explores some of these issues and offers proactive solutions for policymakers and industry leaders. You can read our white paper here.

RSG Vice President Maren Outwater and Senior Consultant Stephen Tuttle to present today at the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT)’s 35th Annual Fall Planning Conference on the effects of COVID-19 on transportation and planning. As Illinois develops its first-ever Statewide Travel Demand Model, IDOT has used the Phase 1 Model to perform various analyses and simulations. Their presentation will share how big data and the model were used to measure changes in vehicle miles traveled and other travel metrics due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As pandemic-related travel changes vary by person, community, and region, we’re continuing to collect valuable data through our COVID-19 Transportation Insights Panel to help clients better understand and forecast them.

Eno Transportation Weekly (ETW) published an op-ed authored by RSG's Eddie Duncan, Erica Wygonik, and Ken Kaliski on drone noise annoyance and mitigation. Their article, titled “Annoyance and Drones: How Optimizing Flight Paths Can Reduce Potential Noise Impacts,” is based on research and insights presented in our latest white paper on the same topic.

ETW is produced by The Eno Center for Transportation (Eno), a non-profit charitable foundation offering rigorous, objective analyses on the problems facing transportation and providing ideas for, and a clear path toward, possible solutions. For nearly two decades, their ETW publication has been the premier federal transportation policy publication for transportation leaders across the country.