RSG Director Jon Slason will present during the 2023 New York State Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations Conference on Tuesday, May 9, and Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

Jon's first presentation, titled “VisionEval – Open Source Strategic Transportation Planning Tool for Long-Range Planning,” will discuss how strategic modeling tools can be employed to understand multiple scenarios as part of the long-range planning process. RSG was part of the original team that designed and implemented VisionEval, and we have since assisted in its implementation across the United States.

Jon's second presentation, presented on behalf of RSG Director Kyeongsu Kim and titled “Online Model Input/Output Analyzer for Visualization,” will discuss an online tool RSG developed to visualize model input and output data, such as socioeconomic (land-use) data and highway network link files. The tool, called Analyzer, provides at-a-glance views of model input data in maps, tables, and charts, making it similar to other visualization tools. The tool also allows users to review and edit scenario input files, including highway and transit network link attributes.

RSG is a proud Copper-level sponsor of the 2023 New York State Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations Conference.

Who? Jon Slason, Director (RSG)

What? Two presentations, titled “VisionEval – Open Source Strategic Transportation Planning Tool for Long-Range Planning” and “Online Model Input/Output Analyzer for Visualization,” during the 2023 NYSAMPO Conference

Where and When? Jon is delivering his two presentations on Tuesday, May 9 at 9:30 a.m. ET and Wednesday, May 10 at 1:45 p.m. ET.

RSG Consultant Robert Wertman, AICP, PTP, will present during the Tennessee Model Users Group (TNMUG) meeting on April 21, 2023, in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.

Robert's presentation, titled “A Data-Informed Modeling Approach in Fort Wayne, Indiana,” will discuss our team's experience working with Convergence Planning to develop a trip-based travel demand model for the Northeast Regional Coordinating Council (the metropolitan planning organization for Fort Wayne, Indiana) that uses trip-based aggregate modeling methods fused with passively collected data that results in a data-driven incremental forecast method.

The TNMUG was established in 2004 to improve modeling and forecasting capabilities within the state through the exchange of information about travel demand modeling and forecasting.

Who? Robert Wertman, AICP, PTP, Consultant (RSG)

What? Presentation, titled “A Data-Informed Modeling Approach in Fort Wayne, Indiana,” during the 2023 TNMUG meeting

Where and When? Robert is delivering his presentation in person on Friday, April 21 at 3:15 p.m. ET (2:15 p.m. CT)

RSG's Ken Kaliski (Principal) and Ryan Haac (Consultant) co-wrote a paper with experts from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Vermont Environmental Research Associates, Inc., titled “Effects of land-based wind turbine upsizing on community sound levels and power and energy density,” on wind turbine upsizing's impact on community sound and power output levels, published in the journal Applied Energy. Their paper will be the subject of a webinar on April 13, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. ET (10:00 a.m. PT).

The team studied larger turbines' effects on micro-siting, power, energy density, and noise. They used desktop software to model larger turbines on two wind development sites and three turbine models representing past, present, and future periods for three manufacturers. The study aimed to maximize the number of turbines and total power output within each site's constraints.

The findings suggest that future larger turbines will lead to fewer turbines per land unit and lower community sound levels, but with increased capacity and energy output.

Key results include:

• Future turbines are over 60% taller, with 60% fewer turbines fitting in the same land area.
• Despite fewer turbines, future turbine-based projects have higher capacities and higher annual energy output per land area.
• Community sound levels at homes will be significantly lower, despite louder turbines.
• Lower sound levels affect homes near projects and those close to turbines on hosting parcels.
• Wider adoption of taller, high-capacity turbines will likely yield numerous benefits in the future.

Kevin Johnson joins RSG as a Director and brings over 17 years of experience managing large multimodal transportation planning projects.

Kevin has worked primarily on big data and travel modeling projects, integrating big data into the model validation process to improve the accuracy of forecasts.

“Solving complex problems for clients through innovative travel behavior modeling has been at the core of my professional work to date,” said Kevin. “I’m excited to continue my career at RSG where I hope to contribute to work advancing the state of the practice of model development and application.”

Kevin's experience delivering models and datasets that improve project outcomes will help RSG continue to deliver client-focused solutions in the travel model development and passive mobility data analytics spaces.

RSG is proud to host an exhibit during the Siting and Environmental Compliance Conference 2023 (“Siting 2023”) from March 28 to March 29. Our acousticians will be on hand to answer questions from attendees about our noise control engineering solutions, particularly in the renewable energy space.

Since 1986, RSG has partnered with public utilities, environmental groups, independent power producers, and governments to deliver detailed analyses of their energy issues, challenges, and opportunities. We understand the challenges energy innovators face and apply our industry knowledge and advanced analytical techniques to develop future-focused noise control engineering solutions.

Siting 2023 gathers industry leaders, experts, and stakeholders to address crucial siting, permitting, community engagement & environmental compliance topics. This year's conference will convene in Greater Albuquerque, New Mexico.

RSG Consultant Reid Haefer will present during ShinyConf 2023 on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.

Reid's presentation, titled “Which Sidewalks Should be Repaired?” will discuss our team's work with city officials in Burlington, Vermont, to develop an innovative data collection technology and a custom, interactive data tool in Shiny. The presentation will describe how the tool helped city planners prioritize repairs by efficiently allocating repair budgets based on sidewalks' conditions, proximity to other poor-condition sidewalks, nearby land uses, and equity considerations.

Who? Reid Haefer, Consultant (RSG)

What? Case study presentation, titled “Which Sidewalks Should be Repaired?” during ShinyConf 2023

Where and When? Reid is delivering his presentation remotely on Wednesday, March 6 at 2:15 p.m. ET (7:15 p.m. CET).

RSG Senior Director Dana Lodico, PE, INCE Bd. Cert. will present at Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” in Italy on Monday, March 6, 2023.

Dana's presentation, titled “Building a Better Soundscape: How Community Planning Can Reduce Noise Impacts,” will discuss potential noise and land-use conflicts and how to design a soundscape that will reduce noise impacts on the community. Topics will include wind turbines, roadways, outdoor concert venues, and industrial uses.

Who? Dana Lodico, PE, INCE Bd. Cert., Senior Director (RSG)

What? Presentation to Department of Architecture and Industrial Design at Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”

Where and When? Dana is delivering her presentation in person on Monday, March 6 at 9:00 a.m. ET (3:00 p.m. local time in Italy). Attendees can also tune in via Microsoft Teams by using this link.

RSG has appointed Tim Young as our new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). This newly created position, which replaces the Chief Information Officer (CIO) role, recognizes and elevates the importance of RSG's technical, software, and data science services and offerings.

As CTO, Tim will help us continue to deliver a client-oriented approach to solving complex problems, ensuring alignment between RSG's technological resources and the shifting needs of our clients. “With the ever-changing marketplace, it will be critical for us to make informed and strategic decisions about the future,” said Tim. “I'm thrilled to lead the team that will help RSG meet the evolving technological needs of our clients.”

RSG is an industry leader in the technological product and services space. In addition to developing rMove™, the world's most accurate approach for location-aware market research, RSG has developed or been integral to the creation of several open-source applications. These tools include ActivitySim, STOPS (Simplified Trips-on-Project Software), and VisionEval, among others.

Jeremy Wilhelm joins RSG as a Director and brings over 15 years of experience as a project manager with a focus on data analysis and consensus-building.

Jeremy has directed work on transportation and mobility, education, and public health projects, most notably in the household travel survey space.

“Joining RSG feels like a natural continuation of my educational and professional path,” said Jeremy. “I’m excited to help RSG build on its reputation for conducting high-quality research and delivering impactful, insightful tools.”

Jeremy's proven track record of turning survey results into practical solutions that unite stakeholders around shared goals will help RSG continue to deliver exceptional survey-based research services to our clients.

The Federal Transit Administration's Simplified Trips-on-Project Software (STOPS) was this year's recipient of the Zephyr Foundation's Impactful Research Award. This award recognizes a research project that has had the most relatively recent impact on bettering the travel analysis field for the public good.

RSG worked with FTA to develop STOPS, which streamlines the development of ridership forecasts. These forecasts are a key element of project evaluation. The STOPS forecasting system utilizes information from the Census Transportation Planning Package. Planners can code project changes to General Transit Feed Specification files and then run the software to determine future ridership for the project as a whole and for each station.

RSG is proud to have been a participant in the creation of STOPS and congratulates FTA on this significant accomplishment.