Facing the needs for clean bicycle data – a bicycle-specific approach of GPS data processing

Abstract

Background: GPS-based cycling data are increasingly available for traffic planning these days. However, the recorded data often contain more information than simply bicycle trips. GPS tracks resulting from tracking while using other modes of transport than bike or long periods at working locations while people are still tracking are only some examples. Thus, collected bicycle GPS data need to be processed adequately to use them for transportation planning. Results: The article presents a multi-level approach towards bicycle-specific data processing. The data processing model contains different steps of processing (data filtering, smoothing, trip segmentation, transport mode recognition, driving mode detection) to finally obtain a correct data set that contains bicycle trips, only. The validation reveals a sound accuracy of the model at its’ current state (82–88%).