Archiving data from new survey technologies: Enabling research with high-precision data while preserving participant privacy

Abstract

Despite the significant effort and expense to collect high-resolution Global Positioning System (GPS) data in travel surveys, privacy concerns often lead to its underutilization. This paper describes development of the Transportation Secure Data Center (TSDC) to address this dilemma of providing data access while preserving privacy. The TSDC operating structure was developed in consultation with an advisory committee and includes: a secure enclave with no external access for backing up and processing raw data, a publicly accessible website for downloading cleansed data, and a secure portal environment through which approved users can work with detailed spatial data using a variety of tools and reference information.