Deriving Weeklong Activity-Travel Dairy from Google Location History: Survey Tool Development and A Field Test in Toronto

Abstract

This paper introduces an innovative travel survey methodology that utilizes Google Location History (GLH) data to generate travel diaries for transportation demand analysis. By leveraging the accuracy and omnipresence among smartphone users of GLH, the proposed methodology avoids the need for proprietary GPS tracking applications to collect smartphone-based GPS data. This research enhanced an existing travel survey designer, Travel Activity Internet Survey Interface (TRAISI), to make it capable of deriving travel diaries from the respondents' GLH. The feasibility of this data collection approach is showcased through the Google Timeline Travel Survey (GTTS) conducted in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada. The resultant dataset from the GTTS is demographically representative and offers detailed and accurate travel behavioural insights.