Mike on Traffic

TurnCount App Review

A few weeks ago I wrote about TrafData's new iPhone/iPad turning movement count app (here).  We bought our iPhones and have been testing out TurnCount.  The short review - it works and is significantly cheaper than the count boards currently on the market.  If I was starting my company from scratch, I'd purchase iPod Touch's and put this app on them instead of buying count boards that cost two to five times this new solution.

Some of my issues:

1. The software only does turning movement counts.  Some of our Jamar count boards can be used for other types of data collection such as gap studies, saturation flow rates, etc.  This isn't a huge issue for us - roughly 99.95% of our manual data collection is turning movement counts.
2. You double tap when you want a movement to be tallied as a heavy vehicle.  We inadvertently did this when we didn't mean too.  I'd like to be able to toggle this feature off because we don't collect heavy vehicle data with most of our counts.
3. The "end" count button is in the middle of the screen and works with a single push.  We'd like a longer duration on this button (i.e. you have to hold it down for five seconds) because we accidentally stopped our counts a couple of times.
4. The time/power bar on the iPhone (on the right side of the above picture) slightly gets in the way of counting on the leg of the intersection where it's located.

Gary Shoup with TrafData has been very responsive to my questions.  He also let me know about a couple of issues they've run into with their testing:

1. An iPad overheated in 90 degree weather before a three hour count could be completed.
2. A 2nd generation iPod Touch with 8 gb of storage locked up with about 5,300 data events in it.

The great thing about TurnCount is that it's software and Gary is already working on several of these issues.  I believe my four issues above will be dealt with in later versions of the software.  There may be some hardware issues (i.e. overheating) that will need to be compensated for, but I've had count boards break on me too.

We're fans of the Hyper Interface where you make a swiping motion on the screen with your thumbs.  This works great on our iPhones.  I'm not sure the larger iPad would be an improvement.  It's easy to hold the iPhone/iPod Touch in your hands.

This is a great product for our industry.  I hope you'll go out and buy it so TrafData makes some money.  I want them to keep improving the app.  Hats off to Gary and TrafData! 

Turn Count App for iPhone/iPad - Count Board Killer?

Since the idea of Apple's iPad was announced, I thought it could be used to replace a Jamar Count Board.  I even emailed a few companies who had tally counter apps for the iPhone to see if they had any interest in working with me to develop an App that would replicate the count board.  Those emails went nowhere.

Imagine my surprise when I got an email this week from Gary Shoup of TrafData letting me know about his Turn Count App.  He stole my idea!  Actually, he had the same idea but he's added a bunch of features which appear to greatly improve the old fashioned count board. 

• It will automatically tie gps coordinates to your data. 
• Instead of downloading, it just emails you the data file (and your customer if you want) when you push end. 
• It configures for tee intersections, removing the unnecessary buttons. 
• It counts trucks with a simple double tap.
• You can count pedestrians going in both directions in a crossing.
• Most impressively, he's developed an alternative to the push button.  In Hyper Interface mode, you use a sliding motion to mimic the cars. 

I think the Hyper Interface could be amazing.  But really, this is going to kill the traditional count board because it replaces an expensive count board ($1000+ for Jamar, $400+ for MicroTally) for $39.99.  Of course you need a $199 iPhone or $499 iPad.  Darn - it's way cheaper, more features, and the device is multi-purpose.

This forced me to make the painful decision to order an iPhone 4g so I can test out the App.  I'll let you know how it works.  I'm sure Turn Count will have a bug or two, but thislooks like the future (of course this could all be supplanted by automated video data collection - see Miovision, but I think we're a few years away from that due to the pricing models).

In the meantime, check out Gary's video about Turn Count -

Mastic Supplier for Tube Counts

Lori from L2 Data Collection sent me this note on mastic -

I’m not sure where you buy mastic, but we have been purchasing it from a company called Mar Mac in South Carolina.  (843) 335-5814.  Much cheaper and it is the same tape we used to buy from Jamar.

We gave up on mastic because it is very messy and somewhat expensive.  We've had good luck just taping our tubes down with duct tape.  Our favorite is Gorilla brand duct tape, which is cheapest at Home Depot.

Counting Bikes - Madison's test of pneumatic counters on a bike trail

I've had a few emails with Bryan Walker from the City of Madison (Wisconsin) Transportation Department about their attempts to use portable, pneumatic hose counters to count bicycles on trails.  Click on the graph to see the results of their latest test (buried inductive loop vs. old ADR Hose Counter vs. new MetroCount brand Hose Counter). 

Here's a portion of the email from Bryan -

"In our first trial, we used a very heavy duty brand tape (brand: Polyken) which may have affected the compression of the hoses and caused lower counts.  In this last trial, we used the Gorilla brand tape that you recommended and the results were much better.  We used the mini tubes for both trials, as I was unaware that we had used the mini tubes for the first trial.  I can’t yet explain why our older ADR’s seemed to have double counted all the bikes, but using a couple of different report set ups, the MetroCount seemed to be reasonably close to the buried loop.  One possible cause of the buried loop being off is the different types of metals used for bicycles may have different effects on the loops picking up the magnetic waves.  I’m looking at doing a manual count next to the MetroCount as the next possible test."

 

Testing Tubes for Mechanical Traffic Counters

Quality Control for Tubes

Our failure rate on tubes is close to zero unless they get whacked by a snow plow or street sweeper.  We test every tube after every installation to make sure it still holds air.  If it doesn't, we know we have a leak in the hose that may lead to a catastrophic failure in the field.    Watch Ron explain how we get a good seal on the "dumb" end of the tube and how we use our homemade valve/gauge to test the tube.  Enjoy!

Good Road Tubes - Hanna Rubber

I blogged a few months ago about road tube vendors here.  We just received our order from Hanna Rubber as promised.  The tubes look just like those I receive from Jamar (except they're cut down to 50 foot lengths based on my request).  I'll post if they turn out to be inferior, but I'm not expecting that.  At this point I give Hanna Rubber a big thumbs up.  If you need tubes, give Chad a call and tell him I sent you.

Chad Myre

Hanna Rubber Company

1511 Baltimore Ave

Kansas City, Mo. 64108

Toll Free (800) 591-3035

http://www.hannarubbercompany.com

mailto:cmyre@hannarubbercompany.com

Cheapest Road Tubes

I've always bought tubes for my mechanical tube counters from Jamar Technologies.  About five years ago I tried, unsuccessfully, to find a manufacturer so I could cut out paying a middle man.  Thanks to google, I've been able to track down new suppliers.  I got quotes for EPDM tubing that meets the spec of the tubes Jamar supplies (60 +/- 5 Durometer Black EPDM Tubing - ASTM D 2000 3BA620 A14 C12 F17 G21).  I tracked down prices for regular tube (.187" inside diameter x .600" outside diameter) and mini-tube (.187" ID x .365" OD).  The minimum order size was only 100 feet with each of the suppliers.  Here's what I found -

• Hanna Rubber Company:    $0.38 per foot of regular tube, $0.24 per foot of mini-tube
• Thomas A Caserta, Inc:  $0.645 per foot of regular tube, $0.425 per foot of mini-tube (note - they provide significant price breaks if you order more than 2,500 feet)
• Trigg Industries:    $0.72 per foot of regular tube, $0.44 per foot of mini-tube
• Jamar Technologies:  $0.66 per foot of regular tube, $0.45 per foot of mini-tube

As a bonus, Hanna Rubber will deliver the tubes in 50 or 60 foot lengths so we won't have to do any cutting ourselves.  Caveat emptor - I don't have first hand knowledge of working with Hanna Rubber yet, although Chad Myre has been very responsive.  I'll let you know if I have problems with their tubes when I order them this spring.

We use a mix of regular tubes and mini-tubes, but have been using more and more mini-tubes.  Washington County has used mini-tube exclusively for many years and I just found out Mn/DOT is going exclusively with mini-tubes.  In the long run, we'll probably keep a few heavy tubes around just for doing gravel roads.

Traffic Data Inc - 2010 Data Collection Price List

I've posted our new price list at www.trafficdatainc.com.  Unlike most data collection firms, we post our price list for the whole world to see (it's valid for the seven county area around Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota - quotes will be provided for projects outside of this area).  I've found my clients appreciate using our standard prices in their proposals.  That way they don't have to call me for an individual quote every time they put together a traffic study proposal - its a win-win for both of us.

I'm going to be stopping in at my regular client's to handout hardcopies and explain the price list.  We've changed our structure in three notable ways -

1. We used to do turning movement counts based on whether we thought one or two people would need to do the count in the field.  This led to a bunch of guesswork.  I've switched the pricing for turning movement counts to be based on the type of traffic control (stop signs, signals, or roundabouts) at the intersection.  I believe this makes our pricing system even clearer.
2. As I've blogged about several times, we have Miovision's video system.  This allows us to collect video of the intersection and we are now offering that as part of our pricing system.
3. I've added several low level traffic technician services.  If you get swamped, we'll work as an extension of your staff by providing field data or building your synchro network.  We'll also do warrant analysis for you.  I don't think there will be a lot of demand for this in the current economy, but I think it will allow traffic engineers to do more work without adding staff as the development economy picks up.

Mn/DOT Historic Daily Traffic Volumes on Searchable Map - Launch of CountingCars.com

Please check out www.CountingCars.com.  You no longer need to wade through hundreds of pdf files on Mn/DOT’s Traffic Volumes Webpage (http://www.dot.state.mn.us/traffic/data/html/volumes.html) to find the daily traffic volume on a road.  We’ve put all of their data on a free, searchable google map platform.  If you like the website, please tell your colleagues.  If you have any problems with CountingCars, please tell me and we’ll work to resolve them.

Thanks to Bob Klingel of DKS Systems and Tim Lawrence who helped make this dream of mine a reality.  Also, thanks to Gene Hicks at Mn/DOT for your assistance.  I've been thinking about this for a couple of years and we finally did it.  

CountingCars is still a work in progress.  I hope to work with DOT's around the country to add their data.  My goal is to make CountingCars the one stop shop for historic Average Daily Traffic volume data. We're also going to add a sponsor section to the website.  Contact me if you're interested.

Abacus - Miovision Competitor?

Guys from Iteris and Brown Traffic (Michael Wieck, Mark Fayta, & Tony Juettner) stopped by my office a few weeks ago to show me their new traffic counting product - Abacus.  I sent Michael a video clip from my Miovision recording system to see if the Abacus could do an automated turning movement count.  They tested it and said the video camera had too much motion, but they hope to revise their system within a couple of  months to handle "wiggly" video.  Right now they need a fixed camera.  A third player could be Aldis Corp who claims to be able to do turning movement counts with their camera system, but they won't return my inquiries.

I like the Miovision system, but the economics don't work very well for me here in Minnesota.  They charge per hour of video being processed.  I am not a big user, so they charge me about $25/hour.  $25/hour doesn't compete well with me sending out people if I am being hired for a few hour count.  It is also a stiff price if I want to do a 48-hour turning movement count (which I think the traffic engineering industry needs to gravitate towards).

Iteris is trying to develop a more traditional traffic counting model (like Jamar, Peek, etc.) where you buy the hardware and software up front.  Then you own the system and can charge what you want for whatever duration count you want.

Iteris could be real competition for Miovision if the Abacus can process video from a temporary, non-fixed video camera.  Michael told me the Abacus can process four intersections at a time (post processing in the shop) and they  have a $30,000 price point for the system (this doesn't include the video camera system you'll have to put out in the field).  At Miovision's $25/hour price, the Abacus would save me money after I process 1200 hours of turning movements.  Not bad.

Neither the Miovision system nor Abacus are silver bullets for me in this down economy (all things being equal I'd rather pay my people who have been with me 5+ years instead of a computer in a different country), but I believe doing turning movment counts by hand will be largely replaced by computerized systems within a few years.  The business case will eventually force me to use technology over manual labor.