Data from: Data collection of Odometer images via WhatsApp to measure vehicle miles traveled report

This dataset contains relevant information used in the study of collecting
odometer images via WhatsApp to measure vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in
California. In recent years, policymakers have increasingly suggested
interventions for sustainable transportation, directly or indirectly
aiming to reduce vehicle miles traveled. Researchers in transportation
have used various ways to collect VMT data for their analysis, but there
are pros and cons to each method. Self-reported VMTs from travel surveys
are traditionally used to understand factors affecting VMT or estimate
policy effects, yet such data suffer from recall error, rounding, and
heaping biases in reporting numbers by which researchers derive VMT.
Surveys with the latest technologies, such as a dedicated GPS device, can
provide more accurate VMT but can be intrusive on participants’ privacy
and too expensive to scale. Passively collected data, such as traffic
counts or states’ odometer reading data, rarely capture travelers’
characteristics, limiting the capability of travel behavior analysis. In
this study, we developed a new VMT data collection method using WhatsApp
through three tasks: 1) a comprehensive literature review of the data
collection methods for VMT-related arguments, assessing their strengths
and shortcomings; 2) the development of an automation system to collect
odometer images from participants via WhatsApp, and 3) a pilot deployment
of a real-world study and evaluation of the results, with a discussion of
circumstances that this method could provide benefits compared to other
existing approaches and of limitations or challenges. The results will
provide guidelines to planners, policymakers, and researchers in choosing
and implementing strategies for VMT data collection, including those
presented here, depending on their analysis and practical needs.