Appendix A contains the major topic areas used to group and categorize the technical questions posed by host agency staff to the peer panels and the recommendations provided by the peer panels to the host agencies. The topic area is described along with a sample question and/or recommendation assigned to the topic and the specific TMIP peer review and date.
ACTIVITY-BASED MODELING - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to activity-based modeling. "Should we consider transitioning into an activity-based or tour-based model? If so, should we maintain parallel tracks of modeling? Also associated cost?" (AMBAG, 2011).
ADMINISTRATIVE - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to computing, staff training, developing transferable tools, interagency coordination, etc. "Specialist vs. Generalist - should we have people doing MPO coordination and then let them be end users? Should we have our specialists build all MPO models, some internally some with consultants? Why is it important for specialists?" (NCDOT, 2004).
ASSIGNMENT - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to the vehicle assignment step of the travel modeling system. This category was also used for discussion related to time of day modeling and temporal resolution. "Are there refinements to the highway and transit networks and assignment processes, to better reflect true level-of-service by time-of-day, and to better capture variation in responses to time, distance and cost?" (SACOG, 2008).
BEST PRACTICE - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to observing industry best practices. "Are there any additional improvements CCMPO should consider to maintain a model consistent with current best practices?" (CCMPO, 2010).
CALIBRATION / VALIDATION - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to calibration and validation of travel modeling systems. "Should the highway re-validation process (only highway component) delay the development of the transit and nonmotorized components?" (CHCNGA-TPO, 2011).
DISTRIBUTION - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to the distribution step of the travel modeling system including discussions pertaining to destination choice modeling. "Gravity vs destination choice - Why would you want to do destination choice? When?" (NCDOT, 2004).
FREIGHT MODELING - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to freight and commercial vehicle modeling. "What recommendations are there to improve the commercial vehicle model?" (NYMTC, 2011).
FUEL PRICING - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to fuel pricing. "How can the effects of gas prices or parking cost be better implemented into the agency's model stream?" (AMBAG, 2011).
LAND-USE FORECASTS - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to developing land-use forecasts and land use modeling more generally. "What recommendations are there for improving our demographic allocation model and developing a new land-use forecasting model, including the software options available and their various strengths and weaknesses?" (MAPA, 2010).
LAND-USE INPUTS - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to developing socio-economic demographic input data for travel modeling systems. "Where should we get housing & employment data instead? What do other areas use?" (NCDOT, 2004).
LU / TRANSPORTATION - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to the integration of land use and transportation policies and/or modeling. "What accessibility measures should flow from the TDM to the LUM? How can intrazonal travel, transit, pedestrian, and bicycle accessibility be measured and fed into the LUM?" (CHCNGA-TPO, 2011).
MODE CHOICE - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to the mode choice step of the travel modeling system. "What is the relationship between land-use density and the impact on transit use?" (AMATS, 2004).
MULTI-SCALE MODELING - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to sub-area modeling, interfacing regional, meso-scale, and micro-scale models. Discussions pertaining to Dynamic Traffic Assignment (DTA) and microsimulation were categorized in this topic area. "CCMPO has a license for the PTV suite of the VISUM modeling program and VISSIM micro-simulation software. We would like to use this for corridor level analysis in conjunction with our existing TransCAD regional model and would be interested in recommendations regarding the general interaction between regional models and microsimulation tools as well as specific thoughts regarding the use of TransCAD and PTV software." (CCMPO, 2010).
NETWORK INPUTS - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to the development of spatial network inputs for the travel model system. "Capacities - should we use hourly and factor to daily?" (NCDOT, 2004).
NON-MOTORIZED MODELING - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to non-motorized modeling (walk/bike). "With our limited resources and equipment, how can we improve our non-motorized data collection process in a manner that will support travel demand modeling?" (CHCNGA-TPO, 2011).
OTHER POLICY ANALYSIS - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to a variety of policy analyses not well categorized with the other main topic areas. "How to address sustainability within the context of the regional model?" (NYMTC, 2011).
ROAD PRICING / MANAGED LANES - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to pricing and managed lanes, high-occupancy lanes (HOV) and high-occupancy toll lanes (HOT). "Assessment of the reasonableness of HOV/toll traffic forecasting capabilities." (AMBAG, 2011).
SPECIAL MARKETS / GENERATORS - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to special travel markets, the treatment of special generators, as well as visitor and airport modeling. "How should we model travel at our military base, universities, and other special locations?" (MAPA, 2010).
TRIP GENERATION - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to the trip generation step of the travel modeling system. This topic area was also used to classify discussion relating to expanding and/or adding detail to the market segmentation of aggregate models (purposes, more cross-classification variables) "What cross-classification data is used most often and which data is proven to generate the most reliable Productions &Attractions?" (IaDOT, 2004).
VISUALIZATION - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to visualization techniques for sharing travel model results with diverse group of stakeholders, policy makers, senior managers, and lay persons. "Recommendations on visualization techniques and performance measures for better communications to stakeholders." (CCMPO, 2010).
ZONES & NETWORKS - general topic area for categorizing discussions related to the travel analysis zone structures and networks (highway, transit) used in travel modeling systems. The topic area was also used to categorize discussions pertaining to increasing the spatial resolution of travel modeling systems. "Are there "model measurement errors" associated with expanding the zone system that are avoidable or unavoidable?" (MTC, 2004).
