RM3P Digest sat down with Amy McElwain and Nikola Ivanov to talk about the recently completed Data-Exchange Platform. McElwain is a Program Manager in VDOT’s Office of Strategic Innovation; she currently serves as the Program Manager for RM3P and as the DEP Project Manager. Ivanov is the Director of Operations at the University of Maryland’s Center for Advanced Transportation Technology (CATT) Laboratory, and led the team developing the DEP.
In discussing the structure and benefits of the DEP, McElwain said, “The DEP is a one-stop shop for 90%, if not 100%, of all data needed to support RM3P.” McElwain explained, “With the DEP, data scientists can take advantage of the vast amount of data available and utilize machine learning algorithms and AI predictions to generate insights that can enhance transportation processes, decision making, and identify areas for improvement. The DEP provides the platform that enables efficient data analytics – saving time and resources.”
Ivanov shared the goal of the DEP is to “leverage existing VDOT investments and include scalability upgrades to meet future needs of data users. The DEP is able to take data from many different systems that may be reported in different ways [and enable connections to be made]. For instance, you may be getting data from one source describing an incident as a ‘crash’ and another data source describing it as an ‘accident’ – but they really mean [and refer to] the same thing. Understanding those differences in the back-end data and then being able to provide that data both in the raw format, as well as intelligently joining that data together, means the end user[s] can have more meaningful data from the API.” “API” refers to the Application Program Interface, which is a defined set of rules allowing different applications to communicate with each other.
Ivanov explained the connection between the data and on-the-road commuters: “The DEP is critical to the efficacy of the RM3P initiative, by providing an integrated system that connects different modes of transportation. This helps developers to identify the [problem] locations within the network and use the live data as a tool to help commuters make real-time decisions to avoid trouble.”
When asked about who has access to the DEP data, McElwain replied, “Currently, it is available [only] to VDOT and other agency users.” That is because contract awards have not yet been formally made to the suppliers who will deploy the AI-DSS, CPIS, and DI systems. Once awards are made and the deployments are underway, access to the DEP will be opened up to a great number of public and private entities. She further elaborated, “I want to encourage potential data users to visit our website, RM3P.ritis.org, where one can find a preview of available data and how to obtain access.”