{"id":77055,"date":"2026-02-18T06:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T13:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77055"},"modified":"2026-02-18T06:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T13:28:07","slug":"visualizing-how-we-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/visualizing-how-we-move\/","title":{"rendered":"Visualizing how we move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever wondered how roads are planned? How does the\u00a0Arizona\u00a0Department of Transportation\u00a0(ADOT)\u00a0determine\u00a0where to\u00a0improve\u00a0roadways or know which routes\u00a0will be used in the future? For years, decisions about where to build or\u00a0upgrade\u00a0roads have been made using tools that do not offer a\u00a0complete\u00a0visual picture of how people travel. This is about to change.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Steven Gehrke<\/span><\/b>, associate professor at the Department of Geography,\u00a0Planning\u00a0and Recreation, along with\u00a0<\/span>Ashish Amresh<\/span><\/b>, associate professor at the School of Informatics, Computing<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and Cyber Systems, are working on a project for the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to look at what notable visualization tools are available to transform complex travel data into a clear visual\u00a0display. The project is part of\u00a0a recently formed research\u00a0<\/span>partnership with\u00a0ADOT and the three state universities<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0which allows them\u00a0to\u00a0bid for projects put forth by the agency.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn this particular project, we are looking at visualization tools that display information from what\u2019s called a travel demand model,\u201d Gehrke said.\u00a0\u201cThis is a planning tool that is used to\u00a0forecast future trends and guide\u00a0long-range transportation decisions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0ADOT is\u00a0planning to\u00a0initially\u00a0use this tool internally\u00a0but with a lens toward\u00a0conveying\u00a0this information\u00a0down the road\u00a0to other stakeholders, whether that is the public or other agencies they partner with to show how\u00a0outcomes\u00a0from this travel demand model\u00a0reflect\u00a0changes that we may see\u00a0in\u00a0the ways people get around\u00a0our\u00a0state.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The tool will transfer\u00a0forecasted travel\u00a0data that relates to ADOT\u2019s\u00a0roadway network. Currently, ADOT uses software internally to study travel\u00a0patterns\u00a0and measure\u00a0congestion,\u00a0traffic\u00a0volumes\u00a0and changes in travel behavior; however, the information\u00a0typically\u00a0comes in spreadsheets\u00a0and\u00a0not in a way\u00a0that\u00a0can be easily visualized\u00a0and communicated.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are proposing to do is to develop a prototype visualization tool, like a dashboard, that\u00a0more\u00a0folks can use,\u201d Gehrke said. \u201cThis will be a\u00a0tool\u00a0where\u00a0ADOT staff\u00a0can change different\u00a0outputs of\u00a0the travel demand model, and toggle between different switches to\u00a0display\u00a0new\u00a0information. Something more dynamic than just a\u00a0map that shows\u00a0one or two details.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gehrke said that although the impacts to individuals may not be immediate, the impact on ADOT and its partners will be significant since they will be able to\u00a0better\u00a0understand what the model is doing through visualization, allowing them to predict where future roads\u00a0may be needed\u00a0and what traffic patterns to expect in the future.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top image generated by AI<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever wondered how roads are planned? How does the\u00a0Arizona\u00a0Department of Transportation\u00a0(ADOT)\u00a0determine\u00a0where to\u00a0improve\u00a0roadways or know which routes\u00a0will be used in the future? For years, decisions about where to build or\u00a0upgrade\u00a0roads have been made using tools that do not offer a\u00a0complete\u00a0visual picture of how people travel. This is about to change.\u00a0 Steven Gehrke, associate professor…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":77059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}