Draft October 30 Meeting Notes1/21/2019

To: See Distribution (via e-mail)

From: Daniel Papiernik

Date: November 6, 2000

Subject: Notes from Initial Planning Meeting/Teleconference on forming a Data Integration Subcommittee

An initial meeting of interested participants was conducted on October 30, 2000 at 10:00am EDT via teleconference. An e-mail sent from Bobby Harris with a preliminary agenda and attachments is included as Attachment 1 to these notes.

Participants on the teleconference included: Steve Schmitz (TRW), Daniel Papiernik (TransCore), David Fletcher (ATR), Mark Bradford (BTS), Gordon Franke (TRB), Bobby Harris (GIS/Trans) and David Loukes (GeoPlan Consultants).

Pertinent discussion items are included below:

Introduction & Background

  • Bobby Harris introduced all participants and reviewed the agenda. Goals for meeting included:
  • develop ideas for a scope statement
  • define supporting activities (outreach methods… what we should seek to provide or perform over the coming year)
  • identify tentative membership list (types of members, mix of organizational experiences, etc…)
  • Daniel Papiernik agreed to record pertinent highlights and decisions made during the teleconference
  • David Fletcher provided additional background:
  • As a sub-committee, membership approval can be granted by the sponsoring committee chairs (in this case, David Fletcher, Kitty Hancock and their TRB committee liaison, Tom Palmerlee). The life cycle of this sub-committee could be to transition to a task force and then to a full-committee. Ideally this sub-committee would look to tackle the broader issues of data integration (as opposed to being biased toward any particular data content).
  • A meeting time for the sub-committee has been scheduled prior to the A5015 (Spatial Data and Information Science) committee meeting during the annual TRB meeting in January. It is envisioned that the membership roster would be presented and along with the preliminary scope statement be finalized. The sub-committee is scheduled to meet on Monday morning from 8:00am – 9:45am at the Hilton. The A5015 committee general meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening at 7:30 – 9:30pm Hilton in the International Ballroom West. While there is no limit to the number of members for a sub-committee, it was advised that we limit the initial membership to twenty-five members or less.
  • TRB is hosting a peer-to-peer exchange open only to state DOT representatives to be held in late November where data integration is the main topic. This is mainly a pre-planning meeting with the possible outcome being the scheduling of a conference in spring of 2001 on the topic of data integration. It was suggested that once established, this sub-committee could lend their support and perhaps co-sponsor the spring conference.

General Discussion

  • General roles of committees within TRB:
  • keep the members of the transportation community informed
  • define research needs and problem statements facing the transportation community
  • synthesize research results and produce state of the art reports on issues facing the transportation community
  • Potential scope statement phrases:
  • that the collective body of transportation data is greater than any one organization or business process owner’s view of data across a specific perspective
  • identify requirements for integrating data across the enterprise, in a way that maintains an application-neutral perspective
  • promote a focal point for and coordination of interest in all technologies and methodologies related to integrating data across an enterprise
  • identify approaches and methodologies used by other industries and areas of government such as banking, insurance, telecommunications, EPA, Department of Defense, Department of Interior, etc…
  • identify and publicize sources of and needs for data integration
  • identify integration issues common across all data sets and institutions
  • possible research topics (derived from the invitation to the peer-exchange mentioned earlier):
  • examples of statewide integration systems
  • requirements for information technology infrastructure
  • understanding the value of quality information
  • justifying and funding data integration initiatives
  • best practices for data management
  • identify issues in vertical integration of data (among and between varying levels of government and private organizations)
  • understanding the requirements for data quality necessary to support data integration
  • understanding the role of metadata
  • this sub-committee is interested in all issues pertaining to data integration throughout the enterprise
  • this sub-committee will conduct outreach efforts to garner interest and participation from other data integration constituencies and proponents including TRB data committees, federal organizations (FHWA, BTS, etc…), private industry and the vendor community at large.
  • this sub-committee will provide a focal point for and promote the coordination of interest in all aspects of transportation data fusion, integration and interoperability (including technologies, processes, organizational infrastructures,etc…) within the transportation research community
  • in the view of this sub-committee the traditional notion of the boundaries of the enterprise must be expanded to include the sharing and exchange of data among and between varying levels of government and private industry
  • the interests of this sub-committee must be stated clearly enough to distinguish ourselves from other data committees within TRB
  • Possible activities:
  • sponsor paneled discussions at annual meeting and/or at other sponsored forums/venues
  • identify examples of successful data integration efforts across the enterprise
  • co-sponsor topic-specific forums, conferences, etc…
  • host a specialty-workshop (a group of volunteers to speak each for an hour to an hour and half) or provide funding to support a full-day workshop
  • approach other constituents of the data integration such as Barna Auhasz in FHWA’s Office of Highway Information or Regina McLeroy (sp?) of FHWA’s Office of Asset Management along with BTS
  • develop or sponsor a web-page
  • socialize our sub-committee’s scope statement among other data committees during the annual meeting
  • publish a white-paper that can be shared with the wider transportation community and beyond
  • the white-paper should articulate the need for further information and research in the area of data integration and serve to support, expand and amplify the sub-committee scope statement
  • review drafts of the scope statement, membership roster and white-paper at the upcoming sub-committee meeting in January
  • Possible membership:
  • participants were directed to identify the absolute top people in the transportation industry as potential sub-committee members irrespective of private/public or academic associations.
  • upon receipt, Dave Fletcher and Kitty Hancock will evaluate the list and make recommendations to achieve a balanced representation of public/private or academic membership.
  • we will reserve membership slots for representatives from other federal organizations to the extent that their mission concerns data integration

Action Items:

  • Daniel Papiernik (lead) to generate a first cut at the scope statement using inputs provided during the teleconference and distribute with the notes for further review and comment by November 3
  • Bobby Harris (lead), Daniel Papiernik and Steve Schmitz to discuss by November 17 how best to support a web-site for the sub-committee and develop a recommendation on this at the January meeting
  • Steve Schmitz(lead) and Dave Loukes to lead the effort to develop a draft white paper for which a draft will be reviewed by sub-committee members at the meeting in January. [Since no milestone dates were discussed, I’ll take license and suggest a date for a preliminary outline of the white paper by November 17 --- if this is not achievable let me know and suggest another date -- DKP].
  • All participants to provide their own list of top candidates (by name) from the transportation industry for membership in the sub-committee by November 17. Note: if you want to solicit the candidates for their interest prior to placing their names on a list please inform them that at this juncture we are not making commitments; we are merely trying to gather interest so we can provide recommendations for membership and do not anticipate formally inviting participants to become members until after January 1.

Distribution (via e-mail):

Armentrout, Nancy

Bradford, Mark

Dey, Soumya

Fletcher, David

Franke, Gordon

Hancock, Kitty

Harris, Bobby

Loukes, David

Palmerlee, Tom

Papiernik, Daniel

Rao, Murali

Schmitz, Steve

Stickler, Graham

Data Integration Sub-Committee File

Page 1

Attachment 1

Data Integration Subcommittee

Planning Session Agenda

Introduction and Purpose of Meeting10:00-10:10

Outline Primary Objectives for Session10:10-10:25

  • Scope Statement (Purpose and goal of subcommittee)
  • Supporting Activities (Vehicles to use to achieve goals)
  • Identify types of members desired and suggest known candidates

Discuss and Draft Mission Statement10:25-10:50

Discuss and Recommend Supporting Activities10:45-11:10

Discuss Business Areas to be represented and suggest known candidates11:15-11:30

Adjourn11:30

Attachments:

Ideas to Seed Discussion

Scope Statements from Other TRB Committees
Ideas to Seed Discussion

Statement of Scope

  • To advise parent committee on best practices
  • Ensure transportation community understands advantages of new technologies
  • Forum to sort out issues and identify topics for research
  • Be the subcommittee that is the connection between other data committees
  • Environment for sharing experiences to promote technology transfer

Questions:

What other committees have overlapping interests? There definitely exist commonalities among data interests. How do we distinguish the Data Integration Subcommittee yet recognize our integral relationship with other groups? What type of coordination needs to exist respective to other data related committees. As a subcommittee focused on data integration we need a membership strategy to bridge traditional gaps between data custodians.

What aspects of data integration should this committee focus on? (Integrating technologies: data warehousing, GIS as an integrator, enterprise database design, XML, Open-RDBMS linkages, best practices, case studies, technology review, etc.)

Supporting Activities within Scope of Subcommittee

  • Panel discussion
  • Sponsor specialty workshop
  • Web page / clearing house
  • Paper session
  • Outreach and coordination with other committees

Membership

  • State DOTs
  • Private
  • University
  • Professional organization representatives?

Questions:

How many members does TRB allow for a subcommittee?

What mix of membership would be ideal?

Scope Statements from Other

TRB Committees Concerned With Transportation Data, Statistics and Information Technology

A1B09 FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION DATA

Scope: The purposes of the committee are to identify and publicize sources of and needs for data on commodity movements, international trade, freight transportation activity, and the economics and organization of establishments engaged in freight transportation; to advise data collection agencies on cost-effective means of fulfilling essential data needs; and to assist analysts and decision makers in the effective use of freight transportation data.

Chair: Paul H. Bingham

Secretary: Benjamin J. Ritchey

A1D08 URBAN TRANSPORTATION DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Scope: This committee is interested in the design, collection, analysis, and reporting of transportation supply and demand data needed to support urban and metropolitan transportation planning efforts. In particular, the committee is interested in developing the data requirements of new and innovative techniques for measuring and monitoring the performance of metropolitan transportation systems; and in evaluating changes in demographic and urban travel characteristics. In terms of household and other transportation surveys, the committee is concerned with the analysis, reporting, archiving, and dissemination of results and data products. The committee is interested in the effective use of census and other federal, secondary data sources in metropolitan transportation planning. The committee is concerned with advancements in information systems and information technology for the improved dissemination and sharing of knowledge about metropolitan transportation systems and urban travel behavior.

The URL for the urban data committee is:

Chair: Charles L. Purvis

Secretary: Jerry D. Everett

A1D08(1) - SUBCOMMITTEE ON CENSUS DATA FOR TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

Scope: This subcommittee is interested in census data matters as they relate to statewide and metropolitan transportation planning. The focus of this subcommittee spans the entire spectrum of census-related activities including applied uses of the data, the content of censuses, collection procedures and dissemination programs all within the context of past, present and future censuses.

Chair: Ed Christopher

A1D09 STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS

The scope includes research and technology transfer activities pertaining to statewide transportation planning data and information systems for all modes of transportation. A primary concern is the capability of information systems to integrate various transportation related data sources into a strategic multi modal information database for statewide transportation planning. The committee is also serving as a forum for discussion of current planning data activities.

Chair: Ronald W. Tweedie

Secretary: Tony Esteve

A1D10 Travel Survey Methods

Scope. The committee focuses on all types of travel or activity surveys, including those pertaining to motorized and non-motorized travel; household and commercial travel; travel involving single or multiple occupancy vehicles; and workplace, visitor, or recreational travel. In terms of these various types of surveys, the committee is concerned with survey design, sampling, instrument development, data collection, data processing, data analysis, and reporting of results.

Chair: Elaine Murakami

Secretary: Robert E. Griffiths

A2A01 PHOTOGRAMMETRY, REMOTE SENSING, SURVEYING, AND RELATED AUTOMATED SYSTEMS

This committee is concerned with aerial, terrestrial and close range photogrammetry, digital mapping, surveying, remote sensing and automated systems, particularly those related to photogrammetry, mapping and surveying. The committee is further interested in the development of systems that apply advancing technologies such as computer aided graphics, design and mapping, geographic information systems, automated surveying, global positioning systems, photo logging, and automated data collection systems. The committee is active in the promotion of new applications and improved instrumentation, techniques and procedures.

Chair: A. Keith Turner

A5003 INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY

Scope: This committee is concerned with reviewing and assessing the current state-of-the-art in the development and application of computer technologies to problems in the transportation-engineering (planning, analysis, and design) field for productivity improvements. Areas of emphasis include: (1) computer systems' user interfaces (i.e. interactive graphics, knowledge based, etc.) and data portability (i.e. neutral files); (2) utility of computer technologies use in the transportation field; (3) encouragement of common semantics and standards use in the transportation field; (4) delineation and prioritization of research, development and demonstration programs to augment and supplement work presently underway; (5) facilitating and monitoring technology transfer between transportation organizations, vendors and universities in the role of "user advocate"; and (6) evaluating the impact of computer technologies on transportation organizations, including the productivity gains provided.

Chair: Jeffrey L. Western, P.E., S.E.

Secretary: Bin Ran

A5015 Spatial Data and Information Science

Scope. The scope of this Committee includes all aspects of the spatial, locational and temporal data used in transportation. The Committee is interested in both research into and applications of this information and its associated information systems, commonly referred to as Geographic Information Systems in Transportation (GIS-T). The committee will provide a focal point for and promote coordination of GIS-T activities within the TRB committee structure. Relevant activities include the application of spatial data and spatial sciences across the entire domain of transportation information systems.

Co-Chair: David R. Fletcher

Co-Chair: Kathleen L. Hancock

Secretary: Dr. Reg Souleyrette

A5016 National Transportation Data Requirements and Programs

Scope: The scope of this committee includes the development of nationwide and international data on transportation needed to support decision making, and data-related research in all sectors of transportation. All aspects of data development are of interest including design, collection, analysis, reporting, funding, administration, dissemination, and coordination of statistical programs. Of particular interest is the coordination of transportation statistical programs with nontransportation programs; coordination between national level and other programs, including international, private, state, and local systems; and the structuring of statistical standards and criteria that guide the development of comprehensive transportation programs.

Chair: Alan E. Pisarski
Secretary: John W. Fuller

A5017 Library and Information Science for Transportation

Scope. This committee serves as a forum for transportation librarians and the transportation research community on developments in information science and their applicability to transportation. The committee facilitates diffusion of national library and information science innovations throughout the transportation community by monitoring the use of new resources and tools in the transportation arena, defining critical research and training issues relating to their implementation, and promoting the benefits of these capabilities.

Chair: Jeanne F. Thomas

Secretary: Daniel C. Krummes

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