Summer Scholarship - Heather Campbell - Changing Travel Patterns

Heather Campbell comments on her summer scholarship research:

During the summer of 2014-2015 I received a Summer Research Scholarship with Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) and Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) to explore the GWRC’s 1988 and 2001 Household Travel Survey datasets.

The main aim of this project was to explore changes in travel patterns in the Wellington region between 1988 and 2001, by identifying statistical patterns and producing map visualisations of these patterns.  An additional aim of this project was to integrate this Household Travel Survey (HTS) data into the Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation’s Wellington Spatial Econometric Transportation (W-SET) model.  Currently based on the Ministry of Transport HTS, W-SET models residential choice, car ownership and commute mode decisions within Greater Wellington.

The GWRC HTS datasets are based on surveys of residents within the Greater Wellington region about their trip making behaviour. The data consists of information about each participant in the survey and the trips they made over the survey period.  Using these datasets I compared travel patterns between 1988 and 2001, with a focus on commuting patterns.  In particular, I compared changes in modal choices, car sharing patterns, vehicle ownership, time trips are made, trips per person and commute times and distances (using network analysis).  These patterns were also compared with data from the Ministry of Transport HTS for years 2003/04 and 2009/10.  By using statistical tests and producing visualisations of these patterns, many interesting changes in travel patterns within the Wellington region were able to be explored – in terms of both overall patterns and spatial patterns.

Heather's project was supervised by Mairead de Roiste and Toby Daglish.  The industry advisor for the project was Nick Sargent.

First Master of GIS crosses the stage

Reproduced from VicNews 18 May 2015

Victoria University of Wellington’s first Master of Geographic Information Science (GIS) was capped at one of the May graduation ceremonies. Andrew Clouston, Geospatial Team Manager at Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), was the first person to graduate with a Masters degree at Victoria University since the programme’s inception in 2012.

Carrying out his studies part-time was a challenge but well worth the effort, says Andrew. “I was juggling my studies with full-time work, family and a commute from the Wairarapa. I received a great amount of support which enabled me to complete my Master’s in just over three years.”

Programme Director Dr Mairead de Roiste says the programme attracts recent graduates and professionals like Andrew who are already in the workforce and looking to upskill.

“A number of government departments, such as LINZ, have actively encouraged staff through sponsorship to take part in the programme. The programme benefits from a great richness of student experiences and perspectives, such as surveying in Andrew's case, conservation, education and consulting in others.”

Andrew’s thesis explored the issues of including citizen data collection or crowdsourcing in government datasets with a specific focus on the New Zealand Cadastre (the system responsible for recording land surveys and property boundaries information).

“In addition to being topical and relevant for New Zealand, the conversations generated as a result of his work have advanced New Zealand's thinking on how we can maintain our authoritative databases to a high international standard in light of changing technologies and expectations”, says Dr de Roiste.

The Master of GIS, introduced in response to a national geospatial skills shortage, is a collaboration between Victoria University, the University of Canterbury and AUT.

“It’s a unique programme internationally. We make use of innovative technologies to join students and staff based at the three different institutions into the same courses and programme,” says Dr de Roiste.

“The skills our students gain are invaluable – in fact we've had the unusual problem of a number of our students getting jobs before they've finished.”