Disclaimer

Content

Counting methods
Data communication conditions
Glossary

What are the counting methods?

Arlington County DOT presents a network of 35 automatic counting systems to monitor traffic (pedestrian, cyclist) counts countinuously at selected locations.

Most counting systems are permanent and automatic counting systems.
Some counting systems are temporarily installed, and the period of data might be short (few weeks to months)
Some counting systems are not automatic: Data collection is made on the field using a mobile application.

Collecting data on bicycle and pedestrian usage is critical to develop strategies and policy to encourage walking and biking, soft mobilities, ensure security; to inform decision-making in the planning and engineering infrastructure with better maintenance and design; and to build long-term support for walking a biking. This purpose of this web site is to share counter data with the public.

The web site presents “raw” data that is fed directly from the automatic counting systems. As a result, the data may include gaps or extreme counts. The goal of the web site is to provide the most accurate picture of walking and bicycle counts. This may involve sharing both raw data, directly from the system, and data that has been precisely modeled and reconstructed.

At any time, the data might be updated and corrected.

Communication of data from this web site

You (as a visitor of the website) can communicate data of the website, respecting some conditions:

You must acknowledge ownership: Arlington County DOT for any public use, or for any creation based on the data.
You must keep the data intact
You must share under the same conditions for non-commercial purpose
Please, try to explain that data can be modified or updated when needed (c.f. Counting methods)

Glossary

On the web site you will find some key figures and charts that are briefly explained in this section:

Key figures

Total

Total traffic volume during the selected time period of the user types selected.
Daily average

Total traffic volume during the selected time period, divided by the number of days in that period. Days with no data are not taken into account.
Yesterday

Total traffic volume the day before the current date
This key figure is only available when the selected period runs until today.
Installation date

The date on which the counting system was commissioned.
Last data
Date when the counting system has transmitted data to the server.

Please note that manual counting system might transmit data at any time few days after transmission and sometimes months…

Charts displaying counting data

Distribution for the whole period of the traffic between user-types, ranked by volume (heavy to low)
User-types are:
- Pedestrians
- Bikes
- Cars
- Motorbikes
- Van
- Bus
- Trucks
- Scooters
- Cargobikes
- Horses
- Kayak

The user-types are counted according to the technology of the counting system in place.

You will find time series with bar graphs:

Counting data with a user-type distribution
Counting data with a directional distribution
Counting data with weather data
Source: worldweatheronline.com
- Counting data with average temperature
- Counting data with precipitation of rain
- Counting data with snow data (not available on a scale of less than one day)

Fairfax Eastbound

Arlington County DOT