BITRE to use telematics data in stats to be release publicly, per new government data plan
The federal government will use information from telematics software to develop statistics on how freight moves on Australian roads, due for public release later this year.
The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) began collecting road freight telematics data from a small number of freight service providers earlier this year, after a pilot study with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the Australian Logistics Council and Australian Trucking Association was completed in 2016.
That pilot study developed indicators for mapping congested network locations, average freight vehicle speeds, route choices, trip movements and the location and duration of freight vehicle rest stops.
BITRE hopes to release the first statistics from these indicators by the end of this year, expanding its reach to between 20 and 30 of Australia’s largest road freight operators.
The plan is one of a series of priority projects identified in the National Infrastructure Data Collection and Dissemination Plan (Data Plan) released yesterday by urban infrastructure minister Paul Fletcher.
Fletcher says the plan was a blueprint for the more selective gathering, processing and use of data generated by public and private transport and logistics companies to plan major national infrastructure projects.
“The plan identifies infrastructure data and information gaps and outlines priority projects aimed at better utilising data to help with infrastructure investment decision making and monitoring the performance of Australia’s infrastructure networks,” he says.
These priority projects include the development of registers updated annually on the state of heavy vehicle infrastructure assets as well as infrastructure and road speed performance and reliability dashboards – with the aim of monitoring the condition and performance of infrastructure networks.
Another project is getting BITRE to conduct a regular analysis into customs freight data – in order to develop a better understanding of the movement of freight to and from ports.
An interactive online Infrastructure Performance Dashboard that summarises transport, telecommunications, water and energy data is also being implemented to provide infrastructure users and decision makers with a better understanding of how these infrastructure networks are performing, Fletcher says.