Motionworks Pathcast™ by Date provides hourly vehicular and pedestrian traffic volumes on roadway and pedestrian segments for customer-defined paths, serving as the foundation for Viewcast and Set Dynamic measurements. These insights are produced with the Motionworks Population Intelligence Platform. Pathcast™ by Date is best used for investigating traffic patterns and volume trends through time on specific path segments.

Unlike Placecast which measures activities at places, Pathcast focuses on movement along linear segments or Paths:

• Vehicle Traffic - Estimated number of vehicles traveling along the path segment that cross the vehicular data collection gate during the specified hour and day type.
• Pedestrian Traffic - Estimated number of pedestrians traveling along the path segment that cross the pedestrian data collection gate during the specified hour and day type.
• Path Segments - Custom paths defined by customers that differ from traditional GIS transportation networks like HERE and OSM, as they can be composed of several network links and include specialized geographic gate markers for traffic volume measurement.

Consider these examples:

• A highway billboard where Pathcast measures traffic on the adjacent roadway segments that have visual exposure to the advertising face, providing directional traffic counts for each path within the viewshed.
• A pedestrian walkway where both vehicle and pedestrian paths are measured separately, with different gates positioned to capture distinct movement patterns approaching an outdoor advertising display.

Data Dimensions

• Frequency Updated Monthly new Paths onboarded weekly.
• Geographic coverage Vehicle and pedestrian traffic on custom path segments for Face Places and associated viewsheds in the U.S.
• Zone systems Not applicable. Paths are custom-defined linear segments rather than standardized zones.
• Date availability Monthly data since 2019.
• Latency Data are finalized 30 days after the close of the month. For example, by 31 January 2025, data for December 2024 will be released.
• Path Types Custom paths serve as the foundation for Viewcast measurements and require association with Face Places (place_type = 'Face').

Path Audit Status Reference

Path data quality is indicated by audit status values that reflect different levels of validation and processing:

• Audit Status 0 (Assigned) - Customer-provided paths or assignments
• Audit Status 4 (Audited) - Motionworks audited and validated paths with highest confidence
• Audit Status 7 (Removed from Audit) - Paths removed during manual audit process
• Audit Status 9 (Automated) - System-generated paths using automated algorithms
• Audit Status 12 (Published - Third Party) - Published paths extended to viewshed boundaries with automated gates
• Audit Status 14 (Removed from Publishing) - Paths with customer-provided paths or assignments with travel in opposite direction

Research Preview Fields

This dataset includes pedestrian traffic fields (pedestrians and pedestrian_observations) that are provided as Research Preview data. These fields offer insights into pedestrian movement patterns but users should be aware of their current limitations:

• Data Availability: Pedestrian metrics are currently not reported after April 2022 pending methodology refinement and validation improvements.
• Validation Level: These fields undergo different validation processes than our standard vehicle traffic metrics and are intended for exploratory analysis and trend identification.
• Ongoing Development: Pedestrian measurement capabilities represent active areas of methodological development and refinement.
• Recommended Use: When available, best suited for understanding general pedestrian patterns and identifying broad behavioral trends rather than precise counts for specific times and locations.

For applications requiring the highest precision and reliability, we recommend using the vehicle traffic metrics (vehicles, vehicle_observations, and average_speed), which undergo our full validation and verification processes.

Schema

Traffic Volume Validation

Pathcast traffic estimates undergo comprehensive validation against observed traffic count stations maintained by state departments of transportation. Our validation process ensures accuracy and reliability across different road types and geographic regions.

For detailed validation methodology, accuracy metrics, and current performance statistics, see Pathcast Traffic Validation.

Key Validation Metrics

• Hourly Volume Correlation - Systematic comparison of hourly volumes against government traffic counts
• AADT Validation - Annual Average Daily Traffic comparison between observed count stations and Pathcast estimates
• Speed Validation - Average speed validation against functional class thresholds and observed measurements

Quality Assurance Framework

The Pathcast pipeline includes 30+ automated data quality checks organized by processing stage:

• Data Completeness - Verification of full temporal and spatial coverage
• Consistency Checks - Cross-validation between related metrics and audit status verification
• Assessment Checks - Volume and speed threshold validation by functional class
• Geometric Validation - Path-gate intersection verification and viewshed boundary checks

For comprehensive details on the validation framework and current accuracy statistics, reference the Pathcast Traffic Validation documentation.