National Cycling Data Analytics Platform
A new digital platform for national cycling data, supported by infrastructure planning support tools, enabling academic research, evidence-based planning and policy development to improve cycling environments across Australia.
The partnership
The platform brings together leading cycling researchers from five Australian universities with national organisations that are committed to the creation and use of robust data to support cycling as a safe and convenient transportation mode. The National Cycling Data and Analytics Platform (NCDAP) project received investment from the Australian Research Council and contributions from project partners. The project is led by City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney.
The challenge
Planners and cycling advocates in Australia have long faced a deficit of available data on cycling participation (and non-participation), peoples’ attitudes and behaviours around cycling, and the barriers and facilitators to increased cycling.
Existing datasets are valuable but are often limited to a single city or state and can be difficult to find or expensive to access. These problems make it hard to re-use existing cycling data and prevent comprehensive cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of cycling behaviour to understand who cycles, who does not, and why. This information is needed to understand what interventions are most effective in encouraging more people to ride bicycles.
The project vision
The NCDAP directly addresses the data deficit through the development of an open and easy to use digital platform that provides users access to a range of national cycling datasets and interactive toolkits for predicting the impact of new cycleway implementation.
By harmonising existing cycling-related datasets and new data generated by the project team, the NCDAP will enhance the ability to deliver meaningful and cost-efficient projects that improve the physical and social environment for new and existing cyclists. The NCDAP has a critical focus on understanding the needs and concerns of “near market” potential cyclists (i.e., people on the ‘cusp’ of shifting trips to bike riding). New and existing data is integrated to highlight relationships and patterns, changes over time, gaps and opportunities in order to unlock both national and regional research and practice benefits. Data from the NCDAP supports infrastructure investment and public information campaigns to better encourage cycling.
The goal is to support academic research, evidence-based planning and policy development. The NCDAP provides a framework for standardised collection and communication of place-based data relevant to cycling. The NCDAP is built around three components:
- The NCDAP Travel Attitudes and Behaviours Survey to fill existing gaps in Australian data and create a baseline for future annual data collection and longitudinal analysis.
- The Cycling Infrastructure Scenario Building Tool to assist in planning, designing, managing, and analysing cycling infrastructure and policy in Australian cities.
- The National Cycling Data Exchange to give researchers and practitioners easy access to data on cycling participation, demographics, and attitude, behaviour and sentiment to assist evidence-based policy development and improved infrastructure planning, and to facilitate collaborative, multidisciplinary, and high impact research.
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