Wheredoall thosetruckscome from?
TheAmbassadorBridge, connectingSouthern
OntarioandSouthernMichigan, isCanada’sbusiest
tradegateway to theUnitedStates.Thousandsof
truckscross iteveryday,butuntil recently, there
was little informationaboutwhere theycome from
andwhere theygo.Mostof those truckshaveGPS
transponders that report their locationevery few
seconds.TheUniversityofWindsor’sCross-Border
Institute (CBI) isharnessing thatdata tofindoutmore
about thiscritical tradegateway.
LedbyDrs.HannaMaohandBillAnderson,CBI
researchersareworkingwithTransportCanada to
analyzebillionsofGPSdatapoints fromasampleof
over50,000 trucks.The fruitsofall thiswork include
adetailedgeographyof truck tripsoriginating inboth
Canadaand theUS.
Butthat’s justthebeginning!
CBIresearchersarealsousingGPSdata tofindouthow
long it takes for trucks togetacross theborder,how
truckflowsvaryby timeofday,andwhy truckdrivers
chooseonebridgeoveranother.This information is
critical formanagingcross-bordersupplychainsand
forplanningnewborder infrastructure.
The traffic labatCBIhasalso installedmicrowave
sensors toprovideacompletecountof truckscrossing
theborder inbothdirections inreal time.Thegoal is
tohelpCanada’s trade-intensiveeconomybyreducing
thecostsanduncertaintyofmovinggoodsacross the
Canada-USborder.
OriginLocationofTripsCrossing theAmbassadorBridge
CROSS-BORDER
INSTITUTE
TAPPINGTHEPOWEROFBIGDATATOMEASURE
TRUCKFLOWSACROSSTHECANADA-USBORDER
