6.0 Public Web Survey Analysis
A web survey was conducted to investigate the general public’s satisfaction with the RWIDS information in comparison with the traditional Road Report information. Figure 6-1 shows an annotated screen shot of the ITD Road Report home page (http://164.165.237.41/apps/roadreport/).
Figure 6–1. Web Survey Screen Explained
6.1 Methodology
Visitors to the ITD Road Report website were invited to participate in an on-line survey during the winter of 2003-2004. During that time, 134 members of the public completed the survey. The objectives of this survey were to better understand who the users were of the new RWIDS information as well as the traditional Road Report information; what kinds of trips they were planning with information they derived from the site; the RWIDS features they used and how useful they found these features to be for their trip planning; and suggestions they might have for enhancing the overall value of the site.
A graphical icon and a hypertext link were added to the lower-right corner of the ITD Road Report website to invite users to participate in the web survey. Upon clicking on the survey link, a screening question is presented to insure that the participants are not related to the ITD or its employees and thus their opinions are not biased. The web survey was hosted on a separate, high bandwidth computer server in order to facilitate the transmission of large numbers of images data (screen shot of web features) used in the survey.
The basic approach of the survey is to identify those who have used either the traditional Road Reports (reside under the “Idaho Roads”) and/or the new RWIDS information (reside under the “Weather/Pavement Condition and Web Cam”). The participants were asked to rate the usefulness of each used feature in support of their trip planning. The Road Condition Reports have been providing road surface conditions of all the state routes based on observations phoned in by the ITS maintenance staff four times a day during the winter season. One of the ancillary objectives of this evaluation is to investigate the impacts of the RWIDS on the existing road-weather information services. A replica of the web survey can be found in Appendix C and the results of the survey are summarized in Appendix D.
6.2 Results
In interpreting findings from this survey, it is important to point out that respondents are self-selected; that is, the results of this survey reflect the opinions of only those individuals who decided on their own to respond. Since the sample of respondents was not scientifically selected, their opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of all ITD Road Report site users or of the general population of travelers in and around the state of Idaho. Nevertheless, these respondents represent a diverse and interested group of users of road-weather information available on the Internet. Their opinions are helpful in better understanding what types of road-weather information are most useful, how that information is being used, and how web features such as RWIDS can potentially be improved so that they can better serve the general traveling public.
As Figure 6-2 (Question 1) shows, a little over one third (34.3 percent) of the respondents are frequent users of the ITD Road Report website (more than three times a month), more than one-third (35.1 percent) of the respondents said they were visiting for the first time. Many of the survey questions were designed to probe the experiences with the veteran users of the site and the survey questionnaire was designed to skip those questions for the first time users.
Figure 6–2 (Q1). Frequency of Site Use
Figure 6-3 (Question 2) excludes the first time users and shows that about 70 percent of the experienced users have used this website for more than one year.
Figure 6–3 (Q2). Length of Time Using the Site
Figure 6-4 (Question 3) shows how often this website was used during the four seasons. It seems fair to conclude that there is more frequent access to this website during winter and spring than other seasons.
Figure 6–4 (Q3). Frequency of Use in Different Seasons
Figure 6-5 (Question 4) presents the usage frequency by purpose. Most frequent (frequently and always) reasons for using this website include “check condition for a specific route” (91 percent), “better prepared for driving conditions” (84 percent), “find out weather condition” (72 percent), “find out about road closures” (72 percent), and “find out condition of a hazardous location” (68 percent). Those reasons indicate a general need for road-weather-related information in the primarily rural setting of the state of Idaho. On the other hand, road construction is relatively of lesser concern in terms of travel planning. Determining which highway to take, travel timing, or whether to cancel a trip are the less likely reasons for using this site. Understandably, those decisions are subject to the availability of alternatives and flexibility in schedule that vary from case to case.
Figure 6–5 (Q4). Frequency of Use by Purpose
Figure 6-6 (Question 5) shows how the information provided by this site was used for various trip types. It is not a surprise to see that recreational (47 percent) and personal (40 percent) trips are rated higher than commuting trips (19 percent) as the top two reasons the ITS website were consulted upon, possibly due to the rural nature of the state. The results did show that the usage by commercial drivers is somewhat limited; long haul freight carriers (9 percent) and driving as part of business (22 percent).
Figure 6–6 (Q5). Type of Trip
Figure 6-7 (Question 6.1) indicates what features on the ITD Road Report home page have been used by respondents. The most accessed feature is the Idaho Roads (87 percent) which contains the traditional (pre-RWIDS) information reported by ITD maintenance. RWIDS (residing under “weather pavement conditions and web cams”) was the second most frequently used feature (80 percent). Figure 6-7 shows that the features containing dynamic travel related information (weather, traffic, pavement conditions, constructions, etc.) are among the most accessed; as opposed to the more static or specialized information such as press release, highway data quest (providing color coded maps of various highway statistics). This indicates that there is a demand for up-to-date information on road and weather condition by the general public.
Figure 6–7 (Q6.1). Web Features Used
As a follow up to the previous question, the survey asked the respondents to rate the usefulness of each Road Report web feature (Figure 6-8, Question 6.2). The percentages of respondents who indicated a feature being very useful generally correspond to the results shown in Figure 6-7. It is consistent that a large percentage of respondents have found the features containing dynamic travel-related information (weather, traffic, pavement conditions, constructions, etc.) useful.
Figure 6–8. (Q6.2). Usefulness of RWIDS Information
Those respondents who indicated they have used “Weather Pavement Conditions and Web Cams” (i.e., RWIDS) were asked about which RWIDS features they used. Figure 6-9 (Question 6af1) shows that the most accessed RWIDS features are weather-current (87 percent), Idaho roads (a link to the existing Idaho roads that is not part of the RWIDS development) (86 percent), weather-forecast (84 percent), weather-pavement (82 percent), cameras (79 percent), and road closures (a link to the road closure features that are also accessible from the home page) (78 percent). Clearly, among less accessed features are those more technical or specialized information such as NWS Alerts, avalanche alerts, and various weather images (satellite, radar, jet stream, isobars, etc.).
Figure 6–9 (Q6af1). RWIDS Features Used
Figure 6-10 (Question 6af2) presents the results of respondents’ rating on usefulness of each RWIDS feature. The usefulness ratings are in general agreement with the results of the previous question. The most useful RWIDS feature is “cameras” which provides snap shots of image from video/ camera-equipped ESS. Different from Figure 6-9, a significant portion of respondents have found images from satellite (63 percent) and radar (64 percent) very useful, based on a relatively smaller percentage of respondents who indicated they have used these features.
Figure 6–10 (Q6af2). Usefulness of RWIDS Information
Figure 6-11 (Question 7) shows the agreement with the various statements regarding the attributes of the ITD Road Report website. Sixty-five percent of the respondents agreed that the Road Report website is well organized. Fifty-eight percent agreed that the information provided is up to date. Sixty-two percent agreed that the forecast information is accurate. Eighty percent agreed that the information helped them better prepare for road weather conditions, 77 percent drove more carefully, 63 percent changed time to travel, and 48 percent canceled their trips based on the information provided by the ITD Road Report website.
Figure 6–11 (Q7). Agreement with Site Attributes
Figure 6-12 (Question 8) shows the other travel information sources the respondents also consulted with. Seventy-five percent of the respondents also listen to the commercial radio for road-weather related information; 67 percent watched television, and 60 percent used other websites for road-weather information. It is somewhat surprising that the long time ITD operated interactive telephone number 1-888-IDA-ROAD was only used by 27 percent of the respondents. Weather radio and newspaper are used by relatively smaller percentage of the respondents.
Figure 6–12 (Q8). Other Travel Information Sources
Question 9 of the survey provides an opportunity for respondents to provide their suggestions for future improvements of the ITD Road Report website. The representative comments are summarized in the following. The parentheses indicate number of similar comments.
- Like to see more cameras (18)
- Need to make this website (Road Report) more user friendly (15)
- Information is not always up to date (8)
- The website sometimes take too long to load (9)
- Very happy with this website (10)
- Like to see truck-related information (1)
- Graphics and text too small (3)
Figure 6-13 (Question 10) shows that 86 percent of the respondents live in the state of Idaho with 39 percent from southeastern, 38 percent from southwestern, and 8 percent from northern Idaho.
Figure 6–13 (Q10). Location of Participants
Figure 6-14 (Question 11) shows the age distribution of the respondents. According to the results of question 12 (not shown) 62 percent of the respondents were male and 28 percent female.
Figure 6–14 (Q11). Age of Participants
6.3 Conclusions
- The RWIDS information was positively received by the survey respondents. Overall, the survey respondents were pleased to have a single Idaho-specific website that provides useful travel-related information. Among the information provided under RWIDS (weather/ pavement conditions and web cams), general road-weather information such as weather conditions (current, forecast, pavement), Idaho roads (pavement condition by route), followed by camera and road closures (also accessible from ITD Road Report home page) are the most accessed information. Information such as various weather images (satellite, radar, jet stream, pacific loop), and weather and avalanche alerts/watches/warning are among the least accessed. This is consistent with the finding of web usage analysis and remarks from ITD maintenance staff that certain technical information (e.g., jet stream, isobar) in the RWIDS might not be useful to the general public.
- Camera images are useful. Cameras were highly rated among the most accessed and useful information by the survey respondents. Several comments from the survey respondents expressed the needs for more cameras. This finding is in agreement with other similar studies as well as the general interests of the ITD maintenance staff.
- Integration of RWIDS and traditional Road Report (i.e., Idaho roads and road closure information). The Idaho roads and road closures that predate the RWIDS are among the most accessed and are considered useful by the survey respondents. The survey results also showed that RWIDS is complimentary to and does not replace the Idaho roads and road closures based on observations phoned in by ITS maintenance staff. Logically, better integration between the descriptive information from the Idaho road, road closures, and the more discrete information from the RWIDS will be beneficial to the general public in reducing the efforts in synthesizing useful road-weather information from multiple sources.
- Road-weather information contributed to safer travel. Most of the respondents
(80 percent) agreed that the information provided by this website helped them better prepare for road-weather conditions, and 76 percent of the respondents indicated that the information helped them drive more carefully. Sixty-three percent of respondents indicated that the RWIDS has resulted in the change of time of travel (e.g., departure time) and 48 percent had canceled their trips. Despite that RWIDS was not specifically developed for the travel information services, general public are making use of the available information in assisting their trip decisions. It is desirable, as several server respondents suggested, to make this website more user-friendly. - Better promotion of ITD Road Report website. More than one third (35 percent) of the respondents were first time users. About 76 percent of the veteran users have been using this website for more than 12 months. However, the fact that there is no intuitive web address (http://164.165.237.41/apps/roadreport/) and that there has been no official marketing campaign for the RWIDS or the ITD Road Report website, it is conceivable that the potential of this website in serving the general public is yet to be realized. A recommendation would be to provide an intuitive Universal Resource Locator (URL) address for the ITD Road Report website and publicize the new address using existing web resources (e.g., link from other Idaho state agency websites) and other public information outlets (e.g., DOT printed material and the interactive telephone services 1-888-IDA-ROAD).