Transportation Data Collaborative

The Transportation Data Collaborative (TDC) is an initiative at the UW to create a protected and linked data repository of sensitive information from regional public and private transportation providers. Data repositories are commonplace in health and medicine, and have proven to be successful in promoting research while protecting privacy. The TDC allows partnering agencies to create data-driven policy, support research uses, and provide individuals with authenticated access to their own transportation records. Such data requests can be met at a lower cost, with privacy protection, and with greater data security than if individual data requests were addressed on a case-by-case basis. The TDC provides solutions, including:

  • Policies and protocols that address data ownership, access, use, and related privacy and ethics in the interest of partner organizations and the persons represented by the data, supported by the UW Urban Infrastructure Lab;
  • A neutral third-party host with transportation expertise – UW TRAC – to enable data sharing and analysis;
  • Protection from disclosure under the Washington Public Records Act via administrative, legal, and legislative efforts available to the UW;
  • Microsoft’s Azure-based Trusted Data Platform, which provides cutting-edge privacy and security tools, such as encryption for sensitive attributes, data tagging to track and audit the uses and users of data, and policy-based encryption.

Additional Information:

The UW Transportation Data Collaborative is led by Jan Whittington, UW Dept. of Urban Design and Planning, Mark Hallenbeck, Washington State Transportation Center and Bill Howe, UW Information School

Seattle Traffic Photo
MLK and Rainier Ave, Seattle. Photo by Matthew Rutledge | CC BY-NC 2.0

Project Members