Utilizing Egocentric Video and Sensors to Conduct Naturalistic Bicycling Studies

Abstract

Type of Report and Period Covered Sponsoring Agency Code Supplementary Notes AbstractExisting data collection methods are mostly designed for videos captured by stationary cameras and are not designed to follow cyclists along a route or to integrate other sensor data. The goals of this research are: a) to develop a platform to collect naturalistic video bicycling data, b) to develop a methodology to integrate video data with other sensors that measure cyclists' position and comfort levels, and c) to apply the platform and data collection methodology to a real-world route. This research effort has successfully integrated video and sensor data to describe cyclists' comfort levels along a route. It was found that stress levels while riding during peak hours averaged 1.75 times higher than while riding at offpeak hours on the same routes and facilities. Separated bicycle infrastructure, such as multiuse paths, during peak and off-peak hours showed the lowest stress levels. Signalized intersections were hotspots for cyclists' stress. All these results are statistically significant. The results indicate that integrating video and sensor data allows for a more detailed understanding of cyclists' perceptions along a route. Rather than having an average measure for the whole route or path, it is possible to precisely identify the places and/or situations that trigger a change in experience or stress. By measuring how different facility types and riding conditions affect the distribution of stress levels among users, transportation engineers and planners may in the future incorporate video and detailed sensor data to evaluate the real-world performance of different types of facilities.

Does cycling infrastructure reduce stress biomarkers in commuting cyclists? A comparison of five European cities

“…Over the last few years, a new approach has been developed to access autonomic responses to physiological stress in cycling (further discussed in Section 2.1), based on measurements of stress biomarkers obtained directly from cyclists (Caviedes et al, 2017;Fitch et al, 2017;Liu et al, 2016;Zeile et al, 2016). These stressful events are related to safety and security, since, in general, stress is associated with reactions of the organism aiming to survive or to avoid pain and discomfort (Ulrich-Lai and Herman, 2009).…”

The Influence of Noise, Vibration, Cycle Paths, and Period of Day on Stress Experienced by Cyclists

“…We have identified only a few recent attempts in the literature to objectively assess stress in bicycle transport based on measurements obtained directly from cyclists [15][16][17][18]. From this perspective, negative emotions such as fear and anger may be related to stress events [19,20].…”

Revealed Preference Methods for Studying Bicycle Route Choice—A Systematic Review

“…Frequency of data provision was reported by five of the smartphone-based studies, all of which recorded data at 1 Hz (or one position located per second). It should be noted that four of these studies were in association with active applications [ 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ], whilst the remaining study used a smartphone in a long term instrumented pedelec study [ 70 ]. The instrumented pedelec research group sought to actively minimised battery drain, despite the connection of the instrumentation to the large pedelec battery.…”

“…All of the pedelec studies utilised wireless data transfer, whilst a fourth instrumented bicycle study used a conventional bicycle with four helmet-mounted video cameras, requiring manual data download. The conventional instrumented bicycle was used in a fixed route experiment by researchers in Portland [ 68 ]. In addition to the helmet cameras and 1 Hz smartphone GPS location, the experiment also included a galvanic skin response stress sensor and a power meter.…”