GPS in Pedestrian and Spatial Behaviour Surveys

The planning of the environment for pedestrians can be improved by using the newest gps tools for monitoring changes in human activity patterns in time and space. Using a personal GPS device, the locations and movements of respondents can be followed over a longer period of time. It will then be possible to analyse how the use of urban spaces are embedded in the wider context of activity patterns (work, school etc.). The general pattern of everyday itineraries, including route choice and time spent at different locations ?on the way? can also be analysed.    If the personal GPS device is combined with an electronic questionnaire, for example in the shape of a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or cell phone, a whole new array of survey possibilities comes into being. Respondents can be asked to register their activities, evaluate or in other ways describe the attractiveness of places based on their actual position in the urban area. Thus a new form of integration between research into activity patterns and urban places will be possible.    The paper presents the possibilities in spatial behaviour and pedestrian surveys with GPS and electronic questionnaires. Demonstrative mapping of test data from passive GPS registration of Copenhagen respondents is presented. The different survey possibilities given a combination of GPS and PDA based electronic questionnaires are presented, together with its possible applications in the context of pedestrian surveys.