Vast amounts of information about vehicle movements is collected continuously by GPS providers and highways agencies. This data is valuable for some logistics research, when it is used in the context of – the demand for logistics (ie order data).

However there are several aspects of logistics data which can most effectively be accessed through visual observations at the roadside. These include measurements of the routes of individual vehicles through cities and information about land use issues. Such data provides a key role in understanding why logistics systems work in the way they do, and the design of freight corridors.

This theme is concerned with collecting large amounts of freight traffic data of various types and analysing the data to assist in the design of infrastructure and freight corridors under a range of scenarios.