Data Requests

Each year, COG staff receive many requests for technical data sets and associated documentation not found on the COG website. Staff also provides some limited support to users of the TPB regional travel demand model. COG/TPB technical staff have limited time and resources to respond to external requests for technical data, documentation, and travel model support. Nonetheless, we strive to strike a balance between performing core work activities and responding to data requests and/or model support questions.

Below are the current policies regarding responding to data requests and what we ask of you (the requestor). After reading and acknowledging these conditions, you may complete the data request form below.

Policies regarding data requests

1. To request a copy of the TPB regional travel demand model, model-related data sets, and/or documentation not found on the COG website, please use the form below. Your information will be sent to COG/TPB staff, who will review your request and determine the timeline and best person to respond to your request.
2. We reserve the right to charge for staff time and materials required to fulfill data requests.
3. If you are requesting data or documentation that is “off the shelf” and limited in scope, then the request will likely be fulfilled in a few days, depending on staff availability, and at no cost to the requestor. Keep in mind that COG staff will need to 1) determine the best person to respond to the request; 2) find the data or documentation; and 3) prepare the data or documentation for transmittal.
4. If you are requesting data or documentation that requires substantial time to find, process, format, or prepare, COG staff will need to determine 1) if there are current staff resources available to fulfill the request; 2) if so, what level of effort is required; and 3) what funding source is to be used to cover staff time and/or materials needed to fulfill the request. COG staff does not have an established mechanism for receiving external funds to cover fulfilling data requests. In some cases, existing technical assistance funds can be used, but this requires approval from the relevant funding entity, typically a state department of transportation (DOT) or a transit agency. In cases where we cannot identify a funding source, we will generally be unable to fulfill the request.
5. Requests for the TPB regional travel demand forecasting model
   1. Although we provide the travel model and its input files for free, running the travel model requires the use of a proprietary software package that is produced, licensed, and marketed by Bentley Systems, Inc. (e.g., Citilabs Cube Voyager, Cube Base). COG staff cannot provide this software.
   2. We do not have the resources to staff a "help desk" for the regional travel model, so it is expected that requesters of the travel model will have the knowledge and skills to use the model with minimal assistance from the staff.
   3. It is the staff policy to transmit only production-use travel models and adopted land activity forecasts. Thus, it is against staff policy to transmit developmental travel models or developmental land activity forecasts since these have generally not been thoroughly vetted by staff and are not considered finished products.
   4. Production-use TPB travel demand forecasting model(s): COG/TPB’s Gen2/Ver. 2.4.6 Travel Model, discussed below, is the current  adopted, production-use model available for data requests. In July 2023, we released a model transmittal package for the Gen2/Ver. 2.4.6 Model with the network inputs from the 2022 Update of Visualize 2045 and land use inputs from the Round 9.2 Cooperative Forecasts. Following the TPB approval of the Air Quality Conformity (AQC) analysis of Visualize 2050, we prepared a new Gen2/Ver. 2.4.6 Model transmittal package with Visualize 2050 network inputs and Round 10.0 Cooperative Forecasts land use inputs. As of February 2025, COG/TPB will provide this new Gen2/Ver. 2.4.6 Model transmittal package in response to data requests for COG/TPB’s current, production-use model. Each model transmittal package consists of model scripting files, model input files, and related documentation. It does not include model output files due to their large size (10 to 25 GB per alternative/year)
      
      For more details, see the Ver. 2.4.6 Travel Model user’s guide and the transmittal package memo for the Gen2/Ver.2.4.6 Model.
6. If you would like to obtain zonal land activity forecast data, please let us know whether it is for use with the regional travel model or some other use, since that will determine the type of land use file you are sent. Zonal land use data for the regional travel model must undergo an adjustment to ensure that a consistent employment definition is used by all counties and jurisdictions in the modeled area.

What we ask of you

1. If your study results in a report or other similar documentation, we would like to get a courtesy copy of this document, so that we can better understand how our model/data has been used.
2. If you find anomalies or errors in the data or model, please let us know about them, so that we can address them as quickly as possible.