Datasets and Expansion Factors

Datasets are the purchased geographies you can use inside Altitude to run your analyses. Expansion Factors are calculated using various datasets

Viewing your datasets

View the purchased geographies you can use to run analyses.

Datasets are the purchased geographies you can use inside Altitude to run your analyses. To view your purchased geographies:

Click Datasets from the Altitude main menu. The loading screen indicates that your purchased datasets are loading onto the map. Depending on how many datasets you have purchased, this may take up to a few minutes.
From the Your Datasets tab, see information about your database license, including its expiry date (first and last day the data is available) and its date ranges.
You can also see a list of your purchased areas by filtering through the list.

Viewing your datasets on the map

View the purchased geographies on a map.

The map on the Your Datasets tab visually displays your purchased datasets. The following actions are available on the datasets map:

Click the centralize icon to center the map on all datasets.
Hover your cursor over a highlighter area on the map to get a description of that geographical area.
Click the pin next to the name of a specific purchased area from the Purchased Datasets list to display on the map.

Expansion Factors

The Expansion Factors tab displays reference locations to help you estimate ground-truth counts from Altitude counts.

By default, the map shows your purchased datasets. From the table filters, you can select the Specificity of expansion: State or Counties.

State and county level Expansion Factors are derived using a weighted average across road segments within each state or county. Aggregations are grouped based on road types and vehicle groups. View the Expansion Factors: Technical White Paper v3.0 for more information. Altitude Expansion Factors tab showing state and county selection menu

State: When you select State, the table displays information for all states included in your purchased datasets. Select a state from the map or the table to view details. States with limited data have a warning pill, as the expansion for them is done by referencing expansion factors from adjacent states.
Counties: For Counties, you must select each state you want to view from the dropdown menu. Toggle States with purchased datasets only to OFF to view all states. Click any county from the list after selecting a state to open a side window that provides expansion insights. Click View state for state details.

Note:
Expansion Factors are only available in the USA.

Viewing Expansion Factors on the map

View the Reference Locations from the Expansion Factors table on the map. Each letter on the map corresponds to the letter and location from the table.

To view the expansion factors on the map:

Navigate to Datasets > Expansion Factors from the main menu.
Select a County or click an Expansion Factor on the map.
- Below Specificity of expansion (USA only):, select Counties. Select a County from the list.
- Click an Expansion Factor on the map.
  Note:
  Once you click on a row in the table or an expansion factor on the map, the state details window automatically updates.

View a hover card that outlines the ID, Heavy Duty Vehicles Expansion Factors, and Confidence Interval (CI) 95% insights. Expansion Factors results showing a 16.8x expansion factor for a selected location

Expansion Factors results showing a 16.8x expansion factor for a selected location

Expansion Factors table

View county expansion factors to help you estimate ground-truth counts from Altitude counts. This table is not filtered by input filters, as the ground-truth reference data is structured differently. For more information about Expansion factors, visit Expansion Factors 3.1.


Header	Description
Road Type	Displays the type of road the reference location is counting vehicles on.
Expansion Factor (Universal)	Displays multipliers that can be used to scale counts reported in Altitude to estimated ground-truths.
CI 95% (Universal)	Displays the Confidence Interval (CI) for an expansion factor with a 95% confidence level.
Expansion Factor (Medium-duty vehicles)	Displays the expansion factor for commercial medium-duty vehicles. Note: This category is not part of Altitude filters outside of Expansion.
CI 95% (Medium-duty vehicles)	Displays the CI for commercial medium-duty vehicles.
Expansion Factor (Heavy-duty vehicles)	Displays the expansion factor for commercial heavy-duty vehicles. Note: This category is not part of Altitude filters outside of Expansion.
CI 95% (Heavy-duty vehicles)	Displays the CI for commercial heavy-duty vehicles. Note: This category is not part of Altitude filters outside of Expansion.

Viewing state details

View state details and access state expansion insights.

To view state details:

Navigate to Datasets > Expansion Factors from the main menu.

State details window

View state factors to help you estimate ground-truth counts from Altitude counts. The state details window displays the following:


Header	Description
Counties	Displays all counties within the selected State for analysis.
Reference Year	Select between 2023 or 2022 data.
Filter	Ability to filter the state details for Vehicle class and Road type.
ID	Identification number assigned to the counties.
Expansion Factor	Displays multipliers that can be used to scale counts reported in Altitude to estimated ground-truths.
CI 95%	Displays the Confidence Interval (CI) for an expansion factor with a 95% confidence level.
Marketshare est.	The estimated percent of market share Altitude has at the geography compared to ground-truth data.
Expansion factor (Medium-duty Vehicles)	Expansion factor for activity occurring with commercial medium-duty vehicles.
Expansion factor (Heavy-duty Vehicles)	Expansion factor for activity occurring with commercial heavy-duty vehicles.
Statistical Fit	Level of fit Fit of Altitude movement insights to ground-truth reference data at the specific reference location. This is based on R-squared. To learn more about this insight, see Expansion Factors 3.1 . Error measures (MAPE) Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) is the measurement of the error between counts calculated using the expansion factor and the actual ground-truth.
Location details	Parent geography Displays the Reference Location County.
Ground-truth reference data	A dataset that is referenced against in Altitude to create expansion factor multipliers. For more information about this insight, see Expansion Factors 3.1.

Expansion Factors 3.1

Understand how Expansion Factors are calculated using various datasets and their application across different road types and vehicle groups.

Note:

For step-by-step instructions on using Expansion Factors in the platform, see Expansion Factors in the User Guide.

Note:

Expansion Factors are only available in the USA.

Expansion factors are multipliers used to estimate traffic volumes for various time periods based on Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) values. These values are derived from Geotab's telematics devices, which represent Geotab's market share, and from AADT modeling, which represents the entire market.

In the context of Altitude commercial traffic volume, an expansion factor provides a reasonable estimate of the overall traffic population. When applied as a multiplier to the aggregate volume data collected by Geotab, it offers a reliable approximation of general traffic volumes as displayed on our platform.

At present, Expansion Factors are available for the year 2022 and 2023 at standard geographical levels such as State and County.

Data Sources

Expansion Factors are calculated based on the following datasets:

Observed AADT Values: Derived from Geotab's telematics devices on road segments.
Predicted Market AADT: Derived from AADT model developed by Altitude by Geotab.
IHS Vehicle Registration Data: Used to calculate the ratio of commercial heavy-duty and medium-duty vehicles across the US.

Road type coverage

Expansion Factors are aggregated from AADT data for the following road types:


Road Type Categories (in Altitude)	Road Types (same as OpenStreetMap Highway values)	Description
Arterials	Trunk Primary Secondary Tertiary	Trunk roads Primary roads Secondary roads Tertiary roads
Highways	Motorways	Motorways

Vehicle Groups

Expansion Factors are provisioned for each of the following vehicle classification groupings:

Universal: Use to estimate the total market size across all vehicle types including commercial and non-commercial.
Heavy: Use to estimate the market size specifically for commercial heavy-duty vehicles.
Medium: Use to estimate the market size specifically for commercial medium-duty vehicles.

State & County level Expansion Factors

State and county level Expansion Factors are derived using a weighted average across road segments within each state or county. Aggregations are grouped based on road types and vehicle groups.

Expansion Factors not available

Expansion Factors are provided only when they meet defined filters. If an Expansion Factor is not available for a specific zone level (such as a county), it is estimated using the appropriate state-level Expansion Factor. Every state in the US has 2022 and 2023 Expansion Factors.

Segments with expansion factors that exceed 500 (or represent less than 0.2% market share) are excluded from the aggregation algorithm due to insufficient coverage by Geotab.

Canadian Expansion Factors are not currently available. If Canadian Expansion Factors are important for your business, please reach out to Altitude Support or talk to your account advisor at Altitude by Geotab.