This traffic-count data is provided by the City of Pittsburgh's Department of Mobility & Infrastructure (DOMI). Counters were deployed as part of traffic studies, including intersection studies, and studies covering where or whether to install speed humps. In some cases, data may have been collected by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) or BikePGH.

Data is currently available for only the most-recent count at each location.

Traffic count data is important to the process for deciding where to install speed humps. According to DOMI, they may only be legally installed on streets where traffic counts fall below a minimum threshhold. Residents can request an evaluation of their street as part of DOMI's Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program. The City has also shared data on the impact of the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program in reducing speeds.

Different studies may collect different data. Speed hump studies capture counts and speeds. SPC and BikePGH conduct counts of cyclists. Intersection studies included in this dataset may not include traffic counts, but reports of individual studies may be requested from the City. Despite the lack of count data, intersection studies are included to facilitate data requests.

Data captured by different types of counting devices are included in this data. StatTrak counters are in use by the City, and capture data on counts and speeds. More information about these devices may be found on the company's website. Data includes traffic counts and average speeds, and may also include separate counts of bicycles.

Tubes are deployed by both SPC and BikePGH and used to count cyclists. SPC may also deploy video counters to collect data.

NOTE: The data in this dataset has not updated since 2021 because of a broken data feed. We're working to fix it.

This study used crime count data from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bureau of Police offense reports and 911 computer-aided dispatch (CAD) calls to determine the best univariate forecast method for crime and to evaluate the value of leading indicator crime forecast models. The researchers used the rolling-horizon experimental design, a design that maximizes the number of forecasts for a given time series at different times and under different conditions. Under this design, several forecast models are used to make alternative forecasts in parallel. For each forecast model included in an experiment, the researchers estimated models on training data, forecasted one month ahead to new data not previously seen by the model, and calculated and saved the forecast error. Then they added the observed value of the previously forecasted data point to the next month's training data, dropped the oldest historical data point, and forecasted the following month's data point. This process continued over a number of months. A total of 15 statistical datasets and 3 geographic information systems (GIS) shapefiles resulted from this study. The statistical datasets consist of Univariate Forecast Data by Police Precinct (Dataset 1) with 3,240 cases Output Data from the Univariate Forecasting Program: Sectors and Forecast Errors (Dataset 2) with 17,892 cases Multivariate, Leading Indicator Forecast Data by Grid Cell (Dataset 3) with 5,940 cases Output Data from the 911 Drug Calls Forecast Program (Dataset 4) with 5,112 cases Output Data from the Part One Property Crimes Forecast Program (Dataset 5) with 5,112 cases Output Data from the Part One Violent Crimes Forecast Program (Dataset 6) with 5,112 cases Input Data for the Regression Forecast Program for 911 Drug Calls (Dataset 7) with 10,011 cases Input Data for the Regression Forecast Program for Part One Property Crimes (Dataset 8) with 10,011 cases Input Data for the Regression Forecast Program for Part One Violent Crimes (Dataset 9) with 10,011 cases Output Data from Regression Forecast Program for 911 Drug Calls: Estimated Coefficients for Leading Indicator Models (Dataset 10) with 36 cases Output Data from Regression Forecast Program for Part One Property Crimes: Estimated Coefficients for Leading Indicator Models (Dataset 11) with 36 cases Output Data from Regression Forecast Program for Part One Violent Crimes: Estimated Coefficients for Leading Indicator Models (Dataset 12) with 36 cases Output Data from Regression Forecast Program for 911 Drug Calls: Forecast Errors (Dataset 13) with 4,936 cases Output Data from Regression Forecast Program for Part One Property Crimes: Forecast Errors (Dataset 14) with 4,936 cases Output Data from Regression Forecast Program for Part One Violent Crimes: Forecast Errors (Dataset 15) with 4,936 cases. The GIS Shapefiles (Dataset 16) are provided with the study in a single zip file: Included are polygon data for the 4,000 foot, square, uniform grid system used for much of the Pittsburgh crime data (grid400); polygon data for the 6 police precincts, alternatively called districts or zones, of Pittsburgh(policedist); and polygon data for the 3 major rivers in Pittsburgh the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio (rivers).

This dataset overlays a grid on the County to assist in locating a parcel. The grid squares are 3,500 by 4,500 square feet. The data was derived from original MAPINDX: Map Index Sheets from Block and Lot Grid of Property Assessment and based on aerial photography. Tiles are numbered in a clockwise spiral fashion starting with #1 at the point in downtown Pittsburgh. Each tile contains 16 Blocks. Each Index Sheet contains 16 lot/block sheets, labeled from left to right, top to bottom (4 across, 4 down): A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S. The first (4) numeric characters in a parcelID indicate the Index sheet in which the parcel can be found, the alpha character identifies the block in which most (or all) of the property lies.

If viewing this description on the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center’s open data portal (https://www.wprdc.org), this dataset is harvested on a weekly basis from Allegheny County’s GIS data portal (https://openac.alcogis.opendata.arcgis.com/). The full metadata record for this dataset can also be found on Allegheny County’s GIS portal. You can access the metadata record and other resources on the GIS portal by clicking on the “Explore” button (and choosing the “Go to resource” option) to the right of the “ArcGIS Open Dataset” text below.

Category: Civic Vitality and Governance

Organization: Allegheny County

Department: Geographic Information Systems Group; Department of Information Technology

Temporal Coverage: 2002

Data Notes:

Coordinate System: Pennsylvania State Plane South Zone 3702; U.S. Survey Foot

Development Notes: none

Other: none

Related Document(s): Data Dictionary (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yyJ_RKU2brFBYU8mh8ZIr6P_Uy3iUWOQL2ZYBv398LY/edit?usp=sharing)

Frequency - Data Change: Multiple times per hour

Frequency - Publishing: Daily

Data Steward Name: Eli Thomas

Data Steward Email: gishelp@alleghenycounty.us

Data about the usage of the WPRDC site and its various datasets, obtained by combining Google Analytics statistics with information from the WPRDC's data portal.

Motivation

This dataset was created to pilot techniques for creating synthetic data from datasets containing sensitive and protected information in the local government context. Synthetic data generation replaces actual data with representative data generated from statistical models; this preserves the key data properties that allow insights to be drawn from the data while protecting the privacy of the people included in the data. We invite you to read the Understanding Synthetic Data white paper for a concise introduction to synthetic data.

This effort was a collaboration of the Urban Institute, Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services (DHS) and CountyStat, and the University of Pittsburgh’s Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center.

Collection

The source data for this project consisted of 1) month-by-month records of services included in Allegheny County's data warehouse and 2) demographic data about the individuals who received the services. As the County’s data warehouse combines this service and client data, this data is referred to as “Integrated Services data”. Read more about the data warehouse and the kinds of services it includes here.

Preprocessing

Synthetic data are typically generated from probability distributions or models identified as being representative of the confidential data. For this dataset, a model of the Integrated Services data was used to generate multiple versions of the synthetic dataset. These different candidate datasets were evaluated to select for publication the dataset version that best balances utility and privacy. For high-level information about this evaluation, see the Synthetic Data User Guide.

For more information about the creation of the synthetic version of this data, see the technical brief for this project, which discusses the technical decision making and modeling process in more detail.

Recommended Uses

This disaggregated synthetic data allows for many analyses that are not possible with aggregate data (summary statistics). Broadly, this synthetic version of this data could be analyzed to better understand the usage of human services by people in Allegheny County, including the interplay in the usage of multiple services and demographic information about clients.

Known Limitations/Biases

Some amount of deviation from the original data is inherent to the synthetic data generation process. Specific examples of limitations (including undercounts and overcounts for the usage of different services) are given in the Synthetic Data User Guide and the technical report describing this dataset's creation.

Feedback

Please reach out to this dataset's data steward (listed below) to let us know how you are using this data and if you found it to be helpful. Please also provide any feedback on how to make this dataset more applicable to your work, any suggestions of future synthetic datasets, or any additional information that would make this more useful. Also, please copy wprdc@pitt.edu on any such feedback (as the WPRDC always loves to hear about how people use the data that they publish and how the data could be improved).

Further Documentation and Resources

1) A high-level overview of synthetic data generation as a method for protecting privacy can be found in the Understanding Synthetic Data white paper.
2) The Synthetic Data User Guide provides high-level information to help users understand the motivation, evaluation process, and limitations of the synthetic version of Allegheny County DHS's Human Services data published here.
3) Generating a Fully Synthetic Human Services Dataset: A Technical Report on Synthesis and Evaluation Methodologies describes the full technical methodology used for generating the synthetic data, evaluating the various options, and selecting the final candidate for publication.
4) The WPRDC also hosts the Allegheny County Human Services Community Profiles dataset, which provides annual updates on human-services usage, aggregated by neighborhood/municipality. That data can be explored using the County's Human Services Community Profile web site.

A listing of all the properties currently available for sale at the City's Treasurer Sale.

NOTE: The data feed for this dataset stopped updating in late December. We are working to fix it.