Finding and Exploring Use of Commodity-Specific Data Sources for Commodity Flow Modeling

Commodity flow modeling studies rely on traditional data sources, such as the Commodity Flow Survey, the Freight Analysis Framework, Transearch, surveys, the U.S. census, county business patterns, and input–output models. The strengths and shortcomings of those data sources have been evaluated in the literature; the sources can be useful for modeling, but they do not necessarily support a supply chain approach or provide the level of detail or accuracy desired for modeling a particular commodity’s supply chain and flow on a city or state roadway network. This paper expands on the work of NCFRP Report 35: Implementing the Freight Transportation Data Architecture: Data Element Dictionary by finding existing data sources unique to specific commodities that identify key supply chain locations and industry relationships and that provide more detail about commodity quantity and movement to overcome the limitations of traditional freight data sources. The goal of the investigation was to find more data sets to use in commodity flow modeling. For each commodity, this paper describes data sources found, data attributes, and how those data were used to estimate flow from origins and destinations within supply chain links. The commodity-specific approach opens doors to sources of data not normally incorporated into transportation research.