Practical benefits and lessons in adapting mobile applications to household travel surveys in developing countries

Abstract

Using mobile applications for household travel surveys is becoming mainstream; however, the practical benefits and challenges in the context of developing countries are still unclear. This study comprehensively scrutinizes the benefits and challenges of adapting mobile applications to these surveys through two case studies in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, and Kinshasa, DR Congo. The results indicate that mobile applications could mitigate practical constraints from the social, human resource, and methodological constraint perspectives, while discussing new problems and technical considerations regarding hardware and software, resulting in the improvement of transport-planning practices in developing countries.