Big data has become central to how agencies plan and operate. Trusted data sources, transparent methodologies, and intuitive software platforms can turn complex and difficult-to-source data into actionable insights for groups that need to evaluate trade-offs, prioritize investments, and design policies that solve real-world challenges.
Replica delivers trusted multimodal data, rigorously validated models, and an evolving, outcomes-driven platform that state and local governments, transit agencies, and public organizations rely on for high-stakes decision-making. That trust is rooted in the foundations of the Replica platform, including an understanding of how the data is modeled and the use cases for which it is best suited. This article provides an overview of the platform’s core components, the principles behind our approach, and where Replica’s data is most effectively applied.
Data Inputs
Replica ingests a wide range of inputs to ensure breadth and stability of diverse source data and continuously validates against ground truth.
Replica ingests a wide range of inputs, including mobile device data, connected vehicle data, point of interest visitation data, consumer spending transactions (including credit, debit, and cash transactions over electronic payment systems), land use and parcel data, and direct observational data, including traffic counts and transit boardings from hundreds of agencies.
This data feeds into a multi-layered activity-based model that is continuously validated with ground truth from 300+ transit agencies and thousands of auto counters across the country. Replica also offers weekly, monthly, seasonal, and annual data on core transportation measures like AADT, VMT, and 85th Percentile Speeds.
Other providers often use data pipelines that rely more heavily on connected vehicle data. Focusing on this type of data can provide helpful insight for many traffic and transportation use cases, but it can also introduce coverage and representativeness challenges, particularly for lower-income travelers, active transportation modes, and local or non-corridor-scale analysis.
Modeling Approach
Replica employs a transparent, rigorously validated modeling framework rather than simply scaling observed trip data.
Any meaningful travel analysis will involve modeled data. Observed counts have limited spatial coverage, small sample sizes, and known biases toward certain corridors or populations. The real question is not whether modeling is used, but how capable, transparent, and grounded in reality that modeling framework is. Replica’s model integrates diverse data sources, reflects real-world complexity, and allows for continual calibration as new information becomes available, leveraging multiple types of observed data and incorporating them into a transparent, rigorously validated modeling framework. This results in outputs that reflect the full complexity of real-world behavior, not just the behavior of a single source.
Some providers rely primarily on scaling narrow observed samples to represent full-population behavior, using simpler pipelines that can be faster to deploy but less equipped to capture the complexity of real-world travel. Replica’s layered calibration and multi-source modeling approach mitigates the limitations of any single dataset, producing outputs that are flexible and transparent.
Modal Coverage and Data Granularity
Replica goes beyond auto travel to provide granular, detailed, up-to-date outputs for several models of transportation.
For agencies that need to understand mode shift, evaluate equity outcomes, or study corridor-level activity across all modes, Replica provides a comprehensive foundation.
Replica produces nationwide travel data for all modes: driving, walking, biking, transit, TNCs, and commercial freight. Each trip is associated with a rich set of attributes including origin, destination, route, purpose, and traveler demographics like income, race, home location, and employment status. These fields are fully filterable in the Replica platform, enabling highly specific analyses that support equity, access, and safety-related goals. Replica also includes a nationwide parcel-level land use dataset, making it an ideal tool for zoning assessments, transit-oriented development planning, and even commercial site selection.
Population Insights
One of Replica’s key differentiators is its ability to generate unparalleled person-level insights grounded in real-world population data.
Replica’s synthetic population model enables agencies to answer questions like:
- How do lower-income residents commute to work via this corridor?
- Which populations are most affected by a change in transit service?
- Where are equity gaps in access to essential destinations like schools, jobs, or health care?
Replica’s model incorporates U.S. Census data and other demographic sources to create a synthetic population that reflects the population’s characteristics, including income, race, employment status, housing type, and more, while protecting individual privacy. Every non-commercial trip in Replica’s platform is tied to this synthetic population, making it possible to filter and analyze travel behavior by specific demographic groups across any geography.
With Replica, agencies can evaluate travel behavior through a demographic lens, enabling more inclusive decision-making and more robust support for funding applications, Title VI compliance, and safety-driven initiatives.
Data Validation
Independent evaluations have shown how meaningfully Replica’s outputs reflect real-world conditions.
A range of DOTs, MPOs, and independent evaluations aligned with FHWA guidelines have performed validations of Replica’s data. For example, in 2023, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments found that Replica’s AADT estimates had a 3% absolute error across all functional classifications. Importantly, Replica also showed smaller errors than competitors across 4 of the 5 individual roadway classifications evaluated. Find the full report here.
The Replica platform is designed to continuously improve based on calibration counts and agency feedback, and Replica is often recognized for the quality of and transparency into the QA/QC process. Agencies can optionally provide observed counts to support additional calibration for their specific geography.
Tooling and Insight Generation
The Replica platform is purpose-built for both technical analysts and non-technical decision-makers with built-in workflows and flexible filtering tools.
Data is only useful to the extent it turns knowledge into action and unlocks better decision making. Replica provides more than just data tables or static reports – we provide custom tooling and applications for fast, credible insights that inform decisions and justify investments.
Replica is designed to support both technical analysts and non-technical decision-makers. The platform’s intuitive interface, built-in workflows, and flexible filtering tools make it simple for planners, engineers, and consultants alike to explore patterns, test ideas, and build compelling narratives grounded in data without needing to write code or build custom models. The platform also encourages responsible use by surfacing appropriate context alongside data outputs, whether through metadata, documentation, or training, so users understand what the data reflects, where it works best, and how to interpret it.
Replica’s application suite delivers powerful insights. For example, the Road Closure Scenarios application allows users to simulate the impact of detours or planned construction on network-wide travel, enabling planners and engineers to evaluate mitigation strategies in days, without needing to commission new studies or build custom models.
Replica's users can query and export complex datasets in a few clicks for integration with out-of-app modeling tools and dashboards.
Platform Access and Partnership
Replica offers varied subscription types that typically include unlimited queries and users, and importantly, does not take a transactional project-based approach by charging per download and user.
How a platform is licensed can significantly shape how widely it is adopted within an organization and how effectively teams can use it to inform real-world decisions.
Replica licenses come with unlimited user seats and query access, which allows teams to collaborate freely without worrying about additional fees. This is particularly valuable for agencies with cross-departmental workflows or consultant partnerships. Replica structures its relationship as a partnership, with customers collaborating with its in-house team of planners, engineers, and data scientists to align outputs with agency goals, integrate local context, and build custom workflows where needed.
Project or query limit models can constrain how broadly a platform is adopted across an organization, which is why Replica chose not to operate under this method. This model also often introduces hidden costs: as project timelines extend or additional data is required for analysis, costs can quickly pile up.
Why Customers Choose Replica
Agencies across the country choose Replica for up-to-date data, unparalleled detail, intuitive and flexible workflows, and a dedicated partnership model to support projects end-to-end. Replica delivers high-quality data in order to inform critical decisions, whether the goal is safety, equity, congestion reduction, or grant readiness. Our platform’s flagship capabilities include the following:
- Complete multimodal coverage: All trips, all modes, all travelers — modeled and validated against observed data.
- Flexible analyses: Analyze the exact behavior or demographic cohort that matters for your project.
- Purpose-built workflows: Intuitive applications like Road Closure Scenarios help translate data into action for complex projects.
- Collaborative access: Unlimited users and queries empower full teams to engage with the data.
- Trusted by agencies: Validated in side-by-side comparisons, selected by states, MPOs, and cities nationwide.
- Responsive partnership: A support model built around shared problem-solving and continuous improvement.
To explore how using Replica can support your priorities, schedule a demo here.
