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Purpose — Describe the system set-up and processing requirements for a long-duration longitudinal Global Positioning System (GPS)/prompted-recall (PR) survey conducted in Sydney, Australia and assess reaction and cognition of participants.

Design/methodology/approach — The survey uses data collected using an in-car GPS device within a PR interface accessed over the Internet by participants. Technical requirements, interface design and survey administration of the survey are discussed. This is followed by an assessment of participant burden and cognition by analysing user activity on the PR and comparing participant responses to information inferred from the GPS data.

Findings — New technologies have allowed for increasingly sophisticated data collection efforts but they require substantial resources to translate this into a usable form. This study shows these technologies can be used to conduct long-duration travel studies in a way that is appealing and engaging to participants. However, it was found that responses to the PR are sometimes inconsistent and caution should be drawn in taking PR responses as the ‘ground truth’.

Research limitations/implications — The relatively low participant burden of this study shows long-duration studies are feasible if care is taken to limit the work required by participants. The inconsistency of the responses to the PR suggest future surveys may need to employ mechanisms that are better able to aid participants in accurately completing the survey.

Originality/value — Details the requirements of running a long-duration GPS/PR survey and assesses participant burden and cognition of the survey which are often not reported.

Over the past decade, transportation researchers have leveraged global positioning system (GPS) technology to improve the accuracy and increase the depth of spatial and temporal details obtained through household travel surveys. While earlier studies used GPS as a supplement to traditional household travel survey methods, measuring the accuracy of trips reported (Wolf et al., 2006), studies are now underway to identify the methods and tools that will allow us to do away with paper diaries entirely and simply rely on GPS to obtain trip details. This paper finds that while GPS clearly helps to improve participation among some groups, it decreases participation among others. Thus, it should be considered a tool in the household travel survey toolbox and not “the” solution to non-response issues in household travel surveys.

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