Cascade Gateway - Help and Notes

Help Articles and Notes

The Cascade Gateway Border Data Warehouse includes a Developer API that allows users to query the data warehouse and retrieve information in various formats including JSON and CSV. The API allows for the retrieval of data for crossings, crossing lanes and detectors.

To use the API, you must have a unique API key. To get your API Key, please click "Register" at the bottom of the page and create an account. On the My Account page you will see your API Key.

This page provides reference material and examples for using the API. For more information contact melissa@wcog.org.

Calendar View - HELP

CALENDAR

ABOUT THIS PAGE

This view allows users to see data by crossing on a calendar view. Choose to view the data a year, month, or day at a time. Once the data is visible in the calendar view, clicking on an individual month will drill down to a day, and from that day to a table with data broken out by five-minute increment.

Data available include:
Volume -- the total number of vehicles entering the port-of-entry
Delay -- the estimated delay in minutes
Service rate -- The number of vehicles passing over a detector in the road per hour
Vehicles in queue -- An average number of vehicles estimated to be in the queue
Queue length -- the length of the vehicle queue in meters

SELECTING A CROSSING

Use the drop down arrow to select a crossing, direction, and/or mode. Note that data may be shown at the cumulative levels of crossing or direction. For example, if "Pacific Highway Southbound" is chosen, this will show the volume count for all modes -- standard cars, NEXUS cars, trucks, and buses.
Only one crossing can be shown at a time. To view data for more than one crossing at a time, use a Custom Query.

SELECTING A YEAR, MONTH, OR DAY

Year: Data go back to fall of 2007.
Month: Select a month to see a calendar view of that month. OR simply choose "Select" to see the full year of data for that year.
Day: Select a day to see the five-minute increment view of the day. OR simply leave it on "Select" to see the full month data.

SELECTING DATA POINTS

Place a checkmark next to each data element to be viewed on the calendar. They will be shown simultaneously.
Note: The Volume data are based on loop detectors and at the time of this writing, are often off by a substantial factor. We recommend using the volume data for comparison purposes only -- compare to other periods of time in the dataset, but do not use as actual volume counts. For more accurate volume counts at the ports-of-entry, contact the Whatcom Council of Governments.

DATA AVAILABILITY

The system receives 288 packets of data every day from partner agencies -- one for every five-minute increment. If less than 80 percent of those packets are received, the color block is changed from green to yellow (50-80% of packets received) or red (0-50% of packets received). We recommend filtering out any days that do not have green availability tags if planning to use the data for analyses.

Calendar View - NOTE

Use map or menu to select a data time-series calendar.

To view commercial freight values by port and commodity, visit the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics Transborder Data Dashboard

Custom Query - HELP

CUSTOM QUERY

ABOUT THIS PAGE

The custom query tool is for users who have a specific dataset in mind and wish to use it in their own analyses. Data will be available for download as a .CSV file only.

STEPS TO BUILD A QUERY

1. Choose a date range – Select a start date and end date.

2. Choose the days of the week to query – The default selection is all days of the week. If, for example, only weekend days are desired, unselect “Select All” and the re-select Saturday and Sunday only.

3. Select months of the year – By default all months are selected. However specific months, such as those in the summer or a specific season, may be chosen. Note that results will not be rolled together, so if January and February are selected, for example, results will show January for each year, February for each year, etc.

4. Select hours of the day – Use the sliders to select a start and end time for the day. Many of the analyses done by Whatcom Council of Governments select 8:00am – 10:00pm for border crossing data.

5. Choose how to group the day – The data may be displayed in different ways, depending on how detailed an analysis is needed. For the most detailed approach, select Group by: Day then by Minute. Note that “Minute” will choose the smallest increment available, which is 5-minute increments only.
Note that the date that shows is the FIRST date or time in the series. For example, if “Year” is selected it will show 1/1/2008 for all of 2008. Note this is important to track when choosing “All” as it will show a starting date in a range only. If a selection of 1/1/2016-12/31/2018 is made, the All field will only show 1/1/2016 for the date.

Here are some examples of how different aggregations will display:

6. Select ports and directions – Select individual ports-of-entries or directions or select “All.”

7. Select modes – By selecting “All,” data for all vehicle types for the selected ports and directions will be displayed. Or select either passenger, commercial, or bus. Passenger can be further refined to choose standard cars, NEXUS cars, and/or Ready cars (southbound only). Likewise, commercial vehicles may be refined to include or exclude FAST trucks or standard trucks (note “trucks” may also include passenger vehicles that are carrying commercial goods).

8. Select detectors – Use this option ONLY if querying individual detectors. Place a checkmark next to each detector. To pick detectors using the map, use the Detector page and right click detectors from the map and click “Create Query.”

9. Select data point(s) – Choose how data should be displayed. Typical options are usually average Delay, or Sum of volume, but multiple other aggregations are available. A separate column will be provided for each data point selected.

Crossing Measures

Volume – the total number of vehicles entering the port-of-entry
Delay – the estimated delay in minutes
Service rate – The number of vehicles passing over a detector in the road per hour
Vehicles in queue – An average number of vehicles estimated to be in the queue
Queue length – the length of the vehicle queue in meters

Detector Measures

Volume – the total number of vehicles entering the port-of-entry
Occupancy – Percentage of time when the detector was occupied with a vehicle
Speed – The average speed of vehicles over the detector in kilometers per hour. Detectors closer to the border will have less useful speeds since the queue tends to extend over them.
Vehicle Length – An average length of vehicles crossing the detector in meters. This may be approximated for some detectors.

Booth Measures

Volume By Mode – Volume as calculated by the booth status data system
State Vehicles – Vehicle counts based on license plate state or province

10. After all selections are completed, click the Generate CSV button to download the data file. No data will be displayed on screen. If a large amount of data have been queried, the file may take some time to process so please be patient.

Custom Query - NOTE

Use this form to download exactly the data you need in a CSV file. Note that larger queries may time out, so we recommend that if you are querying five- minute increment data, do not download more than a month of data at a time.

More tips and information are in the info file - click the question mark at the top-right corner.

Other questions? Please contact Melissa Fanucci at melissa@wcog.org.

Detectors - HELP

DETECTORS

ABOUT THIS PAGE

Loop detectors provide volume count, speed, and other data that make up the border wait time systems. This section of the data allows users to gather lane and detector-specific data.

WHEN TO USE DETECTOR DATA

Detector-level data are best when performing any analysis that is at a lane-by-lane comparison. They also provide more information about the flow of traffic as volumes can be collected at various points along a route to determine where traffic joins or exits a roadway. Lastly, detector data are useful to compare to crossing data to check for accuracy.

MAP PAGE

The primary detector page shows a map of all the detectors in the Cascade Gateway border crossing network. Users may zoom in and use the hand icon to move around the map to choose a different location. Loops are color-coded based on the primary mode of the lane they are located in.

Hovering over a loop detector on the map will show the loop's name. Clicking on the loop detector will bring up that specific loop page.

TO SELECT MULTIPLE LOOP DETECTORS TO LOOK AT

The primary view of the detector section examines one loop detector at a time. To look at data for multiple loop detectors simultaneously, right-click on each loop as selected. This will make a list on the left of the screen. Once the list is complete, click "Create Query" and this will open a Custom Query with those detectors pre-populated into the query tool.

INDIVIDUAL LOOP DETECTOR PAGE

Each loop detector has its own calendar view. Choose to view the data a year, month, or day at a time. Once the data is visible in the calendar view, clicking on an individual month will drill down to a day, and from that day to a table with data broken out by five-minute increment.

Data available include:
Volume -- the total number of vehicles entering the port-of-entry
Occupancy -- Percentage of time when the detector was occupied with a vehicle
Speed -- The average speed of vehicles over the detector in kilometers per hour. Detectors closer to the border will have less useful speeds since the queue tends to extend over them.
Vehicle Length -- An average length of vehicles crossing the detector in meters. This may be approximated for some detectors.

CHANGING A DETECTOR

After a detector is chosen by the map view and selected, users may still choose another detector by using the drop-down arrow to select a different detector. However they will need to be familiar with the naming conventions of the detectors to find the one they are interested in.

SELECTING A YEAR, MONTH, OR DAY

Year: Data go back to fall of 2007.
Month: Select a month to see a calendar view of that month. OR simply choose “Select” to see the full year of data for that year.
Day: Select a day to see the five-minute increment view of the day. OR simply leave it on “Select” to see the full month data.

SELECTING DATA POINTS

Place a checkmark next to each data element to be viewed on the calendar. They will be shown simultaneously.

DATA AVAILABILITY

The system receives 288 packets of data every day from partner agencies – one for every five-minute increment. If less than 80 percent of those packets are received, the color block is changed from green to yellow (50 – 80% of packets received) or red (0-50% of packets received). We recommend filtering out any days that do not have green availability tags if planning to use the data for analyses.

Detectors - NOTE

Choose detectors either on the map or by selecting them by name on the left drop-down menu to view their data. You can right-click to select multiple detectors for a custom query.

The map may be scrolled to view other Cascade Gateway Ports. Detector data includes volume, speed, occupancy, and vehicle length.

Detectors- Selection - HELP

Right-click on detectors to add them to a custom query.

Home Page - HELP

HOME PAGE

ABOUT THIS WEBSITE

This website allows members of the public, agency staff and researchers to analyze historic wait time and volume data at the four land ports-of-entry between Whatcom County, Washington State and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada that make up the Cascade Gateway system of border crossings.

Data come from the northbound advanced traveler information system managed by the WA State Department of Transportation that provides real-time border crossing delay information on signs, apps, and through 511 phone systems. Southbound real-time data are provided by the B.C. Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure B.C./U.S. Border Traveller Information System. Southbound volumes are also provided by U.S. Customs & Border Protection.

The data provided are for information purposes only; no agency guarantees the accuracy of the data shared here.

CURRENT DELAYS

This section provides a quick snapshot of current delays in the Cascade Gateway. The delays shown in blue are southbound, those in red are northbound. The number shown is the cumulative delay total for all Cascade crossings (all three for commercial crossings). By hovering over the number with a mouse, individual delay averages will be broken out by port-of-entry.

CURRENT VOLUMES

This section provides a quick snapshot of how many vehicles are queued in the Cascade Gateway. The volume count is updated every five minutes. Volumes in blue are southbound, volumes in red are northbound. The volume shown is the cumulative volume for all crossings. By hovering over the number with a mouse, individual volumes will be broken out by port-of-entry.

AVERAGE DELAYS (IN MINUTES) COMPARED TO SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR

These graphs compare today’s delays in minutes (red for northbound, blue for southbound) to the same period of time last year (in gray). Note that the gray line is both directions averaged. To see more detail on any specific port-of-entry, click on the name of the port to drill down to more information.

The range of data viewed may be altered by using the filters on the right. The date ranges can be changed up to three months from the current day. Similarly, only weekdays, or weekends, may be viewed, or a specific day of the week.

At any point, choosing “Today” under “Select Day” will reset the view to the current day once more.

DAILY TRAFFIC VOLUME BY PORT, BOTH DIRECTIONS

These bar charts show daily traffic volume broken into passenger and commercial vehicles. Each color represents a port-of-entry to show a cumulative total for the Cascade Gateway for that particular day. Note the totals are for both directions. To view the data by direction, view either the Time Series data or create a Custom Query.

HOW TO DOWNLOAD THE DATA

Data from this page can be downloaded as an image, crosstab, PDF or PowerPoint by clicking the Download icon on the bottom right gray bar.

Home Page - NOTE

This website provides historic border crossing volume and wait time data for the four land ports-of-entry between Whatcom County, Washington State and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

My Account - HELP

This page allows users to access their account details, API keys, and subscriptions.

ACCOUNT INFORMATION

This information is required to have an account with the system. Every account requires a unique email address and organization. To update or change the account password, click the "Update/Change Password" link on the Account Details" page.

API ACCESS

If you are a developer interested in having using the API, you must have an API Key. This will be automatically generated for you upon the creation of an account. The API Key displays on the Account Details page, along with the status. If the status is not approved/active, you can contact melissa@wcog.org for more information. Documentation for the API can be found here.

TO VIEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS/SIGN UP FOR NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS

Subscriptions allow users to receive emails every time there is a border delay that meets their specific requirements (i.e. longer than 30 minutes southbound at Peace Arch). To create and view your subscriptions, click the "Subscriptions" link on the green sub-navigation bar near the top of the page.

Register - HELP

To use some of the features of the Cascade Gateway Border Data Warehouse you must have an account. Please note that we will not use your information for any purpose outside the management of this database.

An account is required if you would like to subscribe for border wait time delay notifications or if you would like an API key. Details about both of these functions are available after registering.

All accounts must have a unique email address and provide an organization, first name, and last name. You will have an option to change your password later if need be.

If you have any questions about accounts on the site, contact <a href="mailto:melissa@wcog.org">melissa@wcog.org</a>.

Subscriptions - HELP

Subscriptions provide a way to be notified of border delays via email.

CREATE A SUBSCRIPTION

To create a subscription, click the "create a subscription" link at the bottom of the page. You will be asked to select the following:

Choose a crossing - A separate alert will be created for each crossing you select. If you would like to select multiple crossings, hold down the shift key and click each crossing. Each crossing that is highlighted will have a new subscription created for it. Note that subscriptions are broken out not only by port-of-entry but also by direction and mode of travel (Cars, NEXUS, Bus, and Truck).

Choose a delay minimum - This is the threshhold to set for when you want an alert. For example, if you only want alerts when delays are longer than an hour, set the delay minimum for 60 minutes. If you set it for 30 minutes, you will get an email every time the delay meets or exceeds 30 minutes.

Choose report frequency - A report can be sent every time the delay occurs by choosing "Every instance" (note: the Cascade Gateway Border Data Warehouse itself is only updated every five minutes, so there is a delay of five minutes from any actual border wait times. The archive also does not guarantee that it will provide real-time data). However, because this may be overwhelming during peak travel periods, users can instead select "Daily" to receive a single email report any day there are wait times that meet the delay minimum. Or a user may choose to receive emails every instance, but only for a period of time during the day (i.e. during work hours) by selecting "Choose an interval" and selecting when to start receiving emails in the day and for how long.

EDIT A SUBSCRIPTION

To change anything about an existing subscription, go to My Account - Subscriptions and click "Edit" next to the subscription report you want to change. Make any changes to the details, and hit "Save."

If you would like to keep the report but pause receiving updates for the time being, unclick the "Active" checkbox, then click "Save". That will keep the subscription but stop sending reports.

If you want to delete the subscription, simply click "Delete" at the bottom.

Subscriptions - NOTE

Subscriptions provide a way to be notified of border delays via email. For details on how to set up subscriptions or manage your alerts, click the question mark icon for more info.

Time Series - HELP

TIME SERIES DATA

ABOUT THIS PAGE

This page shows either delay data or volume data over a period of time in both a a graphic line comparing ports-of-entry and in calendar format. The default view is for the last thirty days but users can select a time period.

To view similar results in table format, visit the Calendar View page.

DELAY DATA

Choose to view delay data by selecting the "Delay" parameter on the right filter menu. Right filter options also allow a specific month to be viewed; if all months are selected, a full calendar year of delay will be shown (note: the calendar view for these data is difficult to see given the quantity of data).

Filters also allow users to select specific ports-of-entry, direction of travel, and lane type. If you select Passenger Vehicles, for example, you may then also filter down to only choose to view Standard cars or also include NEXUS cars in your results.

VOLUME DATA

The same filtering and viewing actions may be used to view the data for daily volumes. The default selection will be for northbound passenger vehicles.

DRILLING DOWN INTO EACH DAY/HOUR

By hovering over each calendar day, users may see a bar chart showing either total volume or average delays by hour for that day. The same hovering bar charts are available for the weekday averages and the hourly averages by minute.

HIGHLIGHT COLORS

Each day or hour is colored by either volume or delay. The higher the volume, or the longer the average delay, the darker the color. Note that missing days that are missing data elements will appear lighter and will be flagged. It is recommended that these data are removed from analyses.

Time Series - NOTE

This page shows total volumes or average delays for the last thirty days of the Cascade Gateway border crossings. Use the filters on the right to change the views or hover over any day for more details.