Filling Gaps in the U.S. Commodity Flow Picture Using the CFS with Other Data Sources

摘要

The U.S. Commodity Flow Surveys (CFS) provide a wealth of data on the movement of freight within the country, by mode of transportation, dollar value, annual tonnage, door-to-door shipment distance, and shipment size. Yet gaps in CFS coverage and a lack of spatial and commodity detail limit the value of mis data for planning and policy supporting studies. This paper identifies these gaps and considers how supplementary data sources combined with statistical modeling techniques can be used to create a more complete picture of national and regional commodity flows. The first half of the paper describes current data gaps and available data resources. The second half of the paper discusses possible gap-filling solutions. Solutions fall into two categories: data synthesis using current data sources, and improved and expanded data collection methods.