Travel time is a matter that affects most of us, especially those that live in highly congested cities. Ideally, we want to reduce travel time as much as possible, thereby freeing up more of our time and enabling a higher quality of life. Data collection of transportation metrics helps us get a clearer picture of the transportation system, and helps us make smarter choices when it comes to improving the existing system. The rapid emergence of interconnected mobile devices carried along by travelers opens up many possibilities for gathering data as they travel, and also to serve them relevant data so that they can make smarter choices when it comes to their traveling. It is estimated that the market share of smartphones would continue to grow for the foreseeable future, making it a rich source for data collection at large scale. Therefore, with the goal of minimizing travel time in mind, we explore various means of making use of these mobile devices to collect data and ultimately improve transportation systems. In particular, we report on the evolution of data collection in the area of transportation research, report on novel case studies in this area, and report in depth on one implementation of a smart data collection application
