2025-08-28 Engineering Team

[jpn--]

@ActivitySim/engineering

Agenda

• Review status of open PRs (see below)
• Review and updates to overall Phase 11 goals, 11B task order approach, and medium/longer term 11C tasks

Mainline ActivitySim

• Telecommute #935 - to @dhensle for re-review
• Estimation enhancements #917 - awaiting @johnpgliebe review

Explicit Error Terms Visualization

• Viz filtering #10 - active commits this week, EET is close but not done
• Sameness #7 - bump to next phase as part of "next steps"

PopulationSim

• PopulationSim #192 - lots of review comments, need exec guidance

MTC Example Model

• Relative trip scheduling in MTC example #8 - still marked as draft, but probably an improvement for this example model, should we adopt it?

SANDAG Example Model

• Settings Checker for Extensions #31 - reviewed, back to @andkay
• Example model configs for telecommute_status model #30 - awaiting @dhensle review
• Improve consistency with SANDAG production model #34 - active work, this is now part of Phase 11.

[jpn--]

ActivitySim Engineering Team Meeting Notes

Meeting Overview

Agenda

• Review of open pull requests (PRs) across all ActivitySim repositories
• Discussion of task allocations and effort estimates for Phase 11 work
• Assignment of specific tasks to consulting firms and project lead

Participants

• Joe Castiglione, SFCTA (@joecastiglione)
• Jeffrey Newman, Driftless (@jpn--)
• David Hensle, RSG (@dhensle)
• Sijia Wang, WSP (@i-am-sijia)
• Andrew Kay, CS (@andkay)
• Stefan Coe, PSRC (@stefancoe)
• Joe Flood, SANDAG (@JoeJimFlood)
• Ray Ngo, National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (@ray-ngo)

Duration

59 minutes

Executive Summary

The meeting focused on reviewing the status of open pull requests across all ActivitySim repositories and finalizing task allocations for Phase 11 work. The team reached consensus on effort estimates totaling 372 hours across consulting firms, with tasks ranging from UV installation support to household failure handling improvements. A timeline was established to have task order scopes written by Labor Day weekend for executive team review.

Meeting Notes

Open Pull Request Review

The team reviewed a comprehensive list of open PRs across all ActivitySim repositories. Key items included:

Main ActivitySim Repository: Two open PRs - the Telecommute model implementation awaiting David Hensle's re-review, and Estimation Enhancements awaiting John Gliebe's review.

Explicit Error Terms Visualization Repository: Active development continues on the main EE visualization work, with RSG making regular commits. The team agreed to continue without external review involvement during this rebuild phase.

PopulationSim: Multiple review comments from TTI and other reviewers have been received. RSG has organized issues into a development board with effort estimates and priority tags. The team agreed this needs executive team guidance on scope and budget allocation.

SANDAG Example Model: Several PRs in progress, including settings checker updates and consistency improvements with SANDAG production model, which will be ongoing work in Phase 11.

Task Effort Estimation and Allocation

The team reviewed effort estimates provided by consulting firms for ten prioritized tasks. There was strong alignment on most estimates, with key discussions around:

Global Household Failure Handling: Initially estimated at 40-60 hours depending on scope. The team agreed to focus on common simulation failures (zero probability errors, probability sum issues) with robust logging, setting the scope at 60 hours. We don't expect comprehensive estimation mode coverage, but we do expect detailed logging of all failures.

UV Installation Support: Allocated 80 hours total across all firms (16 hours each to DL, CS, WSP, RSG) to ensure robust multi-platform testing across different agency environments and IT systems. This approach was chosen over a single deep-dive implementation to identify common installation challenges across the consortium. An additional 16 hours is allocated to WSP to lead and coordinate the overall effort.

SANDAG Example Model Alignment: Discussion of coordination between Sharrow implementation and model consistency updates, with agreement on zigzagging approach to handle both simultaneously.

Process and Timeline

The team established a timeline for task order development:

• Firms to write detailed scopes for assigned tasks by early next week.
• Executive team review ASAP.
• Target task order issuance by end of week.

Action Items

• David Hensle (@dhensle): Complete re-review of Telecommute model PR
• Andrew Kay (@andkay): Follow up with John Gliebe on Estimation Enhancements review
• Jeffrey Newman (@jpn--):
  • Post TTI word document to GitHub for public access
  • Share task allocation spreadsheet with detailed notes
• All Consulting Firms: Submit detailed task scopes by Tuesday if possible
• Joe Castiglione (@joecastiglione):
  • Review RSG's PopulationSim issue board and effort estimates
  • Draft meeting and support task language for task orders
  • Coordinate executive team review of submitted scopes