Georgia Tech TranSACT Travel Study Privacy Information

You are being asked to take part in a research study being conducted by Georgia Tech. Your participation is voluntary. The purpose of this study is to understand how mobile technology and informational messages can encourage people to choose healthier travel modes such as walking, biking, and using public transit. If you agree to participate, you will use the TranSACT mobile app for approximately three months to track your travel activity. The study involves minimal risk, like using any travel or navigation app. You may not directly benefit, but your participation will help researchers design better tools to promote sustainable and healthy mobility in your community. There are no alternative treatments, and you may choose to stop participating at any time without penalty.

What Am I Being Asked To Do? 

• You are being asked to volunteer in a research study
• This page will give you key information to help you decide if you would like to participate. 
• Your participation is voluntary.
• As you read, please feel free to ask any questions you may have about the research.

What Is This Study About and What Procedures Will You Be Asked to Follow?

• The purpose of this study is to promote healthier travel in urban communities. 
• You will be asked to use the TranSACT mobile app for 3 months.
• The app will automatically track your location to record your travel activity (you will need to keep your location services turned on).
• You will be asked to use the app to make trips during your normal daily travel such as going to work, running errands, etc.
• You may receive occasional informational messages or notifications within the app about travel behavior and health

Use of Third-Party Services (HERE SDK)

The TranSACT mobile app uses a third-party mapping and navigation software development kit (SDK) provided by HERE Technologies (“HERE SDK”) to support core app functions such as map display, routing, and trip detection. As part of providing these services:

• HERE SDK may collect and process certain data, including location data, device information, and usage data, as required to deliver mapping, navigation, and routing functionality.
• Data collected by HERE is subject to HERE’s own privacy practices and policies.
• Georgia Tech does not control how HERE processes data beyond what is necessary for app functionality.

Location data collected through the app is used solely for research purposes by the Georgia Tech research team and is analyzed in de-identified form whenever possible.

Are There Any Risks or Discomforts You Might Experience By Being in This Study?

• There are no major risks from this study.
• The risks are same as using any travel or navigation app.
• Participation is completely voluntary.
• You can quit anytime without penalty.

What Are the Reasons You Might Want to Volunteer For This Study?

• You will be prompted to choose healthier travel options during your daily travel
• Your participation in this study may assist researchers in understanding how healthier and sustainable travel can be improved in urban communities
• As compensation, we are offering a $50 Amazon gift card for three months of continuously using the TranSACT mobile app usage and sharing location data.

Do You Have to Take Part in the This Study?

• It is fully your decision if you wish to be in this study or not. 
• If you choose not to participate, or choose to participate and later determine you no longer wish to, you will not lose any rights, services, or benefits as a result of your withdrawal. 
• The participation in this study is completely voluntary.

Georgia Institute of Technology

Project Title:  Investigating the Effectiveness of Behavioral Intervention Strategies to Promote Sustainable Travel Behavior

Investigators: Srinivas Peeta, Ph.D.

Protocol and Consent Title: IRB2025-3 - Investigating the Effectiveness of Behavioral Intervention Strategies to Promote Sustainable Travel Behavior (Main 11/03/2025v1)

You are being asked to be a volunteer in a research study.

Purpose:

• The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether information can promote healthy daily travel
• We expect to enroll 300 people in the study

Exclusion/Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants in this study are required to be 18 years of age or older
• Participants in this study are also required to have a valid U.S. driver's license

Procedures:

• If you choose to participate, you will be asked to download and use the TranSACT mobile application for approximately 3 months
• You will need to keep the app running in the background and enable location access so that it can automatically record your travel activity
• You are also required to use the app to make trips during your regular daily travel, such as commuting, errands, or other personal trips
• The app may send you periodic notifications or informational messages about your travel behavior

Risks or Discomforts:

• The risks involved are no greater than those involved while using travel or navigation apps

Benefits:

• You maybe prompted to make travel choices that can benefit your health
• Your participation in this study may help researchers promote healthier travel in urban communities

Compensation to you:

• You will receive a $50 gift card for using the TranSACT mobile app consistently for 3 months and sharing your location data.

Storing and Sharing your Information:

• Your participation in this study is gratefully acknowledged 
• It is possible that your information/data will be enormously valuable for other research purposes 
• By signing below, you consent for your de-identified information/data to be stored by the researcher and to be shared with other researchers in future studies 
• If you agree to allow such future sharing and use, your identity will be completely separated from your information/data 
• Future researchers will not have a way to identify you. 
• Any future research must be approved by an ethics committee before being undertaken
• Your name and email are the only personal details collected
• Your data is kept secure and only used by the research team
• Your identity will not be shared in any reports or publications
• In the future, anonymous data may be shared with other researchers for further studies

Confidentiality:

• Your name and any other fact that might point to you will not appear when results of this study are presented or published.
• We will share the de-identified information for purposes of future research without obtaining additional consent from you

Costs to You:

• There are no costs to you, other than your time, for being in this study.

Questions about the Study:

• For questions about the study:
  • ACT Lab (actlab@ce.gatech.edu)
• For participant rights:
  • Georgia Tech Office of Research Integrity Assurance: (404) 894-6942, irb@gatech.edu

Questions about Your Rights as a Research Participant:

• Your participation in this study is voluntary. You do not have to be in this study if you don't want to be.
• You have the right to change your mind and leave the study at any time without giving any reason and without penalty.
• Any new information that may make you change your mind about being in this study will be given to you.
• You will be given a copy of this consent form to keep.
• You do not waive any of your legal rights by signing this consent form.

If you agree, it means that you have read (or have read to you) the information given in this consent form, and you would like to be a volunteer in this study and agree that your de-identified information/data may be stored and shared for future, unspecified research.