Real-Time Traffic Routing from the Comfort of Your Car

Posted: September 9th, 2006 | 2 Comments »

Real-Time Traffic Routing from the Comfort of Your Car reports on TrafficAid, a traffic mapping system developed by IntelliOne, that identifies congestion in real time using cell phone location provided by GSM operators. The measurement system processes thousands of device locations per second, “snaps” each device to the road network, and monitors movement for a short period of time. Multiple devices moving along the same roadway in the same direction are aggregated to generate an average speed for the roadway between points (road segments).

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Relation to my thesis: The system must rely on the amount of sensors (i.e. cell phones and GSM towers) in order to give precise and accurate congestion location (road segment) and traffic speed information. I suspect it does not work with the same reliability on roadways, highways and rural areas. Therefore I find the following claim of ubiquitous reliability rather doubtful:

Unlike traditional GPS navigation systems that depend on 511-type information, TrafficAid updated much more quickly and accurately represented traffic speeds to within 3-5 miles per hour at any given location.

I am wondering if the system renders the uncertainty of the information delivered.

Similar systems using real-time RF data include Mobile Phone Based Radio Meter, Real-Time Maps of Wireless Internet Use, and Real-time Rome.


2 Comments on “Real-Time Traffic Routing from the Comfort of Your Car”

  1. 1 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » Activity Recommendations With Real-Time Location Data said at 11:24 am on June 9th, 2008:

    [...] sharing and pooling current road speed conditions so that everyone can avoid congestion (see Real-Time Traffic Routing from the Comfort of Your Car). The algorithms behind Citysense indexes the active places in a city and characterized them by [...]

  2. 2 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » You are a Sensor said at 9:02 pm on July 15th, 2008:

    [...] “taking advantage of people doing what they do” to detect diseases, natural disasters, traffic jams, and zones of social activities. Researchers have determined that you, even without a portable [...]