Tele Atlas, a Boston-based company that provides digital maps and navigational content, has integrated street congestion into its maps so that drivers can see congestion maps at any hour, says Technology Review.
The software was developed by Inrix, a startup based in Kirkland, WA, that provides real-time and predictive traffic information.
The software determines the average speed of roadways across the United States based on two years of historical traffic-speed data collected from commercial fleet vehicles; it uses real-time global positioning software and road sensors from the department of transportation.
These billions of data points are then run through proprietary software to create a table of historical traffic patterns based on the hour of the day and the day of the week.
The table contains 168 attributes–24 hours for each of the seven days in a week–and each of the attributes has an average speed that is linked to a road segment, which is identified by a traffic messaging code.
The traffic messaging code is embedded into Tele Atlas’s maps. When drivers input their starting position and their end position, their navigational device creates a routing algorithm that pulls the traffic messaging codes and then looks up these codes in the data table to identify the average speed of the roadways.
This results in a color-coded display–in green, yellow, red, or black — indicating congestion. Green indicates a wide-open road, black indicates stop-and-go traffic. Drivers can also view the highways of an entire city to determine which typically move the fastest.
Navteq and Tele Atlas are the big two road mapping companies.
Traffic.com (left), a NAVTEQ company, is a leading provider of personalized traffic information and has launched JamCast for real-time traffic video in 30 metropolitan areas across the U.S.. JamCast features patented Jam Factor roadway traffic measurements that allow commuters to easily understand the relative congestion level with a number on a scale from 1 to 10.
Traffic.com also offers service to mobile phones and PDAs. Traffic.com also offers text alerts — go to mobi.traffic.com on your mobile web browser, then text your city code.
According to the Technology Review article, the only comparable product on the market today is developed by LandSonar, a San Francisco-based company. Its software is also based on historical traffic data that is integrated with digital maps. The company recently partnered with TrafficCast to launch an updated version with more data and real-time content, but its product remains limited to only 450,000 miles of roadway for three days of the week.
INRIX Traffic for Windows Mobile includes a 30-day free trial. The application is compatible on devices supporting Windows Mobile 5 and 6. Additional product information — including supported metropolitan markets and links to purchase on Handango.com.
Besides Traffic.com and TrafficCast, many cities and states offer a variety of traffic flow maps, for example Washington State, Oregon, and California. The Givens Traffic Flow Page has additional links.
Traffic maps on cell phones are available through Yahoo! Traffic Maps, Google Mobile Maps and Windows Live. Most Java-enabled cellphones use 3rd party software such as Mobile GMaps (right).
For mobile email, Verizon phones don’t run Java, therefore Verizon phones can’t run mobile Gmail. You can open m.gmail.com directly using an optimized version of the Gmail Web site — but the Gmail Java software is five times faster, explains David Pogue.
Web sites like FboWeb (above) and FlightAware allow you track a flight. Google Earth Blog, Google Lat/Long and Virtual Earth Blog have more tips.
Gas Buddy, GasWatch.info and GasPriceWatch.com have clickable maps, along with MapQuest’s gas locator and MSN’s Local Gas Prices. Here’s a the national gas temperature and a Gas Mileage Calculator. GPS Magazine reviews dash-mounted GPS devices.
The Frugal Traveler is on a Great American Road Trip (above) for the NY Times (current location).
The GeoNames project is a free global geographical database that aggregates data from various sources. Users of GeoNames include Microsoft Popfly, LinkedIn, Slide.com and Tagzania.
In other news, traffic wardens in England have began patrolling the streets of Salford with tiny video cameras clipped to the sides of their heads. They are being tested by Britain’s leading car parks operator, NCP Services. Previously, wardens in Salford used digital still cameras to collect photographic evidence.
“When you are accusing someone of dropping litter, you need to have evidence - most people when confronted, would deny everything, and a head-mounted camera is an efficient evidence-gathering tool,” said Tim Cowen, a spokesman for NCP Services.
Two hours of 640×480 video takes 2 Gigs on a $129 helmet cam (right), so 8 hours might require an 8 Gig SDHC card. The price and size of “lipstick cameras” keep dropping — they could soon be standard issue for other professions.
The use of head-mounted cameras was piloted by British Transport Police in Manchester last year. The Greater Manchester Police followed suit seven months ago when two officers began using them on the beat.
Related DailyWireless mapping articles include; Mapping Highway Data, Navizon on Blackberry: GPS Not Required, Geotagging Photos - Cheap, GPS Tracking: In a Shoe, On a Bike, Geocoding Content & Telemetry, Virtual Earth Adds Cities, Land Warrior Retires, HumaniNet’s Maps 2.0, 3-D Traffic/Weather Maps, Mapping Goes Live, Nokia & Sony: Free WiFi for Webtablets, News Maps and Google Apps on LG Phones.
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