Slashgeo Log In
GPS Cellphones to Monitor Highway Traffic
posted by Satri
on Monday February 04, @11:13AM
Permalink
Trackback URI
Slashdotthis
Diggthis
Del.icio.us
from the don't-talk-that-fast dept.
Permalink
Trackback URI
Slashdotthis
Diggthis
Del.icio.us
from the don't-talk-that-fast dept.
Slashdot discuss an experiment using GPS-enabled cellphones to monitor traffic.
Their summary: "On February 8, 2008, about 100 UC Berkeley students will participate in the Mobile Century experiment, using GPS mobile phones as traffic sensors. During the whole day, these students carrying the GPS-equipped Nokia N95 will drive along a 10-mile stretch of I-880 between Hayward and Fremont, California. 'The phones will store the vehicles' speed and position information every 3 seconds. These measurements will be sent wirelessly to a server for real-time processing.' As more and more cellphones are GPS-equipped, the traffic engineering community, which currently monitors traffic using mostly fixed sensors such as cameras and loop detectors, is tempted to use our phones to get real-time information about traffic." Some related stories copied below, including a story on mandatory cellphone tracking in the U.S.
Related Stories
Tracking Your Cell Phone for Traffic Reports
[+]
Slashdot links and discuss a short LiveScience article where cell phones are tracked to generate traffic reports. The slashdot summary: " IntelliOne Technologies has just launched a real-world test of Need4Speed, a real-time traffic-monitoring system that tracks drivers' cell phones. From their website: 'Unlike any other solution available today, the IntelliOne Roadway Speed Measurement System produces live roadway speeds for all highways and surface streets where mobile phone coverage exists, accurate to within three miles per hour.' Of course, any compulsory phone-tracking system raises privacy concerns. According to an article on LiveScience, 'the personal identification data of users will be stripped from cell phone signals before they are processed by IntelliOne's software.' The cell phone companies have this data, but IntelliOne says they won't be keeping their copy."
Inrix Predictive and Real-Time Traffic Service from Multiple Sources
[+]
All Points Blog discuss a new service by Inrix which provide predictive and real-time traffic service for Windows Mobile devices. This site indicates which information is used: "Inrix acquires real-time and historical sensor data from hundreds of public and private sources including anonymous, real-time GPS probe data from more than 625,000 commercial fleet, delivery and taxi vehicles; toll tag data; and occupancy and speed measurements from Department of Transportation sensor networks. Additionally, the Inrix Smart Dust Network aggregates real-time incidents and hundreds of market-specific criteria that affect traffic – such as construction and road closures, sporting and entertainment events, school schedules and weather forecasts." See the numerous related stories below.
Industry: U.S. Government Requests Real-Time Cellphone Tracking
[+]
Slashdot runs a story where we learn the U.S. government can track any cellphone. Their summary: "According to a Washington Post article, federal officials are routinely asking and getting courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data on subscribers. The data is used to pinpoint the whereabouts of 'criminal suspects', according to judges and industry lawyers. In some cases, judges have granted the requests without even requiring the government to demonstrate probable cause that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime 'Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives. Such requests run counter to the Justice Department's internal recommendation that federal prosecutors seek warrants based on probable cause to obtain precise location data in private areas. The requests and orders are sealed at the government's request, so it is difficult to know how often the orders are issued or denied."
Microsoft Launches ClearFlow Traffic Tool for Live Maps
[+]
Several geoblogs mentioned the launch of Microsoft ClearFlow, a traffic avoidance tool for their Live Maps. Slashdot also discusses the news, here's their summary:
"Microsoft announced plans to introduce a Web-based service for driving directions that incorporates complex software models to help users avoid traffic jams. The system is intended to reflect the complex traffic interactions that occur as traffic backs up on freeways and spills over onto city streets and will be freely available as part of the company's Live.com site for 72 cities in the US. Microsoft researchers designed algorithms that modeled traffic behavior by collecting trip data from Microsoft employees who volunteered to carry GPS units in their cars. In the end they were able to build a model for predicting traffic based on four years of data, effectively creating individual 'personalities' for over 800,000 road segments in the Seattle region. In all the system tracks about 60 million road segments in the US."
The DEB blog also have interesting comments on the future of this new offer:
"Here’s what needs happen next: - Microsoft releases a version of Live Maps Mobile, with similar features to Google Maps Mobile. - One of them steps up and includes turn-by-turn GPS into their mobile software. GMM is so close to being the killer mobile app. I can get turn-by-turn directions. It can see/follow my GPS. It just won’t tell me how far until my next turn!" I added previous traffic-related stories below.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
