He said AirSage, working with Westwood One (Metro Traffic), has come up with some kind of flow data that is being reported.“They would tell you that they are still at the early stages, at least months away after I don’t know how many years from a commercially releasable flow data service based on cell handset signalling,” he said.Bluetooth and ImagesAnother real-time data source that’s emerging is the leveraging of Bluetooth monitoring data – BT sensors along highways that are being deployed for local traffic management infrastructure types of projects.
However, Lanctot said it will take time before TrafficCast’s solution – BlueTOAD, which sniffs out passing Bluetooth-equipped devices – will have any significant impact.
“But it’s out there and will play a roll eventually. Certainly Bluetooth is pretty much ubiquitous at this point. It just remains to be seen what that data will look like and what the downside or problems with it will be.
The analyst said another area where there’s a huge source of debate in the industry is traffic camera information.
He said he wasn’t sure he would recommend looking at traffic camera images while driving – and there is a challenge in orienting yourself to a place.
However, he said the images will improve, while sensors and the means to interpret the data from those cameras that is being gathered will be added – including vehicle counting and maybe even licence plate recognition or reading.
“That will have an impact and another wave of innovation that will hit real-time traffic. What you are seeing now are solutions in the car that will deliver maybe a still image,” he said.
“To make that useful what is needed is an interface where you can ask for cameras on my route and so on. So the integration is still taking place and that will take time.”
New Possibilities
Lanctot said with the emergence of bigger pipes and more efficient means of delivering data, the big revolution is two-way traffic data – not just real-time but two-way involving probe data from the car.
This will give drivers the ability to report on incidents as they drive by, or passively to feed sensor data from cameras on cars: “People will have to open their minds a bit and think about what could be."
Lanctot said that in Europe, INRIX, ITIS and MILE Traffic and Travel are at the forefront of these solutions.
He said the sleeping giant is Nokia: “With all this probe data are they going to rise up and take over this industry? The missing piece there appears to be a vision of what a traffic experience should be and a standardised platform that could be rolled out globally.
“I think INRIX and ITIS, which has a licensing model for other countries, are in the forefront of creating standardised traffic solutions. NAVTEQ appears to be lagging here".
Finally, when it came to traffic, the analyst said the whole area is underestimated by some people and vastly misunderstood despite being absolutely critical.
“The important point is that if your traffic data sucks your navigation solution will suck. Because your navigation will be based on non-useful, irrelevant or inaccurate traffic information,” he said. “You need good traffic data to have a good navigation solution.”
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