TrafficTalk

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Apr 22, 2007
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210
This just started operating in 20 metro areas - more will be added.

Use any phone to call in and hear traffic reports from other people in your area or give people a heads up on what you can see happening where you are.

Lots of potential is there if people start using it. Real time reports over a regular phone line. Sort of like the eye in the sky but where everyone can contribute now and reports are not just on the hour.

Traffic ahead? What lane should you be in for a chance to slip by etc - this is the type of detail you just won't get from any traffic service.

traffic talk
 
Alex --
The NYT has been requiring an account to read anything there for some time. Just letting you know.

Here's a non-subscription source for the same information: http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2013-04/los-angeles-synchs-every-streetlight-attempt-break-gridlock

And of course, such synchronization can realistically only fully work for one direction at a time on a given street, though given that traffic flow is so commonly biased in one direction at various times of the day, it still helps a lot.
If everyone would give a moment's consideration to the difference between their highway and city mileage, I think we'd all agree that for many people, a HUGE fuel savings (not to mention your good humor) is possible if you could just avoid stopping for so many bloody red lights.
 
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Thanks canderson, I agree.
It seems to me in San Francisco traffic lights are specifically set up to impede traffic, it seems you can't go three blocks even on major streets without running into a red light.
 
Alex,
From your observations, are you generally driving against or cross wise to the major flow of traffic for that time of the day?

When I lived in Hamburg in the '60s they instituted the "Green Wave" which was great if you happened to drive during rush hour in the 'right' direction on one of three thoroughfares to or from downtown.

With today's sensors they will get real time traffic data. But, if the programme to use that information is not very well designed, it will not improve matters much.
 
If people would just get in the correct lane about 1/2-1 mile in advance instead of waiting when their about 100 yards from their turn,that alone would speed up traffic.
 
Independent Study Confirms Accuracy of TomTom Traffic
ANN ARBOR, Michigan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--October 10, 2013--
An independent benchmarking study, published on Monday, into the accuracy of traffic jam information provided by after-market navigation systems in the U.S. has concluded that TomTom's iPhone Navigation App and GO 2535 Portable Navigation Device provide the most accurate real-time traffic data, when compared to a number of competing products.

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20131010-906189.html
 
Nice to hear the results, Alex, but I feel a little ill at ease with a report that devotes almost 2/3 of its column inches to the structure of one corporation only.
 
'Sponsored' studies like this are always suspect, which is why it's always critical to drill down to the test methodology. In this particular case, I can find no fault with the university's approach and reporting methods as regards 'fairness' between the devices tested. What's more, the consistently good correlation between data for the stand-alone device and the TomTom app are just what should be expected since they are obtaining their Live information from the same database.

Also, understand that the 'article' is a TomTom press release, so you expect them to toot their own horn. Instead, go directly to the university site link where the test is fully described and see what was done. There, you see that on surface streets, TomTom lagged just a little behind Google, but in all other cases, bested the competition.
 
Didn't read the red lines of text. Had I done so I would not have commented at all.
Thanks for clearing that up.
 
Man, I couldn't live like that...
 
I rarely had large traffic issues in my vacations in Los Angeles. There's always a good sidestreet to avoid congestion.

As long as you're using Tomtom traffic so you can find the right sidestreet.... I'm sure you'll get stuck in jams using Inrix....
 
Aargh. Wish I could say the same. Even many years ago (ca. 1990), I recall getting on the 405 in the wee hours of the morning (on the order of 5:30am) to get from Irvine to LAX. Wall to wall at THAT hour? The 45 minutes that the route planner foresees is a real hoot.
 

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