Nokia and UC Berkeley capture real-time traffic information using GPS-enabled mobile devices
About 100 cars equipped with the Nokia 95 and driven by University of California students traveled a 10-mile highway stretch near San Fransisco to demonstrate how real-time traffic stats can be obtained using GPS-enabled cell phones. Conducted by Nokia in association with UC Berkley Research Facility, this experiment was carried out using a special software developed by Nokia to aggregate individual GPS feeds and combine it to create a real-time traffic picture. All data sent was completely anonymous and encrypted, keeping privacy concerns at bay. The special software on the N95s used during the test sent periodical speed and location readings based on the integrated GPS system.
With congestion causing 4.2 billion hours of travel in USA alone, Nokia believes that this very well could be the answer, with only 5% of drivers needing to contribute for the system to work on any given highway. The driver can also opt to turn off their GPS feed if unwilling to share position data from their device. Given the steady increase of cell phones with integrated GPS, this innovative idea cannot entirely be ruled out and could pave the way for a better traveling experience.
Via
“Mobile device users control the service. If an individual does not want their device to transmit position data they turn off the feed from their GPS,” stated Quinn Jacobson, Research Leader at Nokia Research Center, Palo Alto.
“Nokia is very excited at the potential for this system to revolutionize travel planning, carrying on from the Nokia Maps navigation service available today on certain Nokia devices,” continued Jacobson. “Integration of traffic information with functions such as calendar and online timetables may one day mean the mobile device can act as personal travel planner.”
“There are mobile device-based systems out there that can collect data in a variety of ways, such as measuring signal strength from towers and triangulating position, but to our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of this scale using GPS-enabled mobile devices to provide traffic related data such as travel times, and with a deliberate focus on critical deployment factors like bandwidth costs and personal privacy issues,” said Director Thomas West, director, UC Berkeley’s California Center for Innovative Transportation.
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