« WiFi VoIP using mesh networks | Main | Morpheus goes after VoIP market »
I hate traffic! GPS to the rescue?
April 19, 2004I hate traffic. No, let me rephrase that. I HATE traffic! Connecticut's I-95 corridor from Bridgeport to Greenwich is ranked as having traffic in the nation. I know for a fact that commuting on I-95 has knocked off at least 5 years of my lifetime - not to mention the years I have sat idling in standstill traffic, wasting gallons of fossil fuel, polluting the environment, and the increased blood pressure incurred by cursing that guy who just cut me off just to advance 3 car spaces in 5 mph traffic.
You know what I hate even worse? Those damn radio traffic reports! They're absolutely useless! Just when I thought I found a good radio station to give me a heads-up on traffic delays, I am always sorely disappointed. Here's a typical traffic report: "Thing are a little bit heavy by exit 30. There will be slight breaks in the traffic until you reach exit 25 with a slight slowdown caused by a fender bender over on the right shoulder. I-95 is pretty smooth sailing with a touch of the brakes by exit 40."
Basically, this traffic report tells me nothing. It's all generalities with no real indication if I should take an alternate route. In fact, this last comment "just a touch of the brakes" comment happened this morning on the way to work. It wasn't a "touch of the brakes" - try "just a touch of the gas pedal every 30 seconds!" since traffic was crawling.
Had the traffic report given me an "estimated speed" or some sort of "traffic jam factor" I could have taken back roads or an alternate highway. But alas, the only time traffic reports really help me is if there is a major accident.
Here's my solution. Why not use GPS technology combined with vehicle tracking? Already on the road there are millions of GPS units installed on cars and trucks. While most GPS units are one-way (no vehicle tracking), many do have vehicle tracking, such as OnStar which is installed on probably thousands of vehicles that could be used to calculate the average speed on any given road
Now, I know privacy advocates would probably scream bloody murder at the idea of letting someone "track" their vehicle, but there are ways around the privacy issue. What if the owners of GPS-enabled cars "opted in" to allowing a third-party traffic monitoring company track their vehicle anonymously to determine traffic patterns real-time? As an incentive, the GPS service provider (OnStar) could offer a discount if you opt-in to letting them track the speed/location of your vehicle. Service providers can "sell" the traffic data to radio stations for accurate traffic reports, or even back to the people they have "opted in".
Of course, "speeders" may be wary of letting someone track their speed, but I'm sure there is way of "anonymizing" the data and only keeping "realtime" data for 1-3 seconds (just enough to calculate average speed) before deleting it - this way law enforcement can't subpoena driving information. Actually, since each GPS waypoint is "anonymous", it won't matter.
The key would be to have the highest resolution for the most accuracy - that is lots of GPS "pixels" on the road map constantly moving and being tracked to calculate average speed most accurately. In the U.S., since there are thousands of FEDEX and UPS trucks that already have vehicle tracking installed, they certainly increase the "resolution" of traffic information across the entire USA. FEDEX and UPS could probably make a KILLING selling this information to a traffic monitoring company that provides integrated real-time traffic data to a GPS navigation device installed in a vehicle.
I should point out that there are GPS solutions out there that are already offering real-time traffic reports for a monthly fee, but there are 2 problems. One, the areas covered by the real-time traffic reports are limited to specific geographic regions and therefore has limited usability. Second, they charge a monthly fee. I think what the GPS providers need to do is offer traffic reporting for "free", get people "hooked" and then start charging. If it's "free", more people are apt to get and install GPS in there cars, and if they follow my idea about "opting in" to the "GPS tracking network", then that will increase the traffic monitoring "resolution".
Perhaps even a P2P (peer-to-peer) model may be in store for GPS? If you "share" your GPS data with other P2P GPS users, they have to share back to you, which in turn builds a huge P2P GPS network with accurate traffic information!
I'm sure this will happen some day. I just hope sooner rather than later. Now that I've moved, Route 7 is my new traffic nightmare. Did I mention I hate traffic?
Tags: GPS, traffic
- Related Entries
- WiFlyer Wireless over Dial-up - Oct 19, 2004
- Audiovox SMT5600 - Oct 13, 2004
- Media Center Extender - Oct 12, 2004
- Segway Centaur - Oct 12, 2004
- Orb Networks Streaming Live TV - Oct 11, 2004
- Satellite TV in your car - Sep 23, 2004
- Sony PS2 smaller with Ethernet capability - Sep 22, 2004
Related Stories: I hate traffic! GPS to the rescue? | VoIP Blog - VoIP News, Gadgets | Roadcasting or GPScasting? | Morpheus goes after VoIP market | VoIP Blog - VoIP News, Gadgets |
Link this |
Leave comment
Trackback: I hate traffic! GPS to the rescue?
Cosmos
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Digg
BoingBoing
Furl
Spurl
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference I hate traffic! GPS to the rescue?:
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for I hate traffic! GPS to the rescue?:
http://blog.tmcnet.com/cgi-bin/t.cgi/11
» Roadcasting or GPScasting? from VoIP Blog - VoIP News, Gadgets
A Wired article titled Watch for Roadcasting Rage reads: "Stuck in traffic and sick of Howard Stern, you may soon be able to tune in to the music collection of the person in the car in front of you. Researchers... [Read More]
Tracked on May 31, 2005 03:31 PM
Previous blog:
WiFi VoIP using mesh networksVoIP Blog Home Page
Next blog:
Morpheus goes after VoIP marketComments to I hate traffic! GPS to the rescue?
RE: I hate traffic! GPS to the rescue?
Tom Keating :
June 3, 2004 08:16 PMNo, I haven't heard about XM and some satellite/GPS solution. I have heard about XM antennas interfering with GPS antennas though. For example, I read somewhere that a guy on a motorcyle with GPS installed on a PocketPC had difficulty getting a GPS lock with his XM radio on.
Do share what the news is. Thanks.
RE: I hate traffic! GPS to the rescue?
Alexander :
June 25, 2004 10:55 PMTrackYourTruck is an Internet-based Real-Time Vehicle tracking and dispatch service provider and provides 30 feets location accuracy with 2 minutes updates interval. You will be able to track your vehicle through your internet browser.
RE: I hate traffic! GPS to the rescue?
John Saunders :
August 12, 2005 02:37 PM"Better Late..."
I don't know how the GPS tracking technology works, but if it reports your position to OnStar (or whoever), then it's OnStar which should depersonalize and aggregate the data and send the results to whoever's interested.
I'd suggest they expose the data as a web service so that anyone with a use for it can use it.
They might also want to offer their customers a "bitch about the traffic" feature. Such complaints could also be sent out in the aggregated stream.
Finally, I wonder how much it would cost OnStar to hire drivers to just drive up and down the commuter routes during rush hour - to make sure that there's always a source of this data?
John Saunders
RE: I hate traffic! GPS to the rescue?
Wayne Moore :
June 3, 2004 06:37 PM
XM is bringing out what you and I are looking for this fall. See CBS story last Sunday 5-31-04 at 8 AM Los Angeles time. Story about XM see the last two items in story. If you can't find it let me know and I will copy and send it to you. Also I called XM and they said to keep watching their web site for more info. That all they knew???