Introduction
TrafficGauge, Inc. develops and markets services and devices for the mobile display of real-time traffic information. The Company was the first in the market to successfully aggregate and broadcast real-time traffic information to wireless handheld devices and build a supportive business model. TrafficGauge has been awarded patents and media praise for its products and technology developments. The company maintains the largest number of paying subscribers for traffic information service in the US. If you are looking to enter the traffic map information market, TrafficGauge can help you understand the consumer and provide your organization with proven traffic applications so you can focus energies on what your organization does best.

TrafficGauge invested heavily in its own traffic aggregation server technology upon its founding in 2001 and has continued to evolve the technology since. The server incorporates real-time data from DOTs and private traffic information vendors. The challenges associated with traffic data feeds are twofold. Each data feed is uniquely formatted and has unique problems with the collection mechanisms making the server technology complex. Thus, the aggregation server applies numerous algorithms to normalize data and enhance or discard the vast amount of erroneous data. The company's technology is arguably the best in the industry due to having a large numbers of paying subscribers who provide feedback via the 800 telephone number on the TrafficGauge handheld product. No other traffic aggregation company has ‘real' customers who help by providing feedback that is used to learn, tune, and enhance server technology. In particular, the mobile market is much more demanding than the web-based market, given that the traffic information can be disproved in real-time by a commuter.

This white paper provides an overview of the market and technical details of TrafficGauge's product and service offerings. The company maintains a presence in the consumer marketplace to encourage customer feedback to continuously better its products. One of the largest challenges in the industry is that data is known to have problems because of the data collection challenges that is inherent in all traffic flow measurements utilizing any technology. Thus, TrafficGauge provides end users with traffic information for PCs, Macs, cellular phones, television and customized handheld devices. The same underlying technology that feeds the TrafficGauge applications is also licensed to 3 parties.

Sources of Traffic Flow Information
Throughout the world Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) projects have been deployed to help efficiently control traffic congestion using technology. As a result of some of these projects, inductive loop sensors have been embedded in roadways to collect traffic data. Over time these systems have been extended, and the information made public on DOT servers. With the popularity of the Internet and the need for better traffic information, websites that display traffic maps have become increasingly popular. For example, in the Seattle area the traffic web site run by Washington State Department of Transportation receives approximately 320,000 unique visitors per month and 8 million hits. Additionally, a survey showed that 27% of the Seattle metropolitan population are aware of the traffic web site, while 16% use it. The high awareness of traffic flow information helped TrafficGauge successfully launch its initial products in Seattle in 2002.

The DOTs initially developed loop sensors for reasons other than reporting traffic flow information to commuters. Each DOT has a unique start in ITS, but it is common that sensors were initially deployed for annual reported traffic counts required by the state DOT's funding partner, the United States Department of Transportation's (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Later, the technology began to be used with ramp metering system to dynamical control the flow of vehicles entering the highway. As the data needs and real-time nature of the ramp metering systems increased, so did the availability of real-time data on servers. This real-time repository of data next led to tools for traffic management sensors, which eventually led to the development of publicly assessable traffic maps or data feeds.

The state DOT systems all operate independently from their common funding partner, FHWA. This has naturally led to major technology differences between data collection techniques amongst the cities where data is typically collected in real-time. For example, data can be collected with inductive loops, closed circuit cameras, radar and infrared sensors, and cellular phone and GPS probes. Likewise, the distribution of the data can take many forms and protocols including proprietary binary, XML, COBRA, text, FTP, HTTP, web services, traffic codes and others. Given the lack of standards and the complexity of collecting data in a harsh environment by government agencies, it is a difficult technical and business challenge to collect and disseminate aggregated traffic information.

Benefits of Traffic Information
DOTs across the globe all face traffic congestion challenges and have looked to ITS for solutions. Experts have determined that technology on the roadway has an approximately 10,000 times greater return on investment as compared to the construction of additional roadways in terms of reducing traffic congestion. Deploying technology to help operate and manage the infrastructure has undeniable benefits. ITS can help control on ramps, deploy emergency tow trucks, provide travel times, identify trouble spots, and provide advanced traveler information systems (ATIS). No clear real world ITS benchmarks exist for overall individual commuter benefits. However, numerous qualitative studies support the benefits of ITS. Certainly, individual commuters that are informed can benefit from traffic flow data to make smarter driving decisions, which can save time. In regards to the overall highway infrastructure system, Red Herring magazine described it best, “Most engineers say the best way to deal with gridlock is to give drivers up-to-the-minute traffic information. University researchers worldwide have obtained encouraging results from models that simulate the actions of drivers who are better informed about traffic conditions.” Informing drivers is the best type of traffic demand management (TDM) that DOTs have available to alleviating the seriousness of the persistence and worsening traffic congestion issues that plague US cities.

In TrafficGauge's unique position of pioneering a market and having a large consumer customer base, the Company has been able to survey existing customers and has learned that in its handheld device markets, the average customer saves 9 hours of drive time per month. These users are primarily daily commuters, soccer moms, retirees and the like. Interestingly, the same average 9 hours is reported by each user group in each of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. This result is probably related with the phenomena that humans across the globe have a consistent travel time budget of about 1.1 hours per day independent of the transportation mode. The reported reduction in drive time also correlates with reduced idle time which significantly reduces emissions from the greenhouse gases CO, CO and NO.

Professional drivers save between 20 to 40 hours a month with the handheld.

Additionally, customers report having a much reduced stress level while on the road which is due to a decrease in what psychologist call anticipatory anxiety. The reduction in this type of stress directly correlates with reduced blood pressure. TrafficGauge users have a more enjoyable commuting experience.

The benefits of ITS are real and will have a growing impact as data dissemination and usage increases.

Traffic Data Aggregation Server
The key technology developed by TrafficGauge is its' traffic aggregation server which is the technology underpinning of all of its products and services. Each DOT and private traffic data provider has a different approach to generating a traffic data feed. For example, formats and protocols include proprietary binary, XML, COBRA, text, FTP, HTTP, web services, traffic codes and others. TrafficGauge's server architecture elegantly handles these different formats and schemes and converts the various data feeds into a standardized format controlled by an XML configuration file so the server can interpret the values and adjust the output as necessary. The ability to tweak and adjust traffic data segments to adjust for varying sensor quality is a key feature of the system. Road sensors are combined to create segments reporting an average speed on the traffic map which may be customized to the market or application.

Current sensor coverage of U.S. cities varies considerably in quantity and quality of data. The server's unique data handling algorithms have been developed over the course of many years working directly with the driving public who use the company's applications. Often what data providers report is plagued with erroneous data. Algorithms are applied to clean up the data before creating the output data. Thus, the server takes in what is often flawed data and outputs what customer feedback has been proven to be good data. As an example, the Los Angeles traffic sensor network typically has over 50% failed reporting devices. The server automatically weeds through this data mess with logic created from years of consumer and data experience. For example, its typical that sensors are stuck, broken, fluctuating wildly, misreporting or mis-mapped. The company maintains strong relationships with DOTs, engineers, academia, local and federal governments to assure the best knowledge is applied to its algorithms. See section Data Quality for further discussion.

Sun's Java technology running on the Linux platform servers is the foundation for the traffic server application. These technologies were chosen for their reliability and flexibility. The server configuration also has redundant server hardware located in geographically separated data centers supported with different internet backbone connections. The overall architecture has proven itself over the course of five years surviving cut internet backbone fiber optic cable, computer viruses, power outages, inclement weather, and the like with 100% uptime.

Data partners including DOT and private data feeds are constantly changing their data stream formats and contents. The server automatically adjust for a number of these changes, however, some changes need a software engineer's intervention to maintain compatibility. Also, TrafficGauge quickly integrates new data feeds that become available usually within days if the feed meets quality standards. Therefore, server maintenance is an ongoing requirement for accurate traffic data aggregation.

The outputs of the server include graphical images of traffic maps, composite and standardized data feeds, television graphics, and a proprietary feeds for custom applications. The server readily allows for the output of any type of feed required for any application. The flexibility of the server allows for customization of traffic maps to fit branding and technology needs. The use of XML and standard graphics libraries allow the server to generate any type of branded traffic map that fits an organizations needs. The server design allows for ‘artwork' input reducing the hassle of being locked into database driven maps that force a style. This is an important factor when designing maps for the mobile environment where screen sizes and readability require extra care over computer-based applications that have the benefit of a large display. The server can generate traffic maps in JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, and numerous other graphical formats.