A GpsPasSion forum member has posted an excellent piece on the state of live traffic reporting in the US, with historical background, a look at the various ways traffic is reported, and even a ranking of number of probes for the key players. Google tops the list BTW, thanks to their Android coverage. There are a couple of pieces missing (NAVTEQ sources, iPhone probe data sent back to Apple – and no, I don’t have the answers to those), but overall this is the best summary of its sort I’ve seen. There are a few shoes left to drop – Apple’s predicted mapping solution, the fact that Garmin will soon have a lot of probe data as their mobile apps take off, and (as the article notes) RIMs massive network of probes.
There’s also a lot of interest right now in TomTom’s newly announced HD Traffic, which is clearly not in the same league as their European system going by the same name. GpsPasSion has a write-up on this too, with some good information on data sources and the role played by their IQ Routes historical road speed database.
It sounds like things are getting close to really passing a tipping point. I look forward to the delivery methods and routing algorithms improving.
Indeed it does. The first link above has been updated with additional info, including a tease that NAVTEQ’s probe data will double in the next 4-6 months!