New Inexpensive and Easy Computer Software Provides Real-Time and Highly Accurate Data on Traffic

University of Granada, Spain

University of Granada researchers working on the SIPEsCa (Spanish for “Low Cost Autonomous Information and Prediction System for Real Time Data on the State of Roads using Distributed Devices”) project have developed software that provides real-time data on traffic flow between cities. Drivers can use this information to choose the fastest route to a destination.

The software works with Bluetooth devices that collect real-time data on road traffic before sending it to a central server. The information is then processed using data-mining algorithms, evolutionary computing, and neuronal networks, with the goal of providing information and predictions on traffic flow for users.

The system currently is being tested in the metropolitan areas of Granada and Seville. “Thanks to this new method we have been able to monitor traffic density and movement on an individual basis, as vehicle users move between nodes within the zone in question,” says University of Granada’s Pedro A. Castillo.

The devices collect the signals transmitted by the various technological elements within each vehicle, such as global-positioning systems or hands-free devices, as well as drivers’ mobile phones, and the researchers stress the data they capture “are never associated with any specific user, since they do not gather any information that can allow for the personal identification of the user from which they are collected.”  Press release

DCL: Maybe this stuff could be used to monitor “safe use” of mobile phones while driving – i.e., only when stopped in traffic?