Mobile phones as traffic probes

The provision of road-based travel time information often relies on speed data collected from inductive loops imbedded in the pavement. While this instrumentation is common on urban freeways, the loops installed on arterial roads are not configured to provide speed data. Road authorities desiring to disseminate dynamic, network-wide travel information to road users are therefore considering a range of data collection techniques. The use of mobile phones as traffic probes is appealing because the necessary infrastructure is already in place in most urban areas. Traffic speed information can be obtained by passively monitoring data transmission in the mobile phone network. International experience provides encouraging signs about the potential of mobile phones as traffic probes. Issues still to be resolved include potential public concerns about privacy, growing awareness of the road safety of implications of mobile phone use, and the need to better understand the quality of the data obtained from the mobile phone probes. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E211903.