The Map Room

A study sponsored by Navteq argues that having a GPS navigation system with real-time traffic data lets drivers spend less time behind the wheel — between two and a half to four days a year, depending on the country — and produce around 20 percent less CO₂. The problem with these reported results, which are based on a study conducted in two German cities, is that they compare drivers with traffic-enabled navigation systems to drivers without any navigation system. But the study also included drivers who used navigation systems without real-time traffic data. Is it the real-time traffic data that offers an advantage, or just having a GPS in the car? How much of the advantage comes from the traffic data, and how much from the navigation? Navteq’s press release doesn’t say. That omission is worth paying attention to. Via Engadget.

Yahoo announces upgraded real-time traffic coverage: more cities, more detail, more roads.

MapQuest has added current traffic conditions for more than 100 metropolitan areas; more details and a list of the cities covered are available here.

Digital Earth Blog has an early review: “A quick glance seems to show that they have more cities than Google, but not by a wide margin. … Assuming their data is accurate, the clear winner appears to be MapQuest. Google has much of the highway in gray (”no data”), while MapQuest is showing data for everything. In addition, MapQuest has the clickable icons so you know exactly what the problem is.” But the lack of a mobile version is a dealbreaker: “For me, however, 95% of my Google Maps traffic usage is from my cell phone while I’m on the road. … As far as I know, MapQuest has nothing to compare to that.”

A few items about Google Maps, some of which of interest to developers, others to everyone.

• An ad layer for Google Maps (see previous entry) is described as “ready for early testers”; at some point it will be unleashed for real (Digital Earth Blog, Mapperz).
• Geocoding — i.e., the ability of the system to provide coordinates with just a street address — has been added for Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Singapore and Taiwan.
• Driving directions now take rush hour traffic into account.

Security experts — who, to be fair, have an interest in crying wolf — warn that hackers can use off-the-shelf equipment to send messages to car navigation systems using the FM channel for traffic and weather data. Remember: if your satnav system says “Im in ur dashboard, cleanin mai harbl,” you’ve probably been hacked. Do not drive off the cliff. All Points Blog, Slashdot.

Who needs GPS? Boeing is leading a project to develop a “Robust Surface Navigation” system that draws upon various terrestrial signals — such as cell towers — to provide location information when the GPS signals are jammed. Engadget, Slashdot.

But what could jam GPS? How about a solar flare? Last December, solar flares were observed to put out a huge radio burst that caused GPS receivers on the sunlit side of the Earth to lose tracking. CNet News, GeoCarta.

Google Maps adds traffic conditions for 30 U.S. cities, appearing as another mode beside Map, Satellite and Hybrid: “If your route shows red, you’re looking at a stop-and-go commute; yellow, you could be a little late for dinner; green, you’ve…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Schoolchildren in Liverpool, as part of a safety project called “Our Walk to School,” have mapped their local areas in an attempt to highlight road and traffic hazards; the maps, on A4 paper, have been collected in an atlas which,…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Palm has released an application called Traffic for the Treo 600/650 that provides, for a monthly fee, live traffic data and maps for 10 U.S. cities (via Palm Infocenter)….  •  Continue reading this entry.

A couple of traffic-related items to report this afternoon. Wiresoft offers highway traffic conditions for mobile phones for a dozen locations in the U.S. It’s a free service, but your phone has to be able to support it; the page…  •  Continue reading this entry.

The Oregon Department of Transportation’s TripCheck site provides traffic information for the Portland area, including a neat speed map, which is a great way of visualizing congestion. Via Matt….  •  Continue reading this entry.

If the amount of maps, software and hardware available is any indication (see previous entries: 1, 2; the Seattle Area Traffic page has moved since that July 2003 entry), the traffic around Seattle can’t be very good. Now here’s another…  •  Continue reading this entry.

The Houston Traffic Map widget makes the information found on the Houston real-time traffic map available as a Dashboard widget (for Mac OS X 10.4 “Tiger”)….  •  Continue reading this entry.

I’m late in relaying this, but B. Moore submitted a link to the Houston Real-Time Traffic Map, and described it thusly: This is an amazing real time traffic map that is quite sophisticated and useful (at least if you live…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Trips123 provides traffic and transit conditions for New York City and the surrounding area. It formally launched April 6, five years behind schedule, and has cost $20 million, half of which came from a federal grant. The New York Times…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Sytadin provides real-time traffic data for Paris and its suburbs. Jonathan Hipkiss writes, “This site kept me sane when I lived in Paris and had to commute around the Peripherique daily.” (My condolences.) “It’s updated by the minute and gets…  •  Continue reading this entry.

This site provides real-time traffic conditions for the state of Georgia. In addition to the maps showing accidents, construction activity or trip times, you can get current accidents as a list, view traffic cameras and even what’s on those big…  •  Continue reading this entry.

Yahoo! Maps now has traffic conditions, including construction sites and accidents (which it euphemistically calls “incidents”) for several U.S. cities. Via Matt….  •  Continue reading this entry.