Cell phones monitor traffic flow

July 1, 2007
People at AirSage think they've found the secret to accurately monitoring traffic flow on major and secondary roads in real-time. In fact, they are so sure about this that the company has patented the technology, which converts ordinary mobile phone signals into traffic flow information. We take the network signaling data from cell phones, aggregate it, and match it with computerized street maps via

People at AirSage think they've found the secret to accurately monitoring traffic flow on major and secondary roads in real-time. In fact, they are so sure about this that the company has patented the technology, which converts ordinary mobile phone signals into traffic flow information. “We take the network signaling data from cell phones, aggregate it, and match it with computerized street maps via proprietary algorithms to calculate travel times and speeds along specific road segments,” explains Tom Bouwer, vp sales & marketing for AirSage. “It is important to note that all the data is aggregated and anonymous. We have multiple layers of privacy protection to ensure that no proprietary, customer-identifying data is accessed or released from the secure environment of the wireless carrier.”

For AirSage, the wireless carrier is Sprint/Nextel, with whom they have a nationwide agreement. “There are 220- to 230-million cell phone users in the country today — over 90% of vehicles have a cell phone in them when on the road — and we have access to the signaling data from some 50- to 60-million cell phones,” says Bouwer. “We're talking about huge numbers. Today, there are road sensors on only about 10,000 miles of road and GPS is mostly found in large trucks, which often to travel different roads and routes than other motorists. Our system provides information about all routes, major highways and the alternatives.”

“Historical traffic data can tell you that there will be heavy traffic on Friday night,” he continues, “but it can't tell you just how bad it will be. What's more, according to the FHWA and the Texas Transportation Institute, 55-60% of traffic congestion issues are non-recurring.”

Today AirSage provides its traffic data in an XML stream to an application, a navigation device, or to a radio or television station. “We are the only company that has really been able to make this work,” says Bouwer, “and that has just been in the past six months or so.”

The company is currently testing a new application for its data that may be of particular use to companies with regular regional routes. According to Bouwer, users will be able to set up four or five locations to which they travel frequently. Call an 800-number on your cell phone and provide point of origin and destination and the system will provide you with the best route and best alternative route, in voice. www.airsage.com

About the Author

Wendy Leavitt

Wendy Leavitt joined Fleet Owner in 1998 after serving as editor-in-chief of Trucking Technology magazine for four years.

She began her career in the trucking industry at Kenworth Truck Company in Kirkland, WA where she spent 16 years—the first five years as safety and compliance manager in the engineering department and more than a decade as the company’s manager of advertising and public relations. She has also worked as a book editor, guided authors through the self-publishing process and operated her own marketing and public relations business.

Wendy has a Masters Degree in English and Art History from Western Washington University, where, as a graduate student, she also taught writing.  

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