Traffic Manager
deCarta's Traffic Manager extension incorporates real-time traffic feeds and correlates traffic-related information to a map using Drill Down Server. Incident and flow information are then overlaid onto the route - optimizing the route by considering real-time flow information as traffic conditions change. Traffic Manager enables applications to search for and display traffic and flow information relative to a location.
Traffic Manager extends DDS to allow the following:
- Calculate routes around traffic jams
- Display flow information along a road
- Display traffic Incidents on a map
- Select traffic incidents around a specific location
What are TMC codes and why are they used in Traffic Manager?
The deCarta traffic solution utilizes TMC codes for referencing traffic location. TMC codes are the industry standard and are a more robust method for dealing with traffic location referencing. deCarta has developed a reliable system of assigning TMC codes to street segments. Our traffic solution will assign flow information to the correct chain of street segments in real time which is extremely difficult to implement. Any approach using map data link IDs is incomplete given that map data changes from quarter to quarter. As a result, at times up to 30% of the source map link IDs don't refer to the same locations as the previous release.
How does Traffic Manager store traffic data?
Traffic Manager stores traffic incident and flow data in an internal database which means that a 3rd party database license and drivers are not needed. The solution requires Drill Down server to perform the routing, map display and retrieval of the traffic information from the database.
What traffic data is currently available?
Traffic manager supports real time traffic feeds from NAVTEQ and Inrix. Customers must license the traffic feeds directly from either vendor.
What types of traffic information does deCarta support?
Traffic Manager support traffic incident and flow data. The incident represents the location of traffic accidents and road construction. The traffic flow information describes the actual speed of traffic traveling on a specific road segment. This is the information that is used by our routing engine to determine what the fastest route is. Traffic solutions need to utilize real time flow information when performing detour routes, not simply incident information. Utilizing traffic incidents to develop flow rates is inaccurate due to the fact that information is based on a traffic operator's guess at the severity of a traffic incident and the expected clearing. It is difficult to assign a speed value as well as location based simply on incident information.
What types of applications and devices is Traffic Manager suitable for?
Traffic Manager is suitable for use in any application or market where accurate driving times are required
- Internet mapping sites
- Wireless navigation applications
- Workforce Optimization and scheduling
What does Traffic Manager provide that I can't get from competing applications?
deCarta has developed extensive expertise in routing utilizing traffic flow information. Our solution is the only one that can perform routes around traffic slow downs using local roads instead of higher level roads which approximates how someone with local knowledge would drive.
How does Traffic Manager work and what are the pieces for integrating traffic with DDS?
The Drill Down Server is able to process real-time traffic information (and as of July 2007 coming soon, predictive information) received from companies who specialize in collecting and distributing such data. These firms could also be government agencies.
Through the Traffic Manager extension, the Drill Down Server (DDS) can report accident and incident information, display flow maps showing traffic speeds and slowdowns and also offer good routes that take into account the effect of traffic flow speeds as transmitted by an information provider.
There are two main requirements that must be observed when deploying the Traffic Manager:
First, the DDS must be able to understand the raw traffic data information that is sent to it. This is accomplished by a piece of software called the Feed Client. This software, written by deCarta, handles the acquisition of the raw data from a provider and then translates that data into usable information packets in the format understood and processed by DDS. Currently, Traffic Manager version 4.2.2 supports raw data provided by two US entities: Inrix and Navteq's traffic.com.
If a customer wants to use Traffic Manager with data from a new agency or company, a Feed Client must be written to support it
The second important requirement is the encoding of the RMF map data. The RMF map data must contain Traffic Message Channel (TMC) codes to support the reconciliation of locations in the feed to the map database itself. TMC codes are a standard for defining point- and segment-like attributes so that different traffic providers for an area such as the US can make their data conform to the same topological relationships of codes to locations. For example, the intersection of a highway interchange must have the same TMC code in a Navteq or Tele Atlas US map though the actual coordinate location of the intersection point may vary.
With these components in place -- TMC codes in the map data, and a Traffic Manager feed client to translate the incoming traffic information -- Traffic Manager enables DDS to incorporate the traffic information into its route computations and map displays. The Feed Client processes the data, which is then passed as a series of commands (queries) to the DDS Traffic plug-in. The Traffic plug-in utilizes the TMC codes to make corresponding alterations of road attributes that define navigability and travel speed. As each new batch of live traffic data arrives, the Feed Client makes corresponding updates to the map data attributes.
Once traffic-based attribute updates are made, the DDS Route plug-in "automatically" incorporates the current traffic information into its computations, avoiding traffic and finding the optimal routes that take it into account. The DDS Image plug-in can also be easily configured to display the current traffic information as a series of colored highlights on or alongside the affected road segments.
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