Inrix Accuracy and Coverage Benchmarking

So Inrix has a news item out that has them claiming superior coverage and “highly accurate” traffic speed rates, that are comparable to Traffic.com. Incidentally NAVTEQ officially closed their acquisition today of Traffic.com. Traffic.com claims a higher degree of accuracy in the world, and Inrix has been working hard to prove that their data is equally high quality. It may seem meaningless to you, but they are vying for a role in what I expect will be a lucrative traffic flow and prediction business as GPS units are broadly adopted and as mobile phones become more and more integrated with navigation.

Press Release Follows….

INRIX today announced the results of an independent “Real-Time Traffic Field Assessment” study that further validates INRIX’s leadership position in the traffic information industry.
The study, designed and conducted by a leading independent global marketing information firm, compared real-time traffic speed data from INRIX’s Smart Dust Network against NAVTEQ/Traffic.com in the areas of accuracy and market coverage. The ground truth testing research was conducted in three major metropolitan areas – San Francisco, San Diego and Miami.

Over 60 independently planned routes per metropolitan area were designed and tested to emulate “day in the life of” scenarios of average working consumers, ensuring a somewhat random distribution for each metro across major commutes and various times of the day. The drive tests were conducted over a period of two weeks and show that INRIX’s Smart Dust Network:

enables a better customer experience than NAVTEQ/Traffic.com in the tested markets by reporting accurate traffic flow on many more of the routes tested on major roads

provides highly accurate and statistically comparable accuracy rates of traffic speed information

has significantly broader traffic flow information coverage in many more markets across the country than NAVTEQ/Traffic.com

Additionally, the study provides further support that INRIX’s unique approach to utilizing GPS vehicle probe data (blended with road sensor data where available) is, in general, at least as accurate as road-sensor collected data. Miami was the most accurate market tested in the study, and yet Miami has no physical road sensors, so traffic flow data in Miami is exclusively generated by INRIX through its GPS probe vehicle network.

This is the second significant comparative study conducted by a major independent research firm where results have confirmed INRIX’s position as the leader in the traffic information industry. A previous study, conducted in fall, 2006 by Frost & Sullivan in the markets of Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Providence, named INRIX as “the leading provider of real-time traffic information…based on coverage and accuracy”.

“We are laser focused on accuracy and coverage to deliver the best overall traffic and navigation experience for end users,” said Bryan Mistele, Inrix president and CEO. “These independent studies are significant validation of our unique and disruptive technology approach and our innovative delivery of traffic information.”

March 7, 2007

Inrix Accuracy and Coverage Benchmarking