Traffic Might Look Bad - Beat it with Inrix (Ver 3.5.1)
Inrix recently updated its App (version 3.5.1), and they have a new version out for the holidays - with their newly updated App, you can get more road miles of coverage, and you can now get pop-up alerts that will warn you when you have issues around you or according to your personal preferences. Some were not happy with the 3.5 update for battery issues, which Inrix claims are fixed with this update.
One recent addition is that they can offer you a read on how long an incident might take to clear - giving you time for another piece of pie to let things cool off before heading out. The new features include:
See More Traffic for More Roads: With INRIX’s expanded traffic on arterials, travelers can see at-a-glance if it’s faster to take side streets or stay on the highway with traffic information that extends beyond highways and interstates covering more than 500K miles of arterials and city streets now available nationwide. With the ability to see more traffic on more local roads, INRIX Traffic gives travelers with door-to-door coverage that makes getting to Grandma’s house a snap.
Live Traffic Alerts: Up to the minute, location specific pop-up alerts similar to live sports scores and weather updates available on the iPhone today. Drivers receive live traffic alerts based on their location and personal preferences. INRIX Traffic owners can now customize alerts based on proximity and incident type to ensure traffic alerts are specific to their route. Better details on incidents including severity and time to clear help drivers make smarter decisions.
It's not hard to imagine that with over a million miles of coverage in the US, Inrix can offer data to users that makes route planning a more informed process yielding savings like that. I have found that when I use it, I tend to plan my way around major interstate headaches via local roads. Because Inrix covers so many secondary roadways, you can make informed decisions, so instead of blindly running into a jam on the local roadway too, you can see if things look better or worse.
Inrix is available on the iPhone, Android and now on Blackberry and Windows Mobile. Check out their site for details - Inrix Mobile Apps
inrix has updated their Traffic App on both the Android and the iPhone platforms with some cool new features that will make using the App easier and better. I've been a regular user of the Inrix iPhone App since it debuted back in 2009 and have come to trust and rely upon it for accurate information about traffic conditions around me. To some extent, other Apps have leveraged their user networks more overtly and in a social way to gather information on traffic incidents and qualitative information on what life is like out on the roads. Inrix is making their sharing capabilities more overt with this release.
Easier Sharing
Inrix, with its unrivaled network of mobile GPS probes, road sensors and remote monitoring is pretty good, but if a user comes across an incident worth sharing with the greater community, they can now easily tap on the screen to pull up a set of reporting icons that allow you to quickly report an accident, the police, or even an error in the traffic flow.
Inrix is already using your positional data anonymously to learn about traffic conditions, but when you tap the "Traffic color is wrong" button, the Inrix App starts to report back more frequently for a period of time to oversample the traffic situation to get better data on the conditions.
Easier to Use Traffic Readout
inrix has also taken its keen understanding of the traffic data and let you know which spots are worse than normal and which spots are better than normal. Sometimes when you look at the traffic map it all looks pretty messy and confusing, but using this new feature, you can see the BLACK areas are worse than average speeds and the LIGHT BLUE areas are better then average speeds. Quick, easy and informative. It's free with a Pro upgrade for a few bucks. Free is definitely worth it and I happen to like the Pro version too. Start with free and then upgrade.
If you have a smartphone, you deal with traffic and don't have the Inrix App; you need it.
Inrix and Audi Team up for Traffic Feed Telematics Solution
Inrix has added to the stable of automakers it is serving; this one adds Audi to the Ford Sync and Toyota Entune telematics products. The Audi MMI system is their version of a smarter car, with Inrix powering the traffic solution. The Audi MMI system claims to consumer the Inrix data, account for the detailed traffic information and offers users the best route to their destination. Traffic changes mid-trip? the MMI system will of course take this into account and alter the route if a better one is available. While this seems basic, the payout is in the fact that Inrix is tracking the highways and the secondary roadways so that it knows the secondary roads aren't a better choice just because they are out of overage like other systems. Inrix is claiming 4 million traffic probes; simply a huge number up from under a million just a few years ago.
TPEG Standard
The new Inrix HD data will be flowing across a new traffic standard delivery format (aligned to by the Transport Protocol Experts Group - TPEG) allowing more data in a smaller footprint, consuming less bandwidth and pumping more detail down to the navigation system.
The Inrix powered services will be available on models starting mid-year.
Inrix to Power Toyota Entune On-Board Traffic System
Inrix has announced that they are going to also provide traffic information to the new Toyota onboard computer system dubbed "Entune". Inrix in their usual role will be supplying unsurpassed coverage and traffic alerts to the Toyota drivers to unexpected traffic incidents.
Just today I was sitting in a shop in the center of our small suburban town, only to overhear a person come in the shop and tell a friend about an accident that just happened down the road, snarling traffic. A few minutes later as I jumped in my car (Not a toyota), I checked the Inrix Traffic! iPhone App to see that they had a bead on the tie-up, which Inrix showed ending exactly at the accident scene. This road was a tertiary state road that was not heavily traveled in the middle of the afternoon, but Inrix captured the back-up accurately and quickly.
Full Press release below on the new Inrix Partnership with Toyota.....
Ford and Inrix have announced a new App for the iPhone and Android operating systems that allow you to interact with your Ford Sync equipped car. The move will bring better integration and better out of car usability to the celebrated car infotainment system.
The applications will allow you to send destinations to your car and preview traffic conditions before you leave for work or your appointments. Not only will you be able to upload new addresses to the cloud-based SyncMyRide account, but you will be able to see traffic maps for highways, arterials and city streets for 126 major metro areas across the US, see traffic forecasts based on Inrix's extensive experience and databases, and find the fastest routes around traffic hotspots all before stepping foot in the car.
According to Ford and Inrix, "Ford, Lincoln and Mercury owners of 2010 and 2011 SYNC-equipped, TDI-capable vehicles can download the SYNC Destinations app for free from the Apple App Store and Android Market. To activate it, the user has to enter his or her www.syncmyride.com login credentials. Once those credentials are submitted, the app confirms the user’s TDI subscription status, and is then unlocked and ready for use."
Interesting article over at TechFlash about the two platforms, with comments from Jim Bak, Inrix's spokesman. Longtime readers here at GPSLodge know that I like to cover both companies, for the newer, let me explain:
Inrix is a leading or the leading provider of high quality traffic coverage through a giant network of GPS probes and traffic sensors. The data is sent out to customers allowing see small road slices worth of traffic data on primary and secondary roads. Their data is used on the web, in media and in their smartphone traffic apps, as well as traffic features on the Navigon App.
Waze is a social driving platform that allows users to map the world (crowd sourcing the map generation) while getting driving directions and navigation from the application and on top of that accumulating points on the game layer of the App. This all happens with the backdrop of being able to see other Wazers' avitars on the screen, and occasionally interact with them.
Waze + Inrix = Future State?
The other day as I was driving up Rt 128 here in metro Boston, flipping between Waze for directions and speed traps, and Inrix for traffic details, I knew that the two were made for each other. TechFlash seems to agree, while pointing out that Waze has a long way to go on the traffic capability side, lacking both the significant data stream for accurate traffic reads and the associated App features. Jim Bak points out that Waze doesn't answer key questions like 'What’s the best way based on traffic to get there?' and 'Given the traffic conditions, how long will it take until I arrive?'
With the recent $25 Million in funding, maybe the traffic track is an area that Waze will seek to buildout, and maybe, just maybe there is a future where Waze community drivers become Inrix traffic probes, and Waze offers Inrix quality traffic insight to their App.
That would be fun, help on the navigational side with the reassurance of knowing if you can avoid that terrible traffic jam while traveling down the road.
Inrix Announces XD Traffic; Super Accurate, Super Smart
Inrix has announced XD traffic (not to be confused with HD traffic from TomTom), and it sounds like a big jump in capability and accuracy.
The new B2B service will be included in the new Ford Sync equipped vehicles starting in 2011, and available to App makers for inclusion in their applications.
Super Accurate
They are the first to "fuse agency, journalistic and community-based incident data to deliver more timely alerts, better routes and more accurate travel times and ETAs." The result is accurate travel speeds over 90% of the time.
Super Smart
The name of the game here is getting as much data in the pipe as you can, making sense of it and then sending out usable predictive models and accurate pictures of the current status. Inrix has the data inputs, but also crunch the data from the traffic inputs as well as weather, sporting or concert events to help build a sophisticated model of what's to come. They don't stop there, and do regular testing of their routes to compare actual vs. predicted speeds and adjust the output based on this learning; this is done 24 hours a day 7 days a week. They call the artificial intelligence modeling Fully Automated Speed Testing or F.A.S.T.
NFL Games: Worst Traffic Jams DC, New England, Buffalo
TomTom took a look into their database crystal ball and saw that yes, there are traffic jams at NFL games, and then there are traffic disasters. The worst locations experience a 50+% slowdown in traffic as a result of the games. I can vouch for that as we live close to Gillette Stadium, and you don't want to go near the place on game day if you aren't going to the game.
"The results of this study were calculated using data from the TomTom user community. TomTom compared anonymously contributed GPS measurements and data during the home games for each stadium for the 2009 season with data from TomTom's historical speed database, Speed Profiles(TM). Speed Profiles creates the most accurate view of historical traffic on both primary and secondary roads using data over a two year period. This data is incorporated on TomTom GPS devices as IQ Routes to guide drivers away from congestion, not only on major highways but on all routes in the road network."
If you don't have a TomTom with traffic, you can always go to their Beta Route Planning Site to take advantage of the traffic data. I checked the Sunday Morning predictions around Gillette Stadium, and they must not have that plumbed up, because there doesn't appear to be any traffic predicted ahead of the NE Pat's opener. The service is in Beta, so predictions must not be hooked up. (They are even predicting a traffic free commute out of Boston this afternoon; I don't think so). Definitely worth checking ahead of the game if you are concerned. At TomTom Route Planner
More details about the traffic jams after the jump.......
Traveling Labor Day Weekend? 6 Tips to Help Avoid Traffic
If you are traveling at all this long weekend, you will probably hit some traffic. With a little work, you can either plan ahead and know what you are getting into, or see the traffic situation and plan to route around it. It's not hard, here are a couple of tips to make traveling a little easier.
1. Check out conditions at Beat the Traffic in most major metro areas. They use Inrix data for some pretty detailed accounts of roadway slowdowns. You can elect to sign up for a two week free trial for their service that will allow you to plan your regularly used routes and get updates. They also have an iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and "mobile" set of solutions to help you while you are on the road.
2. Use Traffic.com's solution to plan a route and see what the traffic conditions are before you leave. they can recommend alternates for you to consider that will make the trip faster. Type in your starting and ending addresses for turn by turn directions. At Traffic.com - It's free.
3. Download the Inrix App for iPhone or Android where you can see traffic around you while on the road. I use this in combination with a GPS to get me around the worst spots: See trouble, pan the Inrix Map to see the last exit before the congestion, use the GPS to find my way around the issue to pop back on teh highway after the back-up. (Co-pilot recommended)
4. Get a traffic Enabled iPhone Navigation App - they are not that expensive and then you add on traffic as an option. Two I like are the TomTom (iTunes Link) and Navigon. TomTom US costs $49, and has an in App Traffic subscription for $20. Navigon has a Regional option (MyRegion) for only $29 and an annual traffic subscription (in App Purchase) for $20 also. Both give you traffic in and around major metro areas. I like having an iPhone navigation app because it's with me all of the time. These Apps download the maps so they don't need connectivity for navigation but do for traffic updates.
5. Buy a traffic enabled GPS - there are a ton out there, but two that are worth checking out are the TomTom XL 335TM (widescreen, text to speech, lifetime free map updates and traffic alerts - $129 right now), and the brand new Garmin Nuvi 3790T (super slim new design, landscape or portrait views, multi-touch display with advanced features and free traffic updates). Again these traffic updates are for most major metro areas and download over the FM band, so they are a little less detailed, but cover major roadways.
UPDATE: THURSDAY ONLY - Amazon Deal of the Day:TomTom XL 335T for $119 - Lifetime Traffic updates, but not lifetime map updates.
6. Leave in the middle of the night - way less fun; I recommend one of the other options.
Inrix announced an expansion of their European coverage to more markets. They appear poised to replicate their US capabilities in superior coverage and quality of service. Press release is below.....
INRIX® today announced it has expanded its European real-time traffic coverage to 18 countries making it the largest traffic network in Europe.
With the launch of real-time traffic information in Ireland, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia since February, INRIX traffic services now cover more than 1 million kilometers of motorways, city streets and secondary roads, throughout Europe -- more than 2X the amount of real-time road coverage of its nearest competitor.
INRIX now offers European real-time traffic information in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom.
INRIX also announced an agreement with road safety products and services company Coyote Systems to provide real-time traffic information in future Coyote products. As Coyote's preferred global provider of traffic information, INRIX and Coyote will work together to apply each other's expertise in user-generated content for the development of future products and services across Europe.
Building upon its expansion in Europe, INRIX has hired Rolf Kanne, the former head of sales for NAVTEQ's T-Systems Traffic, and Guillaume Taton, an experienced mobile and navigation industry professional. As these two industries converge, Rolf and Guillaume offer European customers a unique perspective having worked in mobile and automotive companies throughout the course of their careers.
Inrix Releases Update to Traffic! for iPhone - Crowdsourced Incidents
Inrix has a vast network of sensors, commercial fleet GPS "probes" and crowdsourced GPS "probes" covering thousands of miles of roadways in what I think it the best coverage and quality of coverage out there. They recently updated their iPhone App to include crowsourced incident reporting - want to report Live Police (Speed Trap too), Fixed Camera Trap, Accident, Construction, or an Event/Gathering you can now and send it in. Want some street cred? They also report on top ten contributors on another tab. You might be wondering about "Events" and "Gatherings". Let's face it, big events like major sports games and other large gatherings impact traffic. Inrix already pulls in many major events as a factor for predicting traffic, but they are looking to bolster that dataset too with you reporting it.
So, update the App to version 2.4 and get a new way to report on things you don't already see reported.
Traffic Jams Drive the Most Polluting Roads in America
TomTom and their TeleAtlas group just released a study that tied traffic jams to air pollution, to reveal the top polluting roadways in America. Sorry California, you're taking most of the top spots. The very obvious reality is that when you sit in traffic, you waste gas in the start and stop mode of inching down the highway. TomTom has a feedback mechanism in many of its GPS devices that allow it to gather anonymous data from your trips that reveal roads traveled and average speeds across those road segments. With a pile of data across millions of GPS devices they can create the historical profile of speeds on the road. Slow speed equates to more emissions.
So the study didn't appear to take into account any effect of a greener automobile fleet (there has to be more hybrids per capita in California), but I can't imagine that it can overcome the overwhelming mass of humanity that travel the highways in California.
It's Earth Day; how can you help?
The obvious thing is to either get a more efficient car, or skip the car ride; take the train, work from home a day a week, carpool, or ride a bike.
Avoid the traffic with a traffic enabled GPS. You could always time shift your commute, but that will only get you so far. Sometimes a traffic enabled GPS can alert you to the worst jams and offer a way around. I recommend a connected device that relies on anything but FM/RDS signals. You need secondary road coverage that the higher bandwidth offers in connected devices (mobile phone, "connected" GPS).
Use a regular GPS - studies have shown that using a GPS devices can save you time and money on the road by keeping you from getting lost. It's really pretty simple, but across millions of cars, it can make a difference.
The full information from TomTom is below after the jump and they list off the roadways and the methodology. Pretty interesting. Assuming that they mean I-93 south of Boston, I am not reassured that my commute is on their list. I think I am going to take the commuter rail today..... Update: Found out that the stretch in Mass is north of town Randolph to Reading. Good for me; the train is was great.
Traffic Might Look Bad - Beat it with Inrix (Ver 3.5.1)
Continue reading: 
Super Smart
(widescreen, text to speech, lifetime free map updates and traffic alerts - $129 right now), and the brand new 
(super slim new design, landscape or portrait views, multi-touch display with advanced features and free traffic updates). Again these traffic updates are for most major metro areas and download over the FM band, so they are a little less detailed, but cover major roadways.
- Lifetime Traffic updates, but not lifetime map updates.
Mailing List
Subscribe - RSS
