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.
HD Radio Based Traffic - Clear Channel Total Traffic Network Plus
Clear Channel is getting ready to launch an upgraded traffic solution dubbed Total Traffic Network Plus for 63 metro areas that will be delivered through HD radio tuners in mobile devices like a GPS/PND. They have been working on a solution like this for a while; as they tested it back in 2007.
The problem with the existing RDS system is that it is delivered over the FM airwaves and is restricted in its bandwidth, tus limiting the granularity of the traffic data, the descriptions of the incidents and generally lacks the coverage that is available today through higher bandwidth solutions (think smart phones here - Inrix Traffic App, TomTom with optional Traffic and Navigon with optional Traffic come to mind).
The Total Traffic Network Plus feed will also come through with additional information available like weather, sports scores, and news headlines. With this type of information, the solutions starts to look credible in the face of the mobile phone systems that offer a very wide variety of information too.
The first unit will reportedly be JVC's $1200 KW-NT3HDT (below) double din navigation, wallet bustin' solution. It ships near the end of April.
Inrix Traffic Scorecard: Congestion up; Economy and Construction Effects
Inrix has released its annual study on the traffic congestion in America taking a fresh look at what's happening overall and where the worst congestion spots are across the country. The good news is that it appears that the economy is on the mend as traffic bottomed out in March/April of last year, the bad news is that congestion is up overall, especially in the non-rush hours where there was a 25% increase in congestion. The stimulus package and its associated construction efforts are changing patterns; worse congestion where construction projects have kicked off and relieved congestion where they have finished.
Overall, for those who commute, you probably already know that the best day to commute is Monday, and the worst on Thursday with people taking long weekends to relieve a little stress. The trouble is that the worst morning commute is Wednesday, while the worst evening commute is Friday - not too many people are staying late on Friday.
No surprise that Los Angeles tops the list for worst traffic; here's the top 10:
1. Los Angeles, Calif.
2. New York, N.Y.
3. Chicago, Ill.
4. Washington, D.C. (up from 6th in 2008)
5. Dallas, Texas
6. Houston, Texas (down from 4th in 2008)
7. San Francisco, Calif.
8. Boston, Mass.
9. Seattle, Wash.
10. Philadelphia, Pa. (up from 11th in 2008)
Inrix grabs their traffic from about 1.6 million GPS probes out on the roads that take the form of road sensors, GPS probes in fleet vehicles and more frequently users of applications like their Inrix Traffic! App on the iphone where the travel progress along the road is anonymously sent back for reporting on in-the-moment traffic conditions. If you want pure traffic reporting on the web, you can see their data on Mapquest, or on your iPhone with their Inrix Traffic! App (iTunes Link). They also power the traffic functions on most of the iPhone Apps, including Navigon (iTunes Link).
NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of digital map, traffic and location data for in-vehicle, portable, wireless and enterprise solutions, announced the launch of NAVTEQ Traffic™ in the United Kingdom, increasing its real-time traffic European coverage to nearly 400,000 kilometers of total coverage, across nearly 35 major cities in 13 European countries.
NAVTEQ Traffic in the United Kingdom includes data from Trafficmaster's network of 7,500 traffic sensors, covering 8,000 miles of U.K. motorways and 95 percent of its trunk or arterial roads. NAVTEQ is compiling road sensors and GPS vehicle probes, both consumer and commercial; later this year they expect to add mobile phone tracking for GPS Probe sources.
NAVTEQ Traffic enables a single-source, uninterrupted traffic service when crossing borders in Europe and is also available in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands.
At the recent MacWorld Expo, Inrix was named to a list of the best in show for their Inrix Traffic Pro iPhone App. If you've missed it, they are the #1 Navigation based App in iTunes.
The basic (free) program gives you insight into traffic flow around major metro areas with coverage not only on major highways but right down to the street level for many important commuting roadways. I have been really impressed with their coverage around Boston.
The "Pro" version - which is an in App upgrade ($10 a year of $25 lifetime), offers a few extra tools for those who want to check out some more details on their trips - like viewing traffic cameras, saving commuting routes, and a pretty cool feature that looks ahead and predicts when the best time to leave for your commute is.
The latest version (ver 2.3) offers fixes that dogged the last version. I saw the bugs last month, I don't see them anymore in this version.
TomTom Lifetime Traffic Service Announced - Future Models
TomTom announced that they plan to offer Lifetime Traffic updates in 2010 on their devices through a traffic receiver that is designed into the cord; nice to have it a part of the cord instead of a separate set of cables.
"Traffic is one of the most common inconveniences every driver experiences," said Jocelyn Vigreux, president of TomTom Inc. "Now, using Lifetime Traffic Updates, TomTom users can always travel confidently knowing they will be alerted to the most current traffic information."
"Users will receive traffic updates through a traffic receiver that is innovatively designed into the device's power cord. By simply connecting the TomTom device to the power cord, users will be automatically alerted to traffic situations en route, such as traffic jams or accident delays."
I would expect a new set of units to be announced as a part of CeBit in March, and this traffic feature will most likely an optional add-on for "T" models with Traffic; no I certainly don't expect this premium service to be free.
Inrix Improves Accuracy and Traffic Flow Coverage to over 260,000 miles
Inrix upped their game again as they continue to power the new Ford Sync platform with their improved traffic flow coverage and accuracy. The big news here is that the coverage now accurately hits secondary roads with flow data, giving you the coverage you need on alternate routes when the highways are clogged.
"While other companies treat arterials and city streets just like stretches of uninterrupted highway, we factor in the impact traffic lights, stop signs, curb cuts and other traffic control tools have on traffic speeds to provide a significantly more accurate snapshot of real-time traffic conditions and congestion on these roads," said Senior Director of Product Management Ken Kranseler.
The cool techno-nerdy news here is that they continue to expand their capabilities through realtime reporting via GPS probes; sure they have trucks and fleet vehicles that got it all started, but increasingly the use of their iPhone Based Inrix Traffic App turns your phone into an anonymous probe for the greater good of reporting more accurate road conditions. they are claiming over 1.5million GPS enabled vehicles and devices as their feed into their Smart Driver Network, which is up dramatically from the 625,000 Vehicles that they were claiming just a short 2+ years ago.
Inrix announced that they are powering the connected traffic systems on the new Ford Sync platform with an improved system of roadways and realtime traffic capabilities. Reported separately, the improvement adds over 100,000 miles of flow data to the available roadways; giving Inrix and Ford a powerhouse of over 260,000 miles of flow data - not just incident data. So that means that they can paint the roadways Red, Yellow, Green to indicate how fast the roadway is flowing. The higher degree of accuracy, and the broader coverage means that users of the Ford system will not only know how things are doing on the highways but also on more and more secondary roadways; yea, the ones you want to use when the highways are clogged.
Inrix Traffic Pro iPhone App - Predict Traffic and ETA's
Inrix announced a major iPhone App innovation today at CES, allowing users to see when the optimum time is to leave in order to arrive at their destination as expected and on time. The App brings together their knowhow and ability to predict traffic based on historical information, expected events today (i.e. sports game or concert, or bad weather), and your route options to predict in 15 minute increments what your drive time will be. By saving popular routes, you will have the opportunity to see expected road conditions with just a few taps. Got a favorite route? Drive it, record it and keep it in the Inrix Traffic Pro program for future use.
The application will be available for $9.99 as a single year subscription and $25 for a lifetime subscription to the services. If I am not mistaken, this is the first direct to consumer product for Inrix where there is a revenue stream for them.
Still plenty of time to prepare for what some are saying will be the worst car traffic jams in a long with this Thanksgiving, starting Wednesday and stretching into Thursday. The down economy is keeping pursestrings tight, and more people are traveling by car, creating a firestorm of potential accidents, traffic jams and lost time. There are plenty of GPS solutions to the problem, and some non-GPS solutions to the problem, here are a few ideas:
Travel in "Off Peak Times" - Traffic leader Inrix predicts that traveling either Wednesday morning or Thursday morning will be a good strategy to beat the traffic - no GPS needed for this one.
Use Websites to research -
While Google won't tell you how long the traffic jam will hurt you, it will help predict in the future what traffic will be like. Use Google Maps to search for your area, then click on Traffic and see the live conditions. Unfortunately it looks like Google Maps isn't yet incorporating the holiday week traffic into its prediction engine; net Thursday and Friday look like a regular rush hour drive; whoops!
Traffic.com - plug in your start and destination and you will get a custom set of directions, including the "Fastest Now" and the "Direct Drive" which may include some traffic delays that they will spell out for you. You can also access their free mobile site; http://mobi.traffic.com from the road.
Mobile Phone Solutions - You don't need an iPhone to get a mobile phone solution that has traffic; you do need a more advanced phone though:
Telenav Navigator - available for many Black Berry units, and others, the inexpensive navigation service offers you live traffic updates, and will help re-route you. For $9.99 a month, this is inexpensive. You like it keep it, you don't, cancel. More at Telenav on supported devices
Verizon's VZ Navigator - offers traffic also, same $9.99 a month. At Verizon
iPhone Solutions - Navigation Apps
Navigon App for North America- for an extra $15 you can get live traffic added to the App. So, the App is $20 off, and the traffic is $10 off right now through 11/30, which will bring you under $100 for that iPhone App you've been wanting anyway..... Their traffic is based on the Inrix data feed.
AT&T Navigation App - is free but the monthly service costs $9.99 - it's a Telenav product.
iPhone Traffic Solutions
Inrix Traffic! - Offers a point of view of what's happening now and a glimpse into the future with a traffic prediction. - Free
Traffic.com - Offers a view into traffic, with some functionality coming over from their website. - Free
I happen to like Inrix's App better, but take them both; they're free and don't take up that much space
A-ha - An interesting look at the traffic interface - no maps, just shout outs about traffic issues in your area. Worth bringing, but offers a disadvantage if you are not totally familiar with the area as you may have trouble understanding where a traffic jam is just from the audible alert. - Free
INRIX and ALK Technologies, announced that INRIX will power real-time traffic data in ALK Technologies popular CoPilot® Live™ v8 GPS navigation app for Apple iPhone, Google Android and Windows phones in North America. CoPilot is one of the Top Grossing Apps at the iTunes App store in the US at the pretty amazing price of $35.
This release also represents a milestone in that it will be powered by the in application purchase ability - allowing you to buy the App, then add-on the traffic option from within the application itself. The price for traffic service is $19.99 a year at the Co-Pilot site, and I would imagine that would also apply for in-app purchases. That's pretty cheap for some best in class traffic coverage and capabilities.
More on the news release below after the jump.
More info at ALK - Co-Pilot and Inrix
Traveling Labor Day Weekend? 6 Tips to Help Avoid Traffic
(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.
Continue reading: 
At the recent 
INRIX and ALK Technologies, announced that INRIX will power real-time traffic data in ALK Technologies popular CoPilot® Live™ v8 GPS navigation app for Apple iPhone, Google Android and Windows phones in North America. CoPilot is one of the 
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