Mobile Phones Used to Track Road Traffic Congestion

This summer, LogicaCMG is introducing an innovative service package for traffic information customers. Under the name of Mobile Traffic Services (MTS), based on information from the existing GSM network, the ICT service provider will be supplying traffic information about national, provincial and municipal roads. Information can be gathered via MTS on the entire road network without needing to set up any new, expensive, logistically awkward infrastructure. The province of North Brabant in the Netherlands is the first customer for the new service.

The requirements of the government (as road operator) and the motorist in the area of traffic information have increased dramatically in recent years. Traffic information from approach road to exit is no longer enough. Road operators and users are demanding more and more information on the situation on roads during a trip from door to door. Traffic detection has therefore also become necessary on provincial and municipal roads. The current loop detection only generates indirect information concerning travelling time on national motorways. In view of the close concentration of loops needed, this method would entail extremely high costs for the other provincial and municipal roads.

It was this situation that prompted LogicaCMG to develop Mobile Traffic Services. The innovative basis of MTS is the use of the mobile telephone network, in cooperation with Scottish partner, Applied Generics, and the telecom company, Vodafone. The MTS traffic information is calculated using data drawn anonymously from the GSM network. Innovative use of the characteristics of the GSM network provides - through coded data - insight into the movement of mobile telephones on the road network, on the basis of which travelling times and speeds are calculated. Passive monitoring of the mobile network provides anonymous information without involving individual mobile telephones. With extra hardware and software the mobile network has to be adjusted slightly to make data available.

With MTS, LogicaCMG is providing traffic information that generates historical and/or real time traffic information in a large area. As MTS is being offered as a service in the form of a subscription, there is no need for the customer to set up any additional management organisation and there are no extra costs, unlike the current gathering of traffic information. LogicaCMG takes over the responsibility of traffic detection from the customer and provides the information in the requested form so it can be immediately deployed in the operational process.

LogicaCMG will be providing the first services in part of the province of North Brabant. Initially, the province will be purchasing historical information. This information consists of speed images for national, provincial and municipal roads and travelling times for certain stretches of these roads. An extensive measurement programme will also be carried out to establish the quality of the information in various different traffic conditions.

LogicaCMG is catering to the trend towards outsourcing, where organisations contract out those tasks that are not part of their core activities. Road operators purchasing MTS information, like the province of North Brabant, can therefore concentrate fully on their core activities, such as preparing and actually implementing measures for Dynamic Traffic Management (DTM).

Based on up-to-the-minute data on the traffic situation, this enables the province of North Brabant to inform the traveller/motorist regarding the traffic situation, recommend alternative routes or apply measures for leading the traffic over the road network more efficiently. Until now, gathering information for DTM has only been possible when road operators invested in, maintained and managed the systems themselves.

For the time being, the province of North Brabant will be using MTS up until mid 2004, after which they will decide on whether to continue with the service, based on experience. Should it prove successful, LogicaCMG will be offering the service nationally, not only to the government, but also for traffic information services for motorists and the business sector. LogicaCMG's MTS pilot in the province of North Brabant is being made possible partly with subsidy by the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management's Intermezzo project."

Posted to the site on 20th June 2003