TomTom, the world’s leading provider of location and navigation solutions, launched two new traffic solutions designed to help government agencies better manage traffic flows and to enable them to provide better traffic information to the public.
HD Flow and HD Route Times are based on TomTom’s High Definition Traffic™ technology, an advanced service for TomTom end users that delivers up-to-the-minute, detailed incident reports about the length and reason for delays, the most accurate delay information, travel and arrival times and alternative route proposals.
“TomTom is the authority in traffic information with a strong history of providing up-to-date and accurate traffic information to consumers”, said Anne van Houwelingen, Senior Vice President of Mobility Solutions at TomTom. “These two new solutions build on our expertise and are ideal for systems designed to provide travel times on alternative routes for optimal routing and traffic flow efficiency during road work. In addition, government institutions and road construction and mobility managers can leverage the precise real-time information to gain better control of their road networks and keep drivers fully informed along the way on a day-to-day basis.”
HD Flow
HD Flow delivers a real-time, highly detailed view of how all traffic is flowing on the road network delivered in European standards including DATEX2/TMC/XML to ensure easy integration into existing systems. Governments can integrate this real-time flow information into their traffic control centres to better monitor road network traffic and see the effects of traffic management directly on all motorways and secondary roads.
HD Route Times
HD Route Times is a turnkey solution providing precise, real-time travel and delay times for all possible routes, giving governments the dynamic information needed to update variable messaging signs (VMS) along key routes. As the data is updated every minute, drivers are provided with insight into which route is fastest at any given moment and can help drivers select the faster routes, which in turn optimises traffic flow.
Both HD Flow and HD Route Times combine information from GSM and GPS devices and use a unique fusion technique to deliver much more precise travel time information than previously available through alternate methods. Real-time speeds are provided on all motorways and secondary roads, giving the most accurate view of the traffic situation across the entire road network. Both products are quick and cost efficient to implement. As they do not require additional infrastructure or hardware installations, they do not cause subsequent road closures that could disrupt traffic flow and they are environmentally friendly.
HD Flow and HD Route Times are now available for government entities with initial coverage available for Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland for all motorways and secondary roads. Coverage for additional countries is scheduled to be added in the course of 2010. Cross border traffic information is also included in the offerings.
How TomTom HD Products are Developed
HD Traffic, HD Flow and HD Route Times contain up-to-the-minute information from multiple data sources, including anonymous GPS measurements from connected personal navigation devices, connected fleet GPS devices and mobile phone signals, road sensors and journalistic data. Using proprietary and tested methods, TomTom dynamically merges this information and makes it available in real time to industry customers in the personal navigation, cell phone, fleet management, government and in-vehicle markets. HD Solutions can be incorporated into navigation solution or routing tools to help drivers be automatically rerouted around jams and potentially save time and money, minimize environmental impact, and enjoy a significantly improved navigation experience.
