Traveler Information Applications: How Can VII Improve the Quality of Travel?
TRB Session 644: Using VII Data, Part 1Ben McKeever, US DOT, ITS Joint Program OfficeJanuary 16, 2008
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The Critical Need for VII
In 2006 for the United States:
• 2.6 million traffic crashes
• 42,000 fatalities
• 4.2 billion hours of travel delay
• 2.9 billion gallons of wasted fuel
• $80 billion cost of urban congestion
Texas Transportation Institute, 2007
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Agenda
• Current state of traveler information• What VII provides and enables• Current VII activities related to traveler information• Conclusion/next steps
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Traveler Information Today – The Good
• Public sector progress– 511 widely deployed– 38% of freeway miles have
detection (USDOT, 2006)– 56% of fixed route buses with
AVL (USDOT, 2006)• Private sector progress
– New technologies for collection and dissemination
– Real time traffic and navigation more prominent
– Consumer interest is growing and prices are dropping
• Public-Private Partnerships are emerging
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Traveler Information Today – The Bad
• Most metro areas still lacking quality traffic data
• High O&M costs effect reliability of public sector data – As a result, data is not trusted – Inadequate funding for O&M
• Real time data on arterials is almost non-existent
• New technologies are slow to be deployed
• Limited data/applications for other modes (e.g. transit, parking)
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VII Can Revolutionize Traveler Information
• Complete network visibility (all roads, all modes)
• Data Collection – low latency/real time– high granularity and
reliability• Data Dissemination
– Brings data into the vehicle– Can impact driver behavior
en-route– Can optimize network
performance
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Types of Data VII Can Provide
• Anonymous “probe” messages from vehicle to infrastructure– Location, heading, speed, stop events,
hard breaking events, weather conditions, vehicle diagnostics
– 2-5% penetration rate needed for accurate data
– Transit vehicles• VII Advisory messages from
infrastructure to vehicles– En-route alerts, travel times, dynamic
routing, hazard warnings (e.g. icy road), parking info, transit arrival times or delays
Weather Sensing
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Types of Applications VII Can Enable
• Pre trip planning/routing for all modes
• En-route routing around incidents• Transit arrival times, advisories and
connection information• “Killer Apps” from the private sector
– Off-board navigation using real time data on all roads
– Door-to-door driving times– Real time map updates – Parking availability/reservations
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Current VII Activities for Traveler Information
• Michigan Development and Test Environment (DTE) and Data Use Analysis and Processing (DUAP)
• VII California Testbed• New York ITS World Congress VII Demonstration
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Michigan DTE and DUAP
• Michigan DTE supports testing of public and private sector traveler information applications
• DUAP project demonstrates public sector uses of VII data – Incident detection– Travel advisories– Road and weather conditions– Winter maintenance– Asset management
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VII California Testbed
• Leverages real world existing ITS for VII demonstrations– Integration of existing data sources with
VII probe data– Complimentary uses of existing 511
system and VII– VII tolling applications
• Congestion Initiative project will demonstrate additional VII applications– Dynamic pricing– Parking Information– Transit information to buses (tentative)
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New York ITS World Congress Demonstration and After
• Demonstrate numerous VII applications (including probe data collection, travel advisories, travel times, tolling, etc.) in Manhattan and Long Island
• Support for subsequent development of congestion-mitigation and road pricing related applications (post-World Congress)
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Conclusion
• Current Traveler Information Systems are not adequately addressing the need for accurate, real time data on all roads and all modes
• VII provides a wealth of data that could revolutionize the traveler information industry
• VII enables numerous traveler information applications not currently available or mature– Dynamic routing around incidents in real time– Off-board navigation based on real time traffic conditions – Door-to-door driving times with best alternative– Multi-modal traveler information (transit arrival times and delays,
parking availability/reservations)
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Next Steps
• SafeTrip-21 and ITS World Congress Demonstration in 2008• Monitor results of POC testing of traveler information
applications• Look for pre-VII early winners (e.g. I-95 Corridor Coalition
probe data project)• Leverage Congestion Initiative projects in New York and San
Francisco• Monitor cutting edge technology for VII and Traveler
Information