What is the software concept behind traffic maps?

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A simple question: what is the name of concept that, for example, Google Maps and Waze use to discover and indicate traffic jam? Is that from users information or something with satellite signals?

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Glodenox On BEST ANSWER

There are usually various sources involved and it all depends on which product you're looking at. I might miss a source or two, but these are probably the most important ones:

  • Location data from mobile phones in the background: Google has its location services in Android that show Google where you are every once in a while. If several people are moving slowly while on a road, it's very likely they are in a traffic jam.

  • Location data actively shared via mobile phones: Waze is very open about doing this, for example. Whenever you have Waze open, your location is sent to their servers and if several people are slowing down at a certain location, the system assumes there is a traffic jam at that point.

  • Location data from service providers: many service providers give out aggregated detailed information on where their users are located. This data can be used to estimate how many people are at a manifestation, for example, but also to figure out where traffic is slowing down.

  • TMC (Traffic Message Channel) via radio: a digital layer (RDS) within the radio signal makes it possible for a traffic management agency to send out alerts for traffic jams, accidents, dangerous weather and so on. This is usually the only source used by built-in navigation systems.

  • Traffic data from road-side equipment: many countries have a monitoring system for their road network that allows them to see how many vehicles are passing at a certain point and at what speed. This data is sometimes shared by the government with other companies.

Usually the best solution is to use a combination of these sources. Navigation systems usually can't rely on just mobile phone data as they'd need a widespread use before it is possible to detect most traffic jams. Some sources require a lot of fine-tuning and complex algorithms to remove the noise in the data.