Commercial Activities in
Personalized Traveler
Information
Bo Xu
Outline
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Background
Internet-based Systems
GPS Navigation Systems
Potential ITA Contributions
Mobile P2P Databases: A Case Study
July 12, 2016
2
Background
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Personalized traveler information (PTI)
system
– A system in which travelers receive information
that is specific to their trips.

14 surveyed PTI systems:
– 511, California Wireless Traffic Report, Sigalert,
Traffic.Com, Illinois Traffic Alert System, TripIt,
RTA, Bus Tracker, Metro, Google Transit, Dash
Express, TomTom, Garmin.
July 12, 2016
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Categorization of PTI
Systems
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Internet-based
Trigger = Condition + Action
Traveler
PTI System
alert
• Traveler registers a trigger to the PTI system (a web site)
and gets an alert when the trigger is fired.
• Typically, the condition of the trigger is the occurrence of an
incident or congestion on the route or match of ride-share
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Categorization of PTI
Systems (Cont’d)
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GPS-navigation Systems
– The real-time traffic condition is displayed
along the travel route
– The real-time traffic condition is used for
route planning and re-routing
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Internet-based Systems
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Driving Oriented
– 511, California Wireless Traffic Report,
Sigalert, Traffic.Com, Illinois Traffic Alert
System
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Multi-modal
– 511, TripIt, RTA, Metro
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Driving Oriented
System
Route Specification
Trigger Condition
Alert
Deliver
Method
Traveler Cost
Other Features
Coverage
511@
SF Bay
Area
Origin + destination where
origin or destination is
specified by a city and a
highway ramp
1. When driving time increases by x%.
2. At a fixed time point daily
Email,
SMS
Cellular
communication for
receiving alerts
Ride-share matching
San Francisco
bay area
CWTR
A section of a highway
defined by on-ramp and offramp
1. When traffic condition worsens by
x%.
2. At a fixed time point daily
Email,
SMS
Cellular
communication for
receiving alerts
Best time to commute
(Plot driving time as a
function of time for
each weekday)
San Diego, Los
Angeles &
Orange County,
Bay area
Traffic.
com
Origin + destination where
origin or destination is
specified by addresses (only
major roads are recorded)
1. When the Jam Factor exceeds x
where x ranges from 0 to 10, with 10
being the worst traffic condition.
2. At a fixed time point daily
Email,
phone call
Cellular
communication for
receiving alerts
USA
ITAS
A section of a highway
defined by on-ramp and offramp
1. Send alerts periodically with the
frequency configurable.
2. When speed is below a threshold.
Alert information includes travel times,
congestion, constructions, incidents.
Email
Cellular
communication for
receiving alerts
Chicago area
Sigale
rt
Origin + destination where
origin or destination is
specified by a city and a
highway ramp
1. For each highway section, specify a
speed below which an alert is sent
2. When an accident occurs on the
route.
Email,
SMS
1. $2.95/month service
fee
2. Cellular
communication for
receiving alerts
California
511 is designated by FCC as the national travel information number. 43 states/regions have deployed 511 systems as of May 1, 2008. 511@SF Bay Area is one of these systems.
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511@SF Bay Area Rideshare Matching
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Customer Profile
– Work address, home address
– Work schedule
– Ride/drive
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Incentives
–
–
–
–
Tax benefits, gas cards
Guaranteed ride home
Free bridge tools
Carpool lanes
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Multi-modal
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TripIt
– Integrate booked travel plans (flights, hotels, car
rentals, trains, cruises) and fill the gaps in
between
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511@SF Bay Area, RTA, Metro, Google
Transit
– Subway, train, bus, walk
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Bus Tracker
– Estimate bus arrival times and display bus
locations
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GPS Navigation Systems
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Dash Express
TomTom
Garmin
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Dash Express
GPS Probe Data
Local & Commercial Fleets
Long-Haul Fleets
Taxis & Service Vehicles
Toll Tags
Historical Speeds
National average speeds by
road segment for any day of the
week and hour of the day
National “free-flow” reference
speed by road segment of time
of expected traffic condition
Inrix
Other Dynamic Data
Real-time & Forecast Weather
Construction Alerts
Sporting & Entertainment Events
School Calendars
Local & Regional Variables
Fuel Prices
Road Sensor Data
DOT Traffic Flow
Dash
TruTraffic
Dash Express
July 12, 2016
Dash Express
Service fee: $10/month including GPRS subscription
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Dash Express (Cont’d)
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Two-way connectivity
– Send2Car: send address to device
– Connect to Yahoo! Local search
– DashApps: provides API’s for third parties
to develop applications that can be added
to devices
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TomTom
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Real-time traffic reports
– Incidents, delay times, alternative routes
proposed and if enabled automatic rerouting
– Real-time warnings about dangerous road
conditions ahead
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Two delivery methods
– GPRS connection, mobile phone required, $58
annual subscription excluding GPRS
– FM TMC (Traffic Message Channel), $117
receiver required, $60 annual subscription
July 12, 2016
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Garmin
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MSN Direct: Traffic incidents, traffic
speeds, weather, gas prices, movie
times, local events, news, stock
quotes. FM radio. $119 receiver.
FM TMC Traffic: $214 receiver + $60
annual fee.
XM NavTraffic (satellite TMC): $200
receiver required, $10/month fee.
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Potential ITA
Contributions
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Current PTI systems lack trip execution
– How to find, in real-time, ride/cab-share
matches, parking slots, traffic condition one-mile
ahead?
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GPS navigation systems do not provide
indoor navigation
– How to get to a car pick-up stop in an airport
terminal
– How to get to a platform in a train station
– Indoor positioning technology available
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ITA Providing Throughouttrip Assistance
Car navigation with
real-time traffic information
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Mobile Peer-to-peer
Databases: A Case Study
resource 8
resource-query C
Local query
Local database
resource-query A
resource 1
resource 2
resource 3
Short-range wireless networks
Wi-Fi (100-200 meters)
Bluetooth (2-10, popular)
DSRC
resource-query B
resource 4
resource 5
Resources of interest
in a limited geographic area
possibly for short time duration
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Some Research Issues
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Query processing
– How much to transmit at each P2P interaction?
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Best utilization of bandwidth
– What to transmit at each P2P interaction?
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Ranking based on demand and supply
– Exploiting infrastructure communication
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Value of information, comparison with Client/Server
Participation incentives
Data integration of sensor and higher level
information (maps, trip plans, ride-sharing profiles)
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ITA Applications
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Video of traffic one mile ahead of me
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Cab-sharing
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Planned Demo Scenario
1.
2.
3.
Match discovered at C via P2P.
C informs A with D’s IP via backchannel.
A sends video to D via backchannel.
3
Query:
Video clip one mile
ahead taken within 5
minutes
2
B
A
July 12, 2016
C
D
1
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Implementation Status
PDA: HP IPAQ 910C
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GPS receiver
Wireless connection WIFI (802.11),
Bluetooth,
SMS, MMS
HSDPA (3G), 500K-800Kbps
Camera
Windows Mobile 6.0
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Implementation Status
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Tested with three PDA’s in a pedestrian
multi-hop environment
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Implementation Status
(Cont’d)
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Video clip of real traffic
It takes about 10
seconds to transfer this
video clip via
backchannel
Next step: experiments
with a fleet of vehicles
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Discussion

Seek a critical evaluation of the two
proposed ITA applications, e.g.:
– are they useful?
– possible stumbling blocks in implementation?
– possible stumbling blocks in deployment?

Seek 2-3 additional applications that:
–
–
–
–
demonstrate our existing research,
are easy to build,
go beyond the current state of the art,
will add value to the travel experience.
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