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How fast does traffic flow on Britain ’s roads, and how much of it is there at any given point? The latest digital maps from MapMechanics with traffic speeds and volumes draw on twice as much source data as previous versions, and the information is therefore even more reliable and statistically robust.
Digital mapping with ITIS traffic speed and volume data is a unique resource from MapMechanics, and is now used widely in public and private-sector planning and geographic analysis. It uses data gathered by ITIS, the leading UK traffic information specialist, which is cross-referenced by MapMechanics with digital mapping from developers such as NAVTEQ to provide information on average speeds and traffic volumes on every segment of road in Britain.
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The source data is gathered by ITIS in real time from large fleet of cars, trucks and buses in daily use throughout the country. Now MapMechanics has developed a new process for integrating the most recent speed and location plots with previous records, creating a much larger composite pool of data. This means the latest digital mapping with road speeds and traffic volumes uses 2 billion plots.
“Because we have so much more source data, we have been able to refine the granularity of the product,” says MapMechanics’ commercial director, Chris Greenwood.
“Even GPS, which is used to plot vehicle locations, is not one hundred per cent accurate, so vehicle location is always subject to a margin of error. But with the additional data, there is much less risk of problems such as ‘cross-talk’, where the system has to allocate a plot to one of two adjacent roads. The result is data with more ‘fineness’ and statistical robustness.”
Mapping with road speeds and traffic volumes is becoming increasingly popular in a wide variety of applications, from resource and capacity management by local government and highway authorities to commercial and retail planning. Using real live road speeds can give greater accuracy to drivetime calculations, catchment analysis and vehicle routing and scheduling, and using traffic volumes can help planners assess the potential for passing trade or the possible appeal of proposed new facilities.
Mapping with traffic speed and traffic volume data is offered by MapMechanics on roads or at detailed street level, and is available in two versions. The standard GB Speeds product provides average off-peak figures, while the GB Speeds Plus version also includes peak-time and night-time figures. Specific HGV speeds are also available.
Traffic volumes are expressed in terms of an index of 1 to 16, and are calculated by MapMechanics by means of spatial aggregation.
As standard, GB Speeds data is supplied with NAVTEQ road or street-level mapping, but is also available with AA road mapping, and on special request can be adapted to use with other map datasets.
“In fact, by calculating average road speeds per road class at postcode sector level, we now have the ability to translate the road speed data more easily into other map datasets,” Chris Greenwood says.
At a technical level, the task of allocating 2 billion position plots to individual road segments was a significant undertaking, and took MapMechanics many weeks, even with the use of advanced workstations. “But we’ve learned a lot in the process,” says Chris Greenwood , “which means in future the task will be faster.”
MapMechanics now plans to update its GB Speeds datasets annually, bringing further improvements in granularity and robustness with every upgrade. |
