Tuesday, 12 April 2016

TomTom launches traffic portal with live traffic and travel information

TomTom (TOM2) has announced TomTom City – a new traffic portal that provides live traffic and travel information for consumers and traffic management experts.

The new service showcases the extensive range of traffic information available on a city by city basis and will provide a platform to connect traffic authorities, businesses and citizens to jointly manage sustainable and efficient mobility. TomTom City builds on the TomTom Traffic information available to TomTom navigation devices and licensing partners in automotive, consumer and government. It also extends the historical congestion information provided through reports such as the TomTom Traffic Index.

TomTom City is accessible from any Internet enabled computer, tablet or smartphone and provides freely accessible content showing live traffic status and incidents as well as other driver-based information in cities. This will enable users to check their journey routes first and plan the best route. The data is also accessible to traffic management experts, traffic issues can now be dealt with even more quickly.

Ralf-Peter Schäfer, Head of Traffic at TomTom, said: “TomTom City gives drivers and traffic managers essential insights into the real-time traffic situation and the historical bottlenecks in key cities. This is an important step in our mission to help reduce delays for all drivers. Using data from over 450 million devices* globally we are creating services that will help cities and connected cars work together to optimise the road network.”

Key features:

Real time traffic status updated every minute

Status indicators show the current average speed observed in the city compared to average speed when there is no congestion; a congestion barometer showing relative congestion compared to a free-flowing period; and a snapshot that shows the number of road closures, construction areas and accidents currently in the city. In addition, TomTom City also shows the traffic incidents on a map, and the traffic flow (speed) on a map.

Delay hotspots

TomTom City shows the top congestion bottlenecks recorded in the recent quarterly period.  The information is presented as a summary for ‘All Day’ and separately for morning and afternoon peak periods to reflect the periodic traffic conditions in cities.  Summary information is presented on a map view and each hotspot can be selected individually to see road segment delay details.

Event reporter

This new web-based tool will help road authorities and other professional operators to inform millions of road users in minutes about events that are affecting the road network and its traffic flows via the TomTom Traffic service.  With a few clicks a road authority can report road closures, road works, accidents and other disruptions that are affecting traffic in their local area, now, as well as those planned in the future.

Cities currently supported include Dubai (ARE), Istanbul (TUR), and Riyadh (SAU), with a total of 25 cities in 18 countries included in this initial launch. More cities in 18 countries will be introduced, and more products, throughout the year.

*Devices include dedicated portable navigation devices, connected smartphone applications, in-dash navigation and fleet management systems.