Commercial Activities in Personalized Traveler Information

1. Commercial Activities in Personalized Traveler Information Bo Xu

2. Outline • Background • Internet-based Systems • GPS Navigation Systems • Potential ITA Contributions • Mobile P2P Databases: A Case Study

3. Background • 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.

4. Categorization of PTI Systems • Internet-based Trigger = Condition + Action 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

5. Categorization of PTI Systems (Cont’d) • 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

6. Internet-based Systems • Driving Oriented • 511, California Wireless Traffic Report, Sigalert, Traffic.Com, Illinois Traffic Alert System • Multi-modal • 511, TripIt, RTA, Metro

7. Driving Oriented 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.

8. 511@SF Bay Area Ride-share Matching • Customer Profile • Work address, home address • Work schedule • Ride/drive • Incentives • Tax benefits, gas cards • Guaranteed ride home • Free bridge tools • Carpool lanes

9. Multi-modal • TripIt • Integrate booked travel plans (flights, hotels, car rentals, trains, cruises) and fill the gaps in between • 511@SF Bay Area, RTA, Metro, Google Transit • Subway, train, bus, walk • Bus Tracker • Estimate bus arrival times and display bus locations

12. GPS Navigation Systems • Dash Express • TomTom • Garmin

13. GPS Probe Data Local & Commercial Fleets Long-Haul Fleets Taxis & Service Vehicles Toll Tags Road Sensor Data DOT Traffic Flow Inrix Other Dynamic Data Real-time & Forecast Weather Construction Alerts Sporting & Entertainment Events School Calendars Local & Regional Variables Fuel Prices 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 Dash TruTraffic Dash Express Dash Express Dash Express GPRS Service fee: $10/month including GPRS subscription

14. Dash Express (Cont’d) • 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

15. TomTom • Real-time traffic reports • Incidents, delay times, alternative routes proposed and if enabled automatic rerouting • Real-time warnings about dangerous road conditions ahead • Two delivery methods • GPRS connection, mobile phone required, $58 annual subscription excluding GPRS • FM TMC (Traffic Message Channel), $117 receiver required, $60 annual subscription

16. Garmin • 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.

17. Potential ITA Contributions • Current PTI systems lack trip execution • How to find, in real-time, ride/cab-share matches, parking slots, traffic condition one-mile ahead? • 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

18. Parking discovery Indoor navigation Ride sharing Ride sharing Indoor navigation Indoor navigation ITA Providing Throughout-trip Assistance Car navigation with real-time traffic information

19. resource 8 resource-query C resource-query A resource 1 resource 2 resource 3 resource-query B resource 4 resource 5 Mobile Peer-to-peer Databases: A Case Study Short-range wireless networks Wi-Fi (100-200 meters) Bluetooth (2-10, popular) DSRC Local query Local database Resources of interest in a limited geographic area possibly for short time duration

20. Some Research Issues • Query processing • How much to transmit at each P2P interaction? • Best utilization of bandwidth • What to transmit at each P2P interaction? • Ranking based on demand and supply • Exploiting infrastructure communication • Value of information, comparison with Client/Server • Participation incentives • Data integration of sensor and higher level information (maps, trip plans, ride-sharing profiles)

21. ITA Applications • Video of traffic one mile ahead of me • Cab-sharing

22. Planned Demo Scenario • 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 C D B A 1

23. Implementation Status PDA: HP IPAQ 910C • GPS receiver • Wireless connection WIFI (802.11), Bluetooth, • SMS, MMS • HSDPA (3G), 500K-800Kbps • Camera • Windows Mobile 6.0

24. Implementation Status • Tested with three PDA’s in a pedestrian multi-hop environment

25. Implementation Status (Cont’d) • 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

26. 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.