NokiaNokia, UC Researchers capture Real-time Traffic Info using N95 Handset

Nokia, UC Researchers capture Real-time Traffic Info using N95 Handset

Nokia, UC Logos, and GPS N95 Handset

Finnish phone maker Nokia has joined hands with UC Berkeley researchers to test the efficacy of its GPS-enabled Nokia N95 phone on transforming the way drivers navigate through congested roads and obtaining information on road conditions.

Around a hundred cars equipped with the N95 were part of this test and were driven by the UC students themselves along a 10-mile stretch of highway near San Francisco. The test aimed to show how real-time traffic information can be collected from the GPS feed, while preserving the privacy of the devices’ owners.

The software aggregating the GPS feeds immediately disassociates that data from an individual device and combines it with the general system of traffic data. To protect the drivers’ privacy, all data submitted is anonymous when aggregated and is protected by banking-grade encryption technology.

According to Quinn Jacobson, Research Leader at Nokia research Center, Palo Alto, “Mobile device users control eth service. If an individual does not want their device to transmit position data, they turn off the feed from their GPS.”

“There are mobile device-based systems out there that can collect data in a variety of ways, such as measuring signal strength from towers and triangulating position, but to our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of this scale using GPS-enabled mobile devices to provide traffic related data such as travel times, and with a deliberate focus on critical deployment factors like bandwidth costs and personal privacy issues,” explained Director Thomas West, director, UC Berkeley’s California Center for Innovative Transportation.

Jacobson also added that integration of traffic information with functions like calendar and online timetables mean that one day the mobile device could perhaps act as a personal travel planner.

Further, the UC researcher believe that less than 5% of drivers need to contribute location data for the system to actually be effective on any road.

This project between Nokia and the researchers at the University of California has been supported by a $186,000 grant from Caltrans.

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