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Cross-Vendor and Cross-State Analysis of GPS Probe Data Latency

Journal Article · · Transportation Research Record
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Department of Civil &, Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, MD
  2. Center for Advanced Transportation Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
  3. Advanced Transportation and Urban Scientist, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, CO
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Crowd sourced GPS probe data have become a major source of real-time traffic information applications. In addition to traditional traveler advisory systems such as dynamic message signs (DMS) and 511 systems, probe data are being used for automatic incident detection, integrated corridor management (ICM), end of queue warning systems, and mobility-related smartphone applications. Several private sector vendors offer minute by minute network-wide travel time and speed probe data. The quality of such data in terms of deviation of the reported travel time and speeds from ground-truth has been extensively studied in recent years, and as a result concerns over the accuracy of probe data have mostly faded away. However, the latency of probe data - defined as the lag between the time at which disturbance in traffic speed is reported in the outsourced data feed, and the time at which the traffic is perturbed - has become a subject of interest. The extent of latency of probe data for real-time applications is critical, so it is important to have a good understanding of the amount of latency and its influencing factors. This paper uses high-quality independent Bluetooth/Wi-Fi re-identification data collected on multiple freeway segments in three different states, to measure the latency of the vehicle probe data provided by three major vendors. The statistical distribution of the latency and its sensitivity to speed slowdown and recovery periods are discussed.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1475135
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5400-72506
Journal Information:
Transportation Research Record, Vol. 2672, Issue 42; ISSN 0361-1981
Publisher:
National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (6)

Comparing INRIX speed data against concurrent loop detector stations over several months December 2014
Real-time urban traffic sensing with GPS equipped Probe Vehicles November 2012
Comparative Evaluation of Reported Speeds from Corresponding Fixed-Point and Probe-Based Detection Systems January 2012
Evaluation of floating car technologies for travel time estimation March 2012
Methodology for Calculating Latency of GPS Probe Data January 2017
X. On the criterion that a given system of deviations from the probable in the case of a correlated system of variables is such that it can be reasonably supposed to have arisen from random sampling July 1900

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33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
advanced traveler information systems
electronic data interchange
probes
travel time
variable message signs