Monday, October 17, 2005

Phone Tap: How's the Traffic? / Wired News, 15 Oct 2005

http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,69227,00.html?tw=rss.TOP
"Driving to work, you notice the traffic beginning to slow. And because you have your cell phone on, the government senses the delay, too. A congestion alert is issued, automatically updating electronic road signs and websites and dispatching text messages to mobile phones and auto dashboards.
In what would be the largest project of its kind, the Missouri Department of Transportation is finalizing a contract to monitor thousands of cell phones, using their movements to map real-time traffic conditions statewide on all 5,500 miles of major roads. It's just one of a number of initiatives to more intelligently manage traffic flow through wireless data collection. "