Evaluation of a cellular phone-based system for measurements of traffic speeds and travel times: A case study from Israel

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291 Scopus citations

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of a new operational system for measuring traffic speeds and travel times which is based on information from a cellular phone service provider. Cellular measurements are compared with those obtained by dual magnetic loop detectors. The comparison uses data for a busy 14 km freeway with 10 interchanges, in both directions, during January-March of 2005. The dataset contains 1 284 587 valid loop detector speed measurements and 440 331 valid measurements from the cellular system, each measurement referring to a 5 min interval. During one week in this period, 25 floating car measurements were conducted as additional comparison observations. The analyses include visual, graphical, and statistical techniques; focusing in particular on comparisons of speed patterns in the time-space domain. The main finding is that there is a good match between the two measurement methods, indicating that the cellular phone-based system can be useful for various practical applications such as advanced traveler information systems and evaluating system performance for modeling and planning.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)380-391
Number of pages12
JournalTransportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies
Volume15
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2007

Keywords

  • Cellular phones
  • Probe vehicles
  • Travel time measurement

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Civil and Structural Engineering
  • Automotive Engineering
  • Transportation
  • Computer Science Applications

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