Nokia and UC Berkeley Capture Real-Time Traffic Information Using GPS Enabled Mobile...

Nokia and UC Berkeley Capture Real-Time Traffic Information Using GPS Enabled
Mobile Devices
Live Experiment on the California Highway Showcases a Solution to a Global
Problem

PALO ALTO and BERKELEY, California, February 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and UC Berkeley researchers today tested technology that
could soon transform the way drivers navigate through congested highways and
obtain information about road conditions. One hundred cars equipped with the
GPS-enabled Nokia N95, and driven by students from the University of
California, traveled a 10-mile stretch of highway near San Francisco to show
how real-time traffic information can be collected from the GPS feed, while
preserving the privacy of the devices' owners.
    The experiment was carried out to test the traffic data collection and
aggregation system, while studying the trade-offs between data accuracy,
personal privacy, and data collection costs. The software aggregating the GPS
feeds immediately disassociates that data from an individual device and
combines it with the general stream of traffic data. To protect privacy, all
data is anonymous and aggregated, and protected by banking-grade encryption
    During the experiment, special software on the mobile devices
periodically sent anonymous speed and location readings from the integrated
GPS to servers. The feeds were then combined to create a real-time picture of
traffic speeds and projected travel times.
    "Mobile device users control the service. If an individual does not want
their device to transmit position data they turn off the feed from their
GPS," stated Quinn Jacobson, Research Leader at Nokia Research Center, Palo
Alto.
    "Nokia is very excited at the potential for this system to revolutionize
travel planning, carrying on from the Nokia Maps navigation service available
today on certain Nokia devices," continued Jacobson. "Integration of traffic
information with functions such as calendar and online timetables may one day
mean the mobile device can act as personal travel planner."
    "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," said Director
Thomas West, director, UC Berkeley's California Center for Innovative
Transportation.
    The researchers believe that fewer than 5% of drivers need to contribute
location data for the system to be effective on any particular highway.
    For state transportation agencies such as The California Department of
Transport (Caltrans), tapping into the vast network of mobile phones on the
road could one day remove the need to invest in expensive infrastructure to
obtain traffic information as well as greatly expanding the coverage of such
services.
    In the USA alone congestion causes 4.2 billion hours extra travel every
year and the purchase of extra 2.9 billion gallons of fuel for a congestion
cost of USD 78 billion(1). With the number of vehicles on the road increasing
rapidly around the world a cost-effective method of travel planning could
help drivers make smarter decisions about which routes to take, the
researchers say.
    The project brings together research teams from the Nokia Research Center
(NRC) in Palo Alto and from UC Berkeley, interacting through UC Berkeley's
California Center for Innovative Transportation (CCIT). These teams are
developing the algorithms, software and architecture of this GPS-based
traffic monitoring system.
    The project is supported by a USD 186,000 grant from Caltrans. Additional
support comes from the National Science Foundation, Nokia, Tekes, Rutgers
University's WINLAB, the University of California Transportation Center and
the Volvo Center of Excellence for Future Urban Transport at UC Berkeley's
Institute of Transportation Studies.
    (1) 2007 Urban Mobility Report, September 2007, Texas Transportation
Institute, David Schrank & Tim Lomax
    About Nokia Research Center
    Nokia Research Center (NRC) looks beyond Nokia's existing business and
product development to challenge current strategies and to stimulate renewal
in the company's direction. Working closely with all Nokia business units,
NRC's research explores new frontiers in digital services, physical-digital
connections, human interaction, data and content technologies, device
architecture, and access and connectivity. NRC promotes open innovation by
working on research projects in collaboration with universities and research
institutes around the world. For more information, see our website:
research.nokia.com.
    About Nokia
    Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and
growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. Nokia makes
a wide range of mobile devices and provides people with experiences in music,
navigation, video, television, imaging, games and business. Nokia also
provides equipment, solutions and services for communications networks.
www.nokia.com
SOURCE  Nokia Corporation

Media Enquiries: Nokia, Communications, Tel. +358-7180-34900, Email:
press.services@nokia.com; Nokia, Americas, Communications, Tel.
+1-972-894-4573 , Email: communication.corp@nokia.com; UC Berkeley,
Communications, Tel: +1-510-643-7741, Email: scyang@berkeley.edu