The Real-time Traffic Information Ecosystem Is Becoming Increasingly Competitive

• Posted: Thursday, July 10, 2008
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Miscellaneous

As real-time traffic continues to attract attention as one of the most important enhancements for navigation systems, increasing numbers of vendors are getting involved in the collection and/or aggregation of real-time, predictive and historical traffic information.

“One important trend has seen major navigation vendors moving into strategic positions in the traffic information delivery chain, “says ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte. “It is clear that they are no longer happy to simply purchase traffic information from aggregators but prefer to be more deeply involved in traffic as a business in its own right. This is creating a highly competitive traffic information ecosystem, especially in Europe.”

TomTom’s High Definition Traffic is based on direct agreements with carriers across Europe for the collection of granular real-time traffic and speed profile data allowing exceptional coverage and rerouting capabilities. For US-based Dash, the collection of real-time traffic based on probe data from its customers is at the heart of its navigation proposition. Nokia has taken a more cautious approach, entering into a direct partnership with ARC Transistance, the European network of automobile clubs, to provide users of the Nokia Maps application with premium traffic information in the future.

At the same time traditional traffic aggregators such as INRIX have also been very active, expanding operations into Europe and multiplying the number of partnerships with traffic providers to continuously increase the coverage, the quality of its traffic information and the accuracy of routes through its recently announced Total Fusion product and advanced routing engine as part of its Connected Services platform. NAVTEQ/Traffic.com launched its Enhanced Traffic Patterns historical traffic database allowing developers to design smarter routing applications.

Smaller players are entering the traffic ecosystem as well, including Journey Dynamics, ITIS, TrafficCast, Airsage and its partner Logica, and Cellint. Rising fuel costs and new tax-based carbon emissions legislation are expected to attract more players to this market, as it is anticipated that traffic information will be increasingly considered by many drivers as a major cost saving feature. [ABI Research]

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