Beyond Real Time: The Use of Floating Car Data as a Means of Overcoming the Limitations of Fixed Monitoring Technologies Continues to Proliferate

This article describes the current state of floating car data systems and describes some of the areas where they have potential to grow. Floating data uses a sample of vehicles that provides a proxy of traffic conditions. The key is how the source data is collected. It is usually done with Global Positioning System (GPS) or cell phone networks. Often GPS data is collected via taxis, because they are on the road for extended periods of time. Cell systems use mobile phones as sensors. As the car moves, so does the transmission from the mobile phone, permitting locations to be tracked via triangulation. While GPS data is accurate, the choice of vehicles to use is can affect results. Longer-term, cell data is considered more advantageous because of its potential for wider and more extensive and more representative coverage. A sidebar provides an inventory of European floating cell phone projects.