An Analysis of the Cost Efficiency of Probe Vehicle Data at Different Transmission Frequencies

Probe vehicles are promising tools for collecting travel time data because of their ability to provide large amounts of real-time information. However, there are many obstacles to the practical deployment of probe vehicles, one of which is the enormous expense of data transmission. This study attempts to assess the effects of differing transmission intervals (and therefore costs) on the quality of travel time data collected. Two accuracy/error values are examined: map-matching accuracy and the mean absolute percent error (MAPE) of link travel information. In order to determine the most cost-effective probe transmission frequency, the accuracy elasticity of cost is compared for six different ratios of data transmission charge to total communication cost.