GPS mobiles are ideal traffic sensors.
It requires a huge infrastructure to monitor and predict traffic behavior, but a new technology developed by Alexandre M. Bayen, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley hopes of alleviate this problem and that too in real-time. With the amount of individuals who posses GPS enabled phones its easy to pinpoint vehicle movement in and around the city. A test Using GPS Mobile Phones as Traffic Sensors is in progress: 100 vehicles carrying a GPS-equipped Nokia N95 cell phone will drive along a 10-mile stretch of I-880 between Hayward and Fremont, California. This test will show scientists a real-time representation of about 5% of the traffic behavior, while helping city planners & traffic police optimize traffic flow.
Now that's what we called connecting people in more ways than just voice.
