Kirkland, Wash. – September 26, 2006 – In an independent research study designed to evaluate the accuracy and coverage of real-time traffic data, Frost & Sullivan selected Inrix as the leading provider of real-time traffic information in the United States.
The “Real-Time Traffic Flow Ground Truth Testing Methodology Validation and Accuracy Measurement” study, published today by Frost & Sullivan, involved extensive analysis of Inrix and Traffic.com real-time traffic and speed information. The report compared the two leading traffic flow information providers in the areas of accuracy, nationwide coverage and road miles covered.
The report finds that while both Inrix and Traffic.com provide strong and comparable levels of accuracy in reporting travel times on the tested routes, Inrix real-time flow data covers significantly more roadways across the country, including 33% more metropolitan areas and three to seven times the miles of roadway coverage within each metropolitan area.
The results are a clear validation of Inrix’s unique approach to collecting traffic information. “Inrix’s Smart Dust Network provides a major advantage,” said Veerender Kaul, Program Manager at Frost & Sullivan. “Instead of primarily relying on static DOT and radar sensor networks, Inrix is uniquely aggregating real-time data from over 625,000 GPS-enabled commercial vehicles and combining it with data from multiple private and public sources. Inrix’s approach provides a scalable model enabling wide-spread road segment coverage of real-time speeds across the U.S.”
The study is particularly significant for automotive and portable navigation device manufacturers, Web portals, fleets, and government agencies, as the results provide validation that the quality of data produced by Inrix’s “Smart Dust Network” approach is equivalent to the sensor infrastructure-based approach currently in use by departments of transportation and Traffic.com. Inrix is the first company to successfully transform a large volume of anonymous, real-time GPS-equipped vehicle probe data into accurate traffic information on a nationwide scale.
As part of the study, a third party ground truth testing company drove key routes in three U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, PA; Washington D.C. and Providence, RI. Frost & Sullivan then compared the actual travel times from this ‘ground truth testing’ data with real-time speed and travel time data from Inrix and Traffic.com.
Although the two companies use very different methodologies for collecting traffic data, the ground truth testing analysis showed generally high accuracy (over 70 percent) for both Inrix and Traffic.com. In evaluating nearly 150 trials over 15 routes in the three cities, the average measured route travel time was within one minute of the actual travel time.
According to the study, Inrix came out significantly ahead of Traffic.com when considering total miles of road with traffic flow information in the three tested markets. Furthermore, Inrix’s “Smart Dust Network” approach enables the company to provide real-time traffic flow data in many more metropolitan areas across the U.S. than any other traffic information supplier.
“This study is an important benchmark for the automotive and portable navigation industries that rely on accurate information for their customers and partners,” said Inrix President and CEO Bryan Mistele. “The accuracy of real-time speed and traffic information, in addition to nationwide market coverage is a priority for Inrix.”
Additional study highlights:
- In the three U.S. markets tested in this study, which include Philadelphia (Traffic.com’s home market of proprietary road sensors), Inrix has road speed coverage of 3,450 miles compared to 600 miles of coverage by Traffic.com
- Overall, Inrix provides real-time traffic flow data in 43 metropolitan markets, compared to 29 for Traffic.com, when using standard Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSA)
- Inrix has coverage of 130 markets of real-time incident data, while Traffic.com had real-time incidents in only 50 markets
- Average errors for Inrix on drive times measured in the study were less than a minute across all the routes tested, with total accuracy measures above 70%
- In 2 of the 3 markets tested, Inrix scored higher than Traffic.com in absolute accuracy (mean error in minutes).
To receive a copy of Frost & Sullivan’s “Real-Time Traffic Flow Ground Truth Testing Methodology Validation and Accuracy Measurement” study, visit www.inrix.com.
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company’s industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics.
