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TrafficMaster Information

4 Billion and counting

…Or to be more specific 4,243,452,710! That’s the number of TrafficMaster records that HFAS currently hold covering data to August 2014.

The TrafficMaster database holds data collected from in-vehicle GPS tracking devices. This data can be used to derive average speed, journey times, journey time variability, journey time reliability and a range of other useful statistics that help measure the performance of anything from an individual street to a whole network or roads.

For example, the TrafficMaster database tells us that the average speed on the M60 during February 2011 was 56 mph.

So how does it work? Each record in the database was generated using the GPS location reports collected from vehicles that have a TrafficMaster enabled GPS device. These GPS reports are mapped to the Ordnance Surveys Integrated Transport Network (ITN) and then used to reconstruct the routes taken by the vehicles as they move through the road network. These reconstructed journeys, combined the time stamp on the associated GPS location reports, allow an estimate to be made of the time taken by these vehicles to traverse each ITN link.

TrafficMaster data is supplied to HFAS by the Department for Transport. The original purpose for the data was to measure congestion on 15 Congestion Performance Routes as part of Greater Manchester’s Local Travel Plan 2 (LTP2). However almost immediately the potential of the data was realised and the database was being put to a number of other uses.

These uses range from road safety applications such as identifying areas where either average speed or a substantial proportion of drivers significantly exceed the speed limit, to supporting improvements to the network by identifying routes where journey times are most variable or where congestion is most severe resulting in an economic cost to freight carriers, commuters and of course public transport providers.

Although the database has now reached its 2 Billionth record, we are still finding new applications for the TrafficMaster database. Additionally, the introduction of flow data to the database has added a new dimension to the data, opening up exciting new avenues for analysis and new opportunities for support improvements to the Greater Manchester’s road network.

If you would like to know more about TrafficMaster please contact Elwyn Ellis on 0161 244 1791.


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