GPS MOBILE PROBES: A FIELD EXPERIMENT
February 8, 2008 / 9:30am – 6:30pm
Objectives at a glance:
A field experiment to collect
traffic data from GPS‐
enabled cell‐phones
Provides a proof of concept
for traffic‐flow
Collecting Traffic Data from Mobile Probes
reconstruction from probe The potential of cell phones thousands of miles of
cellular phones without GPS
vehicle measurements to operate as traffic data highways and urban in less than 18 months. The
collection devices has been arterials for which sensors prospect of large numbers
considered by the are not even considered an of GPS‐equipped cell
Intelligent Transportation option. Available methods phones reporting position
Systems (ITS) community to collect data from cell and speed with 10 meter /
for several years. phones rely on approximate 3 mph accuracy at regular
Government agencies positioning provided by the intervals represents a huge
currently deploy networks cellular networks and have leap forward. Yet its
of traffic sensors that are shown limited accuracy to implementation requires
expensive to install and date. However, GPS chips addressing key questions
maintain. Leveraging are now built into more and regarding individual
commercial cellular more handsets and they privacy, data ownership,
networks could drastically will soon become as network load, and proper
cut the ongoing costs of ubiquitous as cell phone traffic flow estimation
traffic monitoring and cameras. For instance, techniques.
expand coverage to Nokia will stop producing
The Experiment
Under the umbrella of the California. Given their privacy concerns. The
California Center for number, those vehicles will experiment will thus
Innovative Transportation constitute up to 5% of the underline the value‐added
(CCIT), Caltrans, Nokia, and traffic traveling along this available from cellular
UC Berkeley’s Department of section, a penetration rate phones, which could rapidly
Civil and Environmental that adequately represents complement existing traffic
The experiment will test a Engineering are collaborating the potential of the market sensors. This work will
novel traffic monitoring to conduct an for GPS‐equipped cell phones ultimately guide the design
system designed to collect unprecedented experiment in the near future. The data and sharing modalities of
velocity and position data in the area of traffic obtained in the experiment future traffic information
from GPS‐enabled Nokia N95 monitoring. For an entire will be processed by a team collection systems that can
cellular phones. day, 100 vehicles carrying of UC researchers led by be operated by the private
the GPS‐equipped Nokia N95 Professor Alex Bayen to sector and offer substantial
will drive along a 10‐mile determine the trade‐offs benefits to government
stretch of I‐880 between between data volumes, agencies and the traveling
Hayward and Fremont, information quality and public.
CALIFORNIA CENTER FOR INNOVATIVE TRANSPORTATION
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY ∙ 2105 BANCROFT WAY, SUITE 300 ∙ BERKELEY, CA 94720‐3830
PHONE: (510) 642‐4522 ∙ FAX: (510) 642‐0910 ∙ HTTP://WWW.CALCCIT.ORG
2 GPS MOBILE PROBES: A FIELD EXPERIMENT
Logistics
The experiment will take proximity to UC Berkeley. measurements from the cell
place on Friday, February 8, There are a number of phones will be sent
2008, from 9:30am until conveniences available along wirelessly to a server for
6:30pm. 150 hired UC the section, including access real‐time processing.
students will drive 100 to parking, gasoline, and Cameras located on bridges
vehicles in a loop along I‐880 food. Drivers will be taking 1‐ at both ends of the loop will
between Winton Ave. to the hour breaks throughout the be used to record the actual
North and Stevenson Blvd. to day. The driving pattern will travel times of all vehicles,
the South. This 10‐mile‐long ensure a penetration of 4‐5% including those not
section was selected for its of the total flow. Each participating in the
traffic properties, the vehicle will carry a Nokia N95 experiment, which will
availability of an existing phone, which will store provide a ‘ground truth’
knowledge base for this speed and position reference that can later be
100 vehicles carrying the particular highway from information every 3 seconds. compared with the estimates
GPS‐equipped Nokia N95 traffic simulations, and for its At the same time, the produced from the GPS data.
will drive along a 10‐mile
stretch of I‐880 between
Hayward and Fremont,
California. Capturing the Event
A public relations event will
be organized in the morning
at the experiment command
center for representatives
from government agencies,
industry, and academia. This
will be followed by a
reception and lunch at CCIT
headquarters in Berkeley
starting at 12:30 pm. Come
share the excitement of a
Berkeley‐scale event with
VIP and Media Event:
societal‐scale transformation
potential! A Google Earth rendering of collected GPS data. Virtual trip lines
February 8, 2008
measuring speed upon crossing of the vehicles are shown in red.
10 am – 2:30 pm
Union Landing, California
and UC Berkeley
Contact Information
Alexandre M. Bayen JD Margulici
Quinn Jacobson
Assistant Professor Research Leader Associate Director
Department of Civil and Nokia Research Center – Palo California Center for
Environmental Engineering Alto Innovative Transportation
University of California, (650) 521 3243 (510) 642 5929
Berkeley quinn.jacobson@nokia.com jd@calccit.org
(510) 642‐2468
bayen@berkeley.edu