Real-time traffic information to be pooled, analysed and sold

In an attempt to achieve a better traffic flow in Bangkok, two leading technology-based organisations are to gather real-time traffic information from many official sources and combine it into a new system aimed at assisting motorists driving on the streets of the capital.

The pilot project, to be called the Traffic Information Centre, is to be implemented by the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Thailand Association and the National Electronic and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec).

The concept is to offer travellers real-time traffic information so they can choose the best routes for city journeys.

The centre will pool traffic-related information supplied by partner organisations. This information will be blended, analysed and offered to travellers in real-time, via many devices and channels.

The director of Nectec's Intelligent Transportation System programme, Passakon Prathombutr, who is also vice president of the ITS Thailand Association, said the new centre's servers, run by the association, would receive traffic information from organisations including the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), the Expressway Authority of Thailand (EXAT), Don Mueang Tollway, the Traffic Police, and the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP).

The BMA's real-time traffic-flow information is captured by 150 cameras located in most of Bangkok's main roads. This "raw material" information shows the real-time occupancy ratio in surrounding streets, 24 hours a day, he said.

Moreover, Don Mueang Tollway will provide information recorded by sensors at the expressway's entrances, counting the number of vehicles and analysing the flow and density of traffic. The Expressway Authority will also provide information from 15 cameras at the gates of the Dao Kanong-Tarue tollway.

All of the data will be blended, analysed and presented as ready-for-use traffic information, covering both the real-time situation and traffic incident information. It will be offered in a wide range of formats including text, maps, graphics and voice.

The ITS Thailand Association will act as operator of the new Traffic Information Centre to co-ordinate with suppliers of traffic information and to oversee the pooling and integration of information as well as analysing and delivering it in a ready-for-use format for Bangkok's drivers.

"Our role is to oversee the standardisation of location references into a format of point, link and area; message codes, data exchange protocols and maps," Passakon said.

The completed real-time information will be disseminated by a group of organisations acting as traffic information distributors.

"For example, Taxi radio stations can be one traffic information distributor. Instead of collecting data and developing their own traffic-information systems, taxi radio stations can partner with ITS Thailand to distribute information to their networks of taxi drivers," Passakon said.

Mobile phone operators are also expected to become partners of the new centre, to provide traffic information via cellphones, and newly-established companies providing paid services to drivers with in-car navigation systems are also expected to join the new system.

At present, the centre is in the process of studying both the technological feasibility of the system and its marketing possibilities. The pilot system is expected to be up and running and showcased in the 10th ITS Asia Pacific Smart Move fair, to be held in Bangkok in July this year.

Under present plans, the pilot project will run for one year. Then, the new Traffic Information Centre will complete its business model and become a commercial service.

During the pilot period, people can access a sample of the centre's traffic information by visiting www.traffic.thai.net, or www.traffic.nectec.or.th.