MS Clearflow To Help Drivers Avoid Traffic Jams

Pioneer Woman writes "Microsoft announced plans to introduce a Web-based service for driving directions that incorporates complex software models to help users avoid traffic jams. The system is intended to reflect the complex traffic interactions that occur as traffic backs up on freeways and spills over onto city streets and will be freely available as part of the company's Live.com site for 72 cities in the US. Microsoft researchers designed algorithms that modeled traffic behavior by collecting trip data from Microsoft employees who volunteered to carry GPS units in their cars. In the end they were able to build a model for predicting traffic based on four years of data, effectively creating individual 'personalities' for over 800,000 road segments in the Seattle region. In all the system tracks about 60 million road segments in the US."

Traffic James?

[davidwr (791652)]

Does KD use Microsoft Spell-cheque?

Re:Traffic James?

[robably (1044462)]

No, it's just that the system is designed for chauffeur-driven cars.

Re:Traffic James?

[SailorSpork (1080153)]

I for one would like to welcome our traffic-monitoring overlord... James.

Re:Traffic James?

[catwh0re (540371)]

it seems that microsoft think we need help with driving.. on the contrary I think it's microsoft that need help with drivers.

Re:Traffic James?

[Giometrix (932993)]

Im Traffic James bitch!

Re:

[quonsar (61695)]

Microsoft Bob's cousin.

Re:Traffic James?

[Traffic James (1270814)]

I love you too, man.

well ...

[JaffaKREE (766802)]

Traffic James *IS* a dick.

Re:well ...

[minginqunt (225413)]

Traffic James *IS* a dick.

And if that isn't a Slashdot memetag by bedtime, there's ain't no justice.

Tags: trafficjamesisadick

Woo!

Re:but seriously

[TheMeuge (645043)]

I guess they decided to take phrases "computer crash" and "blue screen of death" seriously.

I could only imagine the program modifying GPS directions on the fly:

- Left turn ahead.
- Traffic ahead.
- Please turn right and over the railing
- Please fall 200 feet to the road below and proceed west on highway 53.

Re:but seriously

[ozmanjusri (601766)]

You are about to fall 200 feet to a road below.[Cancel] [Allow]

Re:well ...

[Traffic James (1270814)]

Traffic James *IS* a dick.

Hey - that's completely unfair! You don't even know me!

Re:

[Traffic James (1270814)]

No you're not. *I'm* Traffic James, bitch!

Seriously.

[Smidge204 (605297)]

That Traffic James is a total dick. Constantly swerving between lanes and cutting people off. The faster they get him off the roads the better we'll all be.

(Headline currently reads "MS Clearflow To Help Drivers Avoid Traffic James" - hope they fix that...)
=Smidge=

Re: ... Traffic James

[InfraredAD (904482)]

I really hate Traffic James... they're everywhere. I mean, how can one man be in so many places at once? Santa's being given a run for his money... And yes, if the title gets edited, it really was "MS Clearflow To Help Drivers Avoid Traffic James"

Well, I feel pretty good.

[Rob T Firefly (844560)]

Do you suppose at any point during the development of this, someone somewhere at MS thought to shout "KICK OUT THE JAMS, MICROSOFTERS!" [makemyday.free.fr] at the top of their lungs?

Stop Traffic Jams

[Mikya (901578)]

I have a way to help stop traffic jams without fancy algorithms: stop tailgating the person in front of you. That way every time that person slows down slightly you don't have to slam on your brakes, thus requiring people behind you to slam on theirs causing a buildup of cars that aren't going anywhere even if traffic isn't that heavy.

Re:Stop Traffic Jams

[BlowHole666 (1152399)]

Sure if you would just get off your cell phone, get out of the left hand lane and drive the speed limit. I would not have to tailgate.

Re:

[Stanistani (808333)]

Yet another sad example of why Slashdot needs an ISO standard for sarcasm and humor tags.

Let's get Microsoft on the job immediately.

We need a six thousand page brief and some corrupt committee members, stat!

Re:

[bunratty (545641)]

What's the problem with cars changing lanes between you and the car in front of you? I notice many times people trying to keep me from changing lanes, even when I need to in order to perform a necessary merge or get to an offramp. I think you need to loosen up a bit and not hog the road. It's perfectly okay and even necessary for cars to change lanes. Driving isn't a race.

Re:Stop Traffic Jams

[squizzar (1031726)]

I'd suggest what is called 'defensive driving'. If someone wants to belt it along at ludicrous speed, then let them do it, it's probably best not to be near them. Getting in their way will only encourage them to try something stupid to get round you.

If people looked at driving as a cooperative effort - try and let everyone drive at the speed they want to - then everyone ends having a lot smoother journey. If everyone only acts in their own interests it all gets a bit more stressful and scary.

Prisoner's Delimma

[IdahoEv (195056)]

If people looked at driving as a cooperative effort - try and let everyone drive at the speed they want to - then everyone ends having a lot smoother journey. If everyone only acts in their own interests it all gets a bit more stressful and scary.

I've always thought that traffic is basically one massive game of Prisoner's Delimma [wikipedia.org]. Defecting (swerving lanes, cutting people off) can gain you a bit of time relative to traffic, but only at the cost of slowing overall traffic down. The more people do it, the w

Re:

[jefu (53450)]

Of course they do - but even if you do speed up, they'll still tailgate you, and if you get out of the way and let them pass, they'll tailgate the person in front of you, then the person in front of them and so on.

Don't you realize? They're special, and their needs and wants trump all those of the people driving around them.

I'll usually try to get out of the way when I reach a break in the slower lane - or if they're particularly insistant, I'll slow down until I can merge right (US) safely, then mov

Re:Stop Traffic Jams

[Silver Sloth (770927)]

Better still - use public transport.

Ok, ok, I know this sounds like a troll but seriously, when we have a situation where traffic speeds in major cities is declining endlessly we need to look to long term solutions, not tinkering with the symptoms.

Re:Stop Traffic Jams

[interiot (50685)]

Ding ding.

Go to Tokyo at rush hour, and observe. The only slowdown that occurs is when one train becomes too full, and people have to wait ~3 minutes for the next one. I never saw a situation where people had to wait for more than one additional train, because the trains can hold a lot of people because they're packed like cattle-cars. On the other hand, Japanese seem to be much better at being fairly quiet and avoiding talking on their cellphones when in such dense quarters, while Americans seem to think that the subway is the best place for talking really loudly on the phone.

Re:Stop Traffic Jams

[gstoddart (321705)]

Better still - use public transport.

Ok, ok, I know this sounds like a troll but seriously, when we have a situation where traffic speeds in major cities is declining endlessly we need to look to long term solutions, not tinkering with the symptoms.

I don't know about your city, but in my city, taking public transport to and from my office would take 2-3x as long on my commute by car, and likely involve at least one transfer.

The problem with public transport, is if it doesn't actually improve my day and make my commute better, I'm not taking it. It's that simple. Make it faster and more convenient to get to my destination, and I'll consider it. I'm not really willing to add 2 hours to my day.

It really is that simple (for me at least). I'd love for public transport to be more usable, but, it isn't. Until it is, the vast majority of people will stick with their cars.

Cheers

Re:

[PJ1216 (1063738)]

Not really. Normally if you keep going the same speed as the car in front of you, but keep a safe distance, the guy behind you is normally intelligent enough to see there's a car in front of you. its the car thats passing a whole bunch of cars on the right that will try to squeeze in there when he/she realizes they can't go any further at their speed. All in all, its the really slow people and the really impatient people that cause traffic. if you're not passing the cars in the lane to your right, you'r

Clear type

[Hatta (162192)]

Microsoft's Cleartype technology makes text more blurry. So what can we expect from Microsoft's Clearflow?

And when the system fails...

[rarel (697734)]

... it gives a whole new meaning to the word "crash"!

Is Traffic James Related To Ask Jeeves?

[Skeetskeetskeet (906997)]

Both probably couldn't give me directions to the nearest hooker.

I resent that

[JamesRose (1062530)]

Sometimes it just feels like people are conspiring to avoid me, finally I've got some proof!

so does that make accidents

[OrochimaruVoldemort (1248060)]

the blue map of death?

Swings & Roundabouts

[CmdrGravy (645153)]

This sounds like a sensible idea but if it becomes widespread then the metrics it has used for it's monitoring of the traffic conditions are going to change as people choose new routes based on it's suggestions with the upshot that previously clear routes are now congested.

My own journey to work changes based on the time I leave the house and my local knowledge of the area and problme junctions so I can normally make my way down side streets and 'rat runs' without encountering much traffic. The last thing I want is for anyone else to be told these routes and start to clog them up. It is amazing though the difference it can make if you take what is in theory a slightly longer route to get around stupidly placed roundabouts or congested main roads.

I guess ultimately if people had a perfect knowledge of the traffic situation the congestion would even out so everywhere is just congested at rush hour rather than extremely congested but the basic problem, in the UK at least, is that there just aren't enough roads. Here in Birmingham during the recent building work in the city centre there were some traffic conditions which would just lead inevitably to total gridlock as jams backed up across islands causing more jams which looped all the way around town to hold up the traffic in the original jam even more. We just need more roads.

Not enough roads? No, too many cars

[davidwr (791652)]

More precisely: Too many cars at a given time.

There are several ways to solve this problem:

1) build more efficient roads, i.e. better traffic control, better lane design, better/fewer intersections, better signs, etc.
2) build more roads, but only up to a point
3) reduce the number of cars on the road at peak times
3a) reduce the number of cars
3b) spread the load out over time

Mass transit and congestion taxes are ways to do 3a. Getting employers and schools to shift work times is a way to do 3b.

Re:

[lastchance_000 (847415)]

Let's add telecommuting in there. There's nothing about the work I do that requires me to be in the office more than one day a week (aside from the mandate from management). I'm sure many people on the road with me are in the same situation.

Re:Swings & Roundabouts

[n3tcat (664243)]

We just need more roads

Or less cars. Use the bus!

I question the way of collecting data.

[jellomizer (103300)]

They are making assumptions that Trafic Jams around the world/US is the same as Near Redomnd WA. I know traffic in my area on i90/i87 is actually fairly good except for when there is a car accident and often the traffic occures before it can get reported. But down in CT. on i84 and i91 Traffic is always heavy and traffic jams are just from to many cars on the road. Vs. accedents. Also some states have commuter lanes so there may be heavy traffic on the road but you have a couple of poeple in your car so

Traffic jam warning

[Malevolent Tester (1201209)]

Traffic is backing up 10 miles after a driver crashed reading Live.com when he should have been paying attention to the road

Re:

[BlowHole666 (1152399)]

Have you ever thought this could be used to monitor traffic congestion during specific times of the day. So if the user is going to be driving between 4:30 and 5:00 PM Microsoft will spit out different directions then it would if the user was driving at 8:00 PM at night.

Who the hell is Traffic James?

[multipart/mixed (163409)]

Some cop with a pink mohawk?

hmm, does it learn?

[beyonddeath (592751)]

The first thing I thought, and I have thought the idea of analyzing traffic flow on a wide scale could give the individual an edge, as soon as the masses know the way around traffic, the jam will just move. So unless this algorithm can automatically figure out where traffic is stuck, and route the users in many different ways, this will eventually not work. Not to mention that in many cases (ie try entering downtown toronto from etobicoke), there are only so many ways to go. In my example you have some side streets, bloor, eglington, gardiner, lake shore. But they all suck, and if you suggest the small residential roads, you'll probably sit just as long waiting to turn from road to road. I've tried. But if it helps at all its worth it imho, its not my money!

The Unfortunate Fate of Traffic James

[soulsteal (104635)]

Aye, 'tis been a while since I heard the name of the Hound of the Highway, Traffic James.

Jim Axelman was once an ordinary man. He had a wife, three kids, even a Labrador retriever named Buddy. But his life was changed forever as he drove to work on fateful day. You see, he was trying to change lanes while talking on his cell phone and jamming out to some Led Zeppelin playing on the classic cock station when he unfortunately cut off a Gypsy minivan-mom. The Gypsy, being a member of the same PTA as Jim, knew who he was and cursed his name to the Heavens. Since that day, he's been forced to drive the streets.

His blinkers never work. If you're in a hurry, he slows you down. If you're not rushed, he tailgates. He can't stop for food or bathroom breaks, his odometer never changes. He forever wanders the Earth in his dark blue Geo Metro.

It's been said that some nights, on an empty country road.... you can still hear the a never-ending play of Kashmir on the wind.

Traf-o-data is Traf-o-data again...

[tjstork (137384)]

Before Microsoft ever even did BASIC, Gates and Co had an abortive project called Traf-o-Data, which was somehow to help city planners with traffic management. Now Microsoft has come full circle. I wonder what's next.. after hearing so much about C# as the language of the future, are we going to get a big deal of BASIC?

Wow, someone knows their history...

[WebCowboy (196209)]

Gates and Co had an abortive project called Traf-o-Data

That was not only the name of the product, it was the original name of Microsoft too.

Up until the 1970s traffic counters recorded the "hits" on their sensors on paper charts. Legions of clerks then counted the dots on the charts by hand in a manner not unlike the infamous Florida recount (looking at "chads" all day). The tallies were then given to "computers" (that was the job title for the person, not a machine in many if not most cases), or statisti

Is it just me?

[zappepcs (820751)]

Where are the details? I've seen several attempts to use such data, and the way that traffic works, the slow-down is clear by the time it is posted to the Internet, and what shows green is red when you get there. Without a tactical HUD and real time data, such things are little more than novelties.

Everyday I drive past one intersection that has a slow down on good days. When there are traffic problems ahead, you cannot tell until you are in the traffic jam already. Normally, it takes 2-3 minutes and you're moving again. Some days it's merely a slow-down. Traffic analysis will never show when that stretch of road is fully in congestion and the only prudent course is to get off the highway.

I don't even care how many volunteers were in the study, modeling traffic has been done before and it does not predict the daily problems that you have to deal with.

Nothing short of a HUD with real time data will help. Well, voice assistance from a system with real time data will help also, doesn't require a HUD.

The point is that modeling won't do it. Only monitoring in real time will do it. Without real time data, by the time you get to the decision point half the other drivers are already clogging your escape route.

I just tried it

[Thelasko (1196535)]

It gave me different directions to and from work. I guess this means it's accounting for traffic jams. I did notice that it doesn't ask what time you will be making this journey. In my experience lesser known streets are faster during rush hour, and larger streets and expressways are fastest at off-peak times.

Microsoft also needs to update their maps of Chicago. I-355 goes all the way to I-80 now. I thought it took Google a long time to fix that. Wow!

Re:

[Farmer Tim (530755)]

See, the highways are like a series of tubes...

Re:

[JaffaKREE (766802)]

He's a dick.

Re:

[BlowHole666 (1152399)]

Hmm well I have used Google maps on my pda and Microsoft live on my pda also and personally i trust the Microsoft version better. For some reason the Google version thinks performing a U turn is a smart thing to do in a busy city. Try it some time, use Google maps to get to directions and 6 out of 10 times it will tell you to do a U turn and then try the same directions with Microsoft and it will not ask you to do a U turn.

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

I'd rather not trust suggestions by Microsoft software ("Hi, I see you're trying to drive to work!..."), particularly those which are based upon the decisions made by Microsoft employees. We've had too much experience with the results of their decisions.