MS Clearflow To Help Drivers Avoid Traffic Jams 243
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? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Traffic James? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Traffic James? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Traffic James? (Score:5, Funny)
Mod parent +1 punny (Score:2, Funny)
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No, it's spelled right.
the article was meant for me.
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Then you can smash it with a hammer.
Re:Traffic James? (Score:5, Funny)
Are you guys talking about Traffic James? (Score:2)
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Re:Traffic James? (Score:5, Funny)
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well ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:well ... (Score:5, Funny)
Tags: trafficjamesisadick
Woo!
Re:but seriously (Score:5, Funny)
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 (Score:5, Funny)
Re:well ... (Score:5, Funny)
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Seriously. (Score:2, Informative)
(Headline currently reads "MS Clearflow To Help Drivers Avoid Traffic James" - hope they fix that...)
=Smidge=
Re: ... Traffic James (Score:2, Funny)
Well, I feel pretty good. (Score:2)
Stop Traffic Jams (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Stop Traffic Jams (Score:5, Insightful)
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And, what entitles you to break the law? If someone tailgates me, I have been known, on occasion, to accidentally drop a soda at their windshield.
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So I may shoot him, for self-defense is a recognized legal concept.
On a more serious note, I think we've just simulated 'road rage.'
There are no Kumbayas on the Internetz, are there?
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So I may shoot him, for self-defense is a recognized legal concept.
For what, spilling a soda accidentally? Now you are driving around aggressively and shooting people the road.. Clearly, its reasonable to for people in the front being tailgated to take pre-emptive action against tailgaters, if they are shooting people and trying to run them over!
Moral of the story is that you shouldn't be driving like a jackass. The roads are a utility for transport and not a convenience for you lack of
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Let's get Microsoft on the job immediately.
We need a six thousand page brief and some corrupt committee members, stat!
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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.
Oddly enough, driving below the speed limit in the left-hand lane doesn't seem to be the problem in these parts. Going faster than the speed limit, especially in the left-hand lane, is another matter... Eeeevery once in a while driving in the left lane I find myself being high-beamed as someone comes up behind me, and I look down and notice, "holy cow, I'm going nearly in the 65 zone - better pay more attention to speed and slow down - wait, there's some guy back there who doesn't think I'm going fast ENOU
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You can go 5-10 miles above the speed limit and people will still do that. They tailgate, they weave in and out of traffic, they start doing funny things with their lights, all just to avoid doing *only* 10 mph above the speed limit... it's quite dangerous.
But then again, I live in New Jersey. YMMV :)
Re:Stop Traffic Jams (Score:5, Insightful)
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 (Score:3, Insightful)
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
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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
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Re:Stop Traffic Jams (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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Re:Stop Traffic Jams (Score:5, Insightful)
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 (Score:5, Insightful)
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
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However I also totally agree with what you're saying. If I didn't live so close I would be in the same boat. What I'm saying is that, in the long run, making traffic flow more efficient doesn't solve the problem. Making public transport more efficient (and nicer) does.
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It was because of traffic jams that the London Underground was built
Where and when available (Score:2)
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That's true, but reducing the distance between you and the car in front of you does increase traffic density, and thus throughput at a given speed.
Not that it's safe or I'm advocating it, mind you, but traffic flow dynamics aren't a simple thing.
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That's true, but reducing the distance between you and the car in front of you does increase traffic density, and thus throughput at a given speed.
Not that it's safe or I'm advocating it, mind you, but traffic flow dynamics aren't a simple thing.
Only up to the point where one ripple (like an impatient traffic james who passes on the right and cuts off somebody in the left lane) causes a standing wave of brake lights...
Captcha: reinvent - some nations need to reinvent rail transit...
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Good. Better to have everyone traveling smoothly at a slower speed and safe distances than to have people packed in at unsafe distances constantly braking and accelerating.
Problem is it doesn't work. Where I live, if you leave a nice cushion, someone will move in and cut you off. So what you do is optimize the distance to maximize braking time, which means minimizing the opportunity for cars to cut you off.
Traffic's getting nastier all the time. I try to avoid driving.
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Clear type (Score:4, Insightful)
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Your speed is now 90km/h and you are probably near San Francisco..."
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And when the system fails... (Score:3, Funny)
Is Traffic James Related To Ask Jeeves? (Score:5, Funny)
I resent that (Score:5, Funny)
so does that make accidents (Score:2, Funny)
Swings & Roundabouts (Score:5, Interesting)
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 (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
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Better Intersections? (Score:2)
Of course there is the obligatory reference to Spaghetti Junction [google.co.uk].
I love this city.
Re:Swings & Roundabouts (Score:5, Insightful)
Or less cars. Use the bus!
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the basic problem, in the UK at least, is that there just aren't enough roads.
Or, alternatively, that there are too many cars.
Anyway, as you've pointed out, what this really is is a shortcut simulator to having good local knowledge of the area you're driving in -- it's a substitute for experience. What they basically have is a complex system that predicts where traffic will be. But what's better than prediction is accurate, current reporting -- and we already have an awesome technology for detecting and avoiding traffic jams, called a "radio." Pretty much every major urban area h
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Which does shit for you when you're not fully familiar with that city. Or, sometimes, even that part of the city.
680 News in Toronto, for example, has, as you say, 'Traffic on the Ones.' But it's often a confusing little thirty second block where the traffic guy rips through an incredible amount of data, using local nicknames, initials, and what not, and yeah, often suggests
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Given that if you're using a GPS you're already not familiar with the local streets, assuming that you're therefore not familiar with the traffic flows and alternate routes is a fair assumption to make.
Right, assuming you're using a GPS. The article is talking about predictive features to be incorporated into MS Live, which (at least as described in the article) is a website competing with Google Maps.
If we assume they have a GPS, then you don't need a predictive model -- you just need actual data, displayed in a format that's clear, easy and safe to read while hurtling at 70 mph in a ton of steel.
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Unfortunately it has issues...
1. It takes several minutes (sometimes tens of minutes) to update and only covers major routes, not cities where a lot of the jams are.
2. The radio version (RDS-TMC) only works where there's a fairly strong radio signal.. generally, in cities.
3. The mobile version is OK, but I have an iphone and it doesn't support mobile data... grr... so I have to carry a second phone to
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I must have been thinking of a Microsoft GPS system.
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2 points of information:
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I think you misspelled "fewer cars." In most places, building more roads is not an option (at any cost).
Amen. I think the GP is smoking crack. It wouldn't be physically possible to build more roads in Birmingham without invoking a 5th dimension (they have already expanded into the 3rd, with the M6 being elevated). You could, I guess, demolish some of the buildings to make new roads, but the more buildings you demolish the less people will need to use the roads to get there. Though some people would say that the more of Birmingham demolished the better...
I question the way of collecting data. (Score:2)
Traffic jam warning (Score:3, Interesting)
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Who the hell is Traffic James? (Score:4, Funny)
hmm, does it learn? (Score:3, Insightful)
The Unfortunate Fate of Traffic James (Score:5, Funny)
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... (Score:4, Interesting)
Wow, someone knows their history... (Score:3, Interesting)
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
Must resist... (Score:2)
This service should work great! Traffic jams are caused by bad drivers and we know the people at Microsoft are experts with those.
post'em if you got'em.
threadjack (Score:2)
east asia and europe has left us in the dust when it comes to rail service . while we spent most of the 20th century ripping up what we built up in the 19th century, other parts of the world remained committed to rail or at least let it limp along on life support. the usa pretty much killed rail: ripped up th
Is it just me? (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Pilot here in the Netherlands for the same system (Score:2)
If this works, it could be quite a relief
Better than MapPoint? (Score:2)
And it's not the only time they screw [theregister.co.uk] up [theregister.co.uk] either.
While I was sitting at my 4th 8 minute red light (Score:2)
And you literally have to plan your trip around avoiding left turns in Raleigh because you could wait a half hour to make one. Either there's no left turn
"who left the research lab door unlocked?" -BG (Score:2)
I just tried it (Score:3, Interesting)
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!
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