Microsoft Clearflow aims to Improve Traffic Reports

Posted on Apr 10, 08 01:22 PM PDT

The current traffic report system used by Microsoft on maps.live.com can’t tell you much about traffic on city streets. They only have highways (just like Yahoo or Google, to be fair) and therefore the system isn’t of much help for something other than “should I hit that road now?” or “how bad is it going to be”?.

With Clearflow, users will really know if there is a better route outside the highway network. Microsoft will sample more data from volunteers providing GPS data that is analyzed by Microsoft to create a road traffic conditions “pattern” that could be used to get a “best shot” at guessing what current road conditions are on any streets. The ultimate data sampling would be to query data from all devices like GPS, phones, traffic cameras and road sensors to have a true global view of a city’s traffic.

Just like any statistical measurement, the sampling size is what really matters. If Microsoft can get enough data, this will work. After all, companies like Dash are already doing something like this. There no way around it: this is the future of traffic reports.

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