Effects of real-time traffic information in car navigation – results from a case study in Erfurt, Germany

Abstract

The inclusion of real-time traffic information (RTTI) in navigation systems is commonplace nowadays. The data sources for the RTTI can be manifold: It is mostly floating car data obtained either by the application users or via a specific fleet of cars (e.g., Taxis). At the same time, cities around the world are also collecting information on the traffic situation via different sources such as induction loops in the streets. The data source collected by the cities can have higher quality, due to more and more precise data collection points, and can also be enriched with information on construction sites and road closures from the cities’ road authority. In the FaMoS research project, a prototypical navigation app was developed, which directly uses the RTTI provided by the cities via the “Mobilitäts Daten Marktplatz” (MDM), a German mobility data exchange platform. The performance of the navigation app was tested in a study with 417 trips in Erfurt, Germany. For comparison, the FaMoS navigation app was tested against a default app using the same routing algorithm but without the city’s RTTI. It was found that the FaMoS app with the city’s RTTI was on par with the default app (HERE WeGo) on all routes. On select routes, the FaMoS app statistically significantly reduced the average trip time by up to 12.6%. Further studies over a longer time period with more users and routes are needed to prove the trend seen in this study. Nevertheless, the data from this first case study can be a starting point for the further development of RTTI inclusion in navigation apps and systems with the goal to reduce congestion.