REPRESENTATIVE ROAD TRAFFIC FLOW INFORMATION BASED ON HISTORICAL DATA
First Claim
1. A method for a computing system to facilitate navigation of roads by vehicles based on generated representative traffic flow information for the roads, the method comprising:
- receiving information describing a network of roads in a geographic area;
for each of the roads in the network, identifying predefined road links on the roads for which traffic flow is distinctly tracked;
retrieving historical traffic data that reflects prior vehicle travel on the roads in the network, the historical traffic data including numerous data samples that each report a speed of traffic on one of the road links at an indicated prior time, the speed of traffic on the one road link at the indicated prior time being influenced at least in part on one or more traffic-altering conditions at the prior time;
determining multiple traffic flow aggregation classifications for which representative traffic flow information will be distinctly generated for the roads, each aggregation classification corresponding to a distinct combination of one or more time periods based on day-of-week and time-of-day information and of one or more of multiple temporary traffic-altering conditions that affect traffic in the geographic area;
automatically generating representative traffic flow information for the roads by, for each of the identified road links and each of the aggregation classifications;
selecting the data samples of the retrieved historical traffic data for the road link that correspond to the aggregation classification based on the indicated prior times of the selected data samples matching the one or more time periods for the aggregation classification and based on the one or more traffic-altering conditions at the indicated prior times matching the one or more traffic-altering conditions for the aggregation classification; and
determining representative traffic flow information for the road link and aggregation classification by aggregating the selected data samples so as to determine a typical average speed on the road link for the aggregation classification and so as to determine one or more variability measure values for the reported speeds of the selected data samples; and
facilitating navigation of vehicles over the network of roads based on the generated representative traffic flow information for the roads by providing the generated representative traffic flow information to each of multiple client devices so that users of the client devices may determine likely travel times over the roads at various times and for various of the traffic-altering conditions based on the typical traffic speeds on the roads at those times and for those traffic-altering conditions.
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Abstract
Techniques are described for automatically analyzing historical information about road traffic flow in order to generate representative information regarding current or future road traffic flow, and for using such generated representative traffic flow information. Representative traffic flow information may be generated for a variety of types of useful measures of traffic flow, such as for average speed at each of multiple road locations during each of multiple time periods. Generated representative traffic flow information may be used in various ways to assist in travel and for other purposes, such as to determine likely travel times and plan optimal routes. The historical traffic data used to generate the representative traffic flow information may include data readings from physical sensors that are near or embedded in the roads, and/or data samples from vehicles and other mobile data sources traveling on the roads.
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Citations
62 Claims
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1. A method for a computing system to facilitate navigation of roads by vehicles based on generated representative traffic flow information for the roads, the method comprising:
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receiving information describing a network of roads in a geographic area;
for each of the roads in the network, identifying predefined road links on the roads for which traffic flow is distinctly tracked;
retrieving historical traffic data that reflects prior vehicle travel on the roads in the network, the historical traffic data including numerous data samples that each report a speed of traffic on one of the road links at an indicated prior time, the speed of traffic on the one road link at the indicated prior time being influenced at least in part on one or more traffic-altering conditions at the prior time;
determining multiple traffic flow aggregation classifications for which representative traffic flow information will be distinctly generated for the roads, each aggregation classification corresponding to a distinct combination of one or more time periods based on day-of-week and time-of-day information and of one or more of multiple temporary traffic-altering conditions that affect traffic in the geographic area;
automatically generating representative traffic flow information for the roads by, for each of the identified road links and each of the aggregation classifications;
selecting the data samples of the retrieved historical traffic data for the road link that correspond to the aggregation classification based on the indicated prior times of the selected data samples matching the one or more time periods for the aggregation classification and based on the one or more traffic-altering conditions at the indicated prior times matching the one or more traffic-altering conditions for the aggregation classification; and
determining representative traffic flow information for the road link and aggregation classification by aggregating the selected data samples so as to determine a typical average speed on the road link for the aggregation classification and so as to determine one or more variability measure values for the reported speeds of the selected data samples; and
facilitating navigation of vehicles over the network of roads based on the generated representative traffic flow information for the roads by providing the generated representative traffic flow information to each of multiple client devices so that users of the client devices may determine likely travel times over the roads at various times and for various of the traffic-altering conditions based on the typical traffic speeds on the roads at those times and for those traffic-altering conditions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A computer-implemented method for generating representative traffic flow information for roads to facilitate future travel, the method comprising:
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receiving an indication of a location on a road in a geographic area;
selecting multiple time-based categories for which representative traffic flow information will be distinctly generated for the road location, the multiple time-based categories each corresponding to one or more time periods based on day-of-week and time-of-day information;
selecting multiple other condition-based categories for which representative traffic flow information will be distinctly generated for the road location, the multiple condition-based categories each corresponding to at least one of multiple variable traffic-altering conditions that affect traffic in the geographic area;
obtaining one or more prior traffic flow values for the road location at each of multiple distinct prior times, at least some of the prior traffic flow values corresponding to one or more of the multiple traffic-altering conditions;
automatically generating representative traffic flow information for the road location by;
for each of the at least some prior traffic flow values, associating the prior traffic flow value with at least one of the time-based categories and at least one of the condition-based categories, the at least one time-based categories being determined by matching the prior time to time periods to which the time-based categories correspond, and the at least one condition-based categories being determined by matching the one or more traffic-altering conditions to which the prior traffic flow value corresponds to traffic-altering conditions to which the condition-based categories correspond; and
for each of one or more traffic flow aggregation classifications that each includes at least one of the time-based and condition-based categories, generating representative traffic flow information for traffic at the road location corresponding to the traffic flow aggregation classification, the generating of the representative traffic flow information being based at least in part on aggregating the prior traffic flow values associated with the at least one categories and on determining one or more typical traffic flow values based on the aggregated traffic flow values; and
providing one or more indications of the generated representative traffic flow information for the road location for use in facilitating travel on the road at future times. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A computer-readable medium whose contents enable a computing device to generate representative traffic flow information for roads, by performing a method comprising:
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selecting multiple condition-based categories for which representative traffic flow information will be distinctly generated for a road location, the multiple condition-based categories each corresponding to at least one of multiple variable traffic-altering conditions;
obtaining historical traffic flow values indicating prior traffic flow for the road location at each of multiple distinct prior times, each of at least some of the historical traffic flow values corresponding to one or more of the multiple traffic-altering conditions;
associating the obtained traffic flow values with the condition-based categories by, for each of the at least some historical traffic flow values, associating the historical traffic flow value with at least one condition-based category having a corresponding traffic-altering condition that matches at least one of the one or more traffic-altering conditions to which the historical traffic flow value corresponds; and
for each of one or more of the condition-based categories, generating representative traffic flow information for traffic at the road location that occurs during the one or more traffic-altering conditions corresponding to the category by aggregating the traffic flow values associated with the category and by determining one or more typical traffic flow values based on the aggregated traffic flow values. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. A computing device configured to generate representative traffic flow information for roads, comprising:
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one or more memories; and
a representative traffic information provider system configured to automatically provide representative traffic flow information for multiple locations on one or more roads by;
associating historical traffic flow values that indicate prior traffic flow for the multiple road locations at multiple prior times with multiple traffic flow aggregation classifications that represent distinct representative traffic flow information, each of at least some of the historical traffic flow values being associated with one of the road locations and corresponding to prior traffic flow at the one road location that reflects one or more of multiple traffic-altering conditions at one of the multiple prior times, each aggregation classification corresponding to at least one time period and to at least one of the multiple variable traffic-altering conditions, the associating including, for each of the at least some historical traffic flow values, associating the historical traffic flow value with at least one aggregation classification having a corresponding time period to which the prior time for the historical traffic flow value corresponds and having a corresponding traffic-altering condition that matches at least one of the one or more traffic-altering conditions reflected by the prior traffic flow to which the historical traffic flow value corresponds;
for each of one or more combinations of one of the multiple road locations and one of the multiple aggregation classifications, generating representative traffic flow information for traffic at the road location that occurs during the time period and reflects the one or more traffic-altering conditions corresponding to the aggregation classification by aggregating the traffic flow values associated with the aggregation classification and with the road location and by determining one or more typical traffic flow values based on the aggregated traffic flow values; and
providing one or more indications of the generated representative traffic flow information for use in facilitating travel on the one or more roads. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62)
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Specification