System and method for providing traffic information using operational data of a wireless network

• US 6,842,620 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2002
• Issued: 01/11/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Airsage
• Original Assignee: Airsage
• Inventors: Wright, Michael P., Smith, Cyrus W., Sangal, Rahul, Wilkinson, Clayton IV, Carlson, Kirk
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lee
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yun, Eugene
• Application Number:
  US10/243,589
• Publication Number:
  US 20030078055A1
• Time in Patent Office: 851 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456, 455/457, 455/426, 340/870.01, 340/870.07, 340/539, 340/988, 701/117, 701/118, 701/119, 701/208
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions

Abstract

Providing traffic information by using operational data developed by a wireless communication network to generate traffic information. Location information from the network can be combined with computerized street maps to measure the time it takes to get from one geographic area to another. By aggregating and analyzing anonymous data from thousands of devices, the present invention is able to determine real-time and historical travel times and velocities between cities, intersections and along specific routes.

Claims

1. A system for extracting vehicular movement information using operational data for mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communication network the system comprising:

a processor module, logically coupled to the existing wireless telephony communication network, operable to generate a plurality of traffic data records based on the operational data obtained from the existing wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time, wherein the processor module comprises a privacy module adapted to remove a mobile station identifier number identifying one of the mobile stations from each of the traffic data records, to replace the mobile station identifier number in the traffic data record with a unique identifying number, and to maintain a relationship between the unique identifying number and the replaced mobile station identifier number; and

a movement filtering and detection module, logically coupled to the processor module, operable to generate a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station via a vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a configuration and monitoring module, logically coupled to the processor module and to the movement and filtering detection module, operative to configure the operational activity of the processor module and the movement and filtering detection module and to monitor the operational activity of the processor module and the movement and filtering detection module.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor module comprises:

a plurality of file interfaces to extract location movement data from the operational data for the mobile stations as obtained from the wireless telephony communication network; and

a parsing engine logically coupled to the interfaces to generate the plurality of traffic data records in response to the extracted location movement data.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising an HTTP query interface, logically coupled to the movement filtering and detection module, adapted to communicate each movement record to a data analysis node to assist an evaluation of vehicular traffic characteristics for a vehicular traffic area associated with the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communication network.

5. A method for extracting movement information using operational data for mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communication network, comprising the steps of:

generating a plurality of traffic data records based on the operational data from the existing wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time;

processing the plurality of traffic data records by removing certain confidential information associated with the operational data for the mobile stations operating within the wireless telephony communication network, the processing step comprising, for each of the traffic data records, the steps of

replacing the mobile station identifier in the traffic data record with a unique identifying number; and

maintaining a relationship between the replaced mobile station identifier and the unique identifying number to assist the tracking of movement records generated for the same mobile station; and

generating a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of receiving a continuous flow of the operational data from the wireless telephony communication network.

7. A method for determining traffic velocities along traffic routes based on movement of mobile stations operating within a previously-existing wireless telephony communications network comprising a cell sector coverage area overlapping with the traffic routes and having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:

creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the existing wireless telephony communications network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network, and

identifying a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station within a geographical context defined by the plurality of traffic routes, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for a same one of the mobile stations at different times and reflecting movement of the same mobile station, wherein the step of identifying a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations comprises the steps of;

identifying start and end cell sector pairs from a polyline of movement locations associated with the movement records for the same mobile station;

for each start and end cell sector pairs, determining all of the traffic routes between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair;

calculating a cell handoff score for each traffic route between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair;

eliminating any of the traffic routes between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair that are not within an acceptable range of the handoff scores;

calculating a velocity along each traffic route between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair that are not eliminated by the handoff score using time stamps in the movement record; and

calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of the vehicle associated with the mobile station along the particular traffic route at a specific time;

trimming each traffic route for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity exceeds a maximum velocity cutoff;

eliminating any traffic routes for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity exceeds the maximum velocity cutoff and the traffic route cannot be trimmed;

eliminating any traffic route for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity is less than a minimum velocity cutoff;

calculating a z-score of the calculated velocity for all of the remaining ones of the traffic routes that not been eliminated; and

selecting the particular traffic route from the remaining traffic routes based on the z-score of the calculated velocity and the handoff score.

8. A method for determining traffic velocities along traffic routes based on movement of mobile stations operating within a previously-existing wireless telephony communications network comprising a cell sector coverage area overlapping with the traffic routes and having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:

creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the existing wireless telephony communications network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network,

identifying a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station within a geographical context defined by the plurality of traffic routes, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network or a same one of the mobile stations at different times and reflecting movement of the same mobile station; and

calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of the vehicle associated with the mobile station alone the particular traffic route at a specific time; and

determining if mobile positioning system data are needed for calculating an estimate of the average velocity and the standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time, this step further comprising the steps of;

determining whether the estimate of the average velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time is based on a number of movement records at or above a threshold;

for those traffic routes where the velocity estimate is based on a number of movement records below a threshold, requesting mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network associated with the particular traffic route at the specific time;

receiving the requested mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network; and

revising the calculation of the estimate of the average velocity and standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for the specific time by using the received mobile station location data.

9. A system for determining traffic velocities along a plurality of traffic routes by using operational data associated with mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communications network overlapping the traffic routes and comprising a cell sector coverage area having a plurality of cell sectors, the system comprising:

a processor module, logically coupled to the existing wireless telephony communication network, operable to generate a plurality of traffic data records based on operational data obtained from the wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time, wherein the processor module comprises a privacy module adapted to remove a mobile station identifier number identifying one of the mobile stations from each of the traffic data records, to replace the mobile station identifier number in the traffic data record with a unique identifying number, and to maintain a relationship between the unique identifying number and the replaced mobile station identifier number;

a movement filtering and detection module, logically coupled to the processor module, operable to generate a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station;

an analysis configuration module, logically coupled to at least one database comprising cell sector coverage area information for the wireless telephony communications network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network, operable to generate the plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing the cell sector coverage area information and the geographic information for roadways; and

a traffic modeler module, logically coupled to the movement filtering and detection module and to the analysis configuration module, operable to generate a plurality of data records by processing the locations for the mobile stations as identified by the movement records within a geographical context provided by the plurality of traffic routes, each data record comprising an identification of the average velocity along a particular one of the traffic routes at a specific time.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor module comprises a privacy module adapted to remove a mobile station identifier number identifying one of the mobile stations from each of the traffic data records, to replace the mobile station identifier number in the traffic data record with a unique identifying number, and to maintain a relationship between the unique identifying number and the replaced mobile station identifier number.

11. The system of claim 9 further comprising a configuration and monitoring module, logically coupled to the processor module and to the movement and filtering detection module, operative to configure the operational activity of the processor module and the movement and filtering detection module and to monitor the operational activity of the processor module and the movement and filtering detection module.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the processor module comprises:

a plurality of file interfaces to extract location movement data from the operational data obtained from the wireless telephony communication network; and

a parsing engine logically coupled to the interfaces to generate the plurality of traffic data records in response to the extracted location movement data.

13. The system of claim 9 further comprising an HTTP query interface, logically coupled to the movement filtering and detection module and to the traffic modeler module, adapted to communicate each movement record from the movement filtering and detection module to the traffic modeler module.

14. The system of claim 9 further comprising mobile position system determination module, logically coupled to the traffic modeler module and a mobile positioning system for the wireless telephony communication network, operable to request mobile station location data from the mobile positioning system if the average velocity along the traffic route associated with the particular data record at the specific time is based on a number of the movement records less then a threshold value.

15. The system of claim 9 further comprising a route database, logically coupled to the traffic modeler module, operable to store the plurality of data records for access by an end user.

16. A method for determining traffic velocities along a plurality of traffic routes by using operational data associated with mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communications network overlapping the traffic routes and comprising a cell sector coverage area having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:

generating a plurality of traffic data records based on the operation data from the existing wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time;

processing the plurality of traffic data records by removing certain confidential information associated with the operational data for the mobile stations operating within the wireless telephony communication network, the processing step comprising, for each of the traffic data records, the steps of

replacing the mobile station identifier number in the traffic data record with a unique identifying number; and

maintaining a relationship between the replaced mobile station identifier number and the unique identifying number to assist the tracking of movement records generated for the same mobile station; and

generating a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station;

creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the wireless telephony communication network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network;

identifying from the plurality of traffic routes a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement of the vehicle associated with the same mobile station; and

calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time by using the movement records associated with the particular traffic route.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of receiving a continuous flow of the operational data from the wireless telephony communication network.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of processing the plurality of traffic data records by removing certain confidential information associated with the operational data for the mobile stations operating within the wireless telephony communication network, the processing step comprising, for each of the traffic data records, the steps of

replacing the mobile station identifier number in the traffic data record with a unique identifying number;

and

maintaining a relationship between the replaced mobile station identifier number and the unique identifying number to assist the tracking of movement records generated for the same mobile station.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of creating a plurality of traffic routes by processing the cell sector coverage area information and the geographic information for roadways comprises, for each cell sector, the steps of:

determining all road segments intersecting the cell sector from the geographic information for roadways;

determining a plurality of boundary road segments for the cell sector from all road segments intersecting the cell sector; and

calculating the particular one of the traffic routes between each boundary road segment in the cell sector and all other cell sectors.

20. A method for determining traffic velocities alone a plurality of traffic routes by using operational data associated with mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communications network overlapping the traffic routes and comprising a cell sector coverage area having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:

generating a plurality of traffic data records based on the operational data from the existing wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time; and

generating a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station;

creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the wireless telephony communication network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network;

identifying from the plurality of traffic routes a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement of the vehicle associated with the same mobile station, wherein the step of identifying a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations comprises the steps of;

identifying start and end cell sector pairs from a polyline of movement locations associated with the movement records for the same mobile station;

for each start and end cell sector pairs, determining all of the traffic routes between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair;

calculating a cell handoff score for each traffic route between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair;

eliminating any of the traffic routes between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair that are not within an acceptable range of the handoff scores;

calculating a velocity along each traffic route between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair that are not eliminated by the handoff score using time stamps in the movement record;

trimming each traffic route for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity exceeds a maximum velocity cutoff;

eliminating any traffic routes for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity exceeds the maximum velocity cutoff and the traffic route cannot be trimmed;

eliminating any traffic route for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity is less than a minimum velocity cutoff;

calculating a z-score of the calculated velocity for all of the remaining ones of the traffic routes that not been eliminated; and

selecting the particular traffic route from the remaining traffic routes based on the z-score of the calculated velocity and the handoff score; and

calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time by using the movement records associated with the particular traffic route.

21. A method for determining traffic velocities along a plurality of traffic routes by using operational data associated with mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communications network overlapping the traffic routes and comprising a cell sector coverage area having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:

generating a plurality of traffic data records based on the operational data from the existing wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time; and

generating a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station;

creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the wireless telephony communication network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network;

identifying from the plurality of traffic routes a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement of the vehicle associated with the same mobile station

calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time by using the movement records associated with the particular traffic route; and

determining if mobile positioning system data are needed for calculating an estimate of the average velocity and the standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time, this step further comprising the steps of;

determining whether the estimate of the average velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time is based on a number of movement records at or above a threshold;

for those traffic routes where the velocity estimate is based on a number of movement records below a threshold, requesting mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network associated with the particular traffic route at the specific time;

receiving the requested mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network; and

revising the calculation of the estimate of the average velocity and standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for the specific time by using the received mobile station location data.

22. A computer-readable storage device storing a set of computer-executable instructions implementing a method for determining traffic velocities along traffic routes based on movement of mobile stations operating within a wireless telephony communications network comprising a cell sector coverage area overlapping with the traffic routes and having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:

creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the wireless telephony communication network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network;

identifying a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station within a geographical context defined by the plurality of traffic routes, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for a same one of the mobile stations at different times and reflecting movement of the same mobile station;

calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of the vehicle associated with the mobile station along the particular traffic route at a specific time;

determining whether the estimate of the average velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for the specific time is based on a number of movement records at or above a threshold;

for those traffic routes where the velocity estimate is based on a number of movement records below a threshold, requesting mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network associated with the particular traffic route at the specific time;

receiving the requested mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network; and

revising the calculation of the estimate of the average velocity and standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for the specific time by using the received mobile station location data.

23. The computer-readable storage device of claim 22 wherein the step of creating a plurality of traffic routes comprises, for each of the cell sectors, the steps of:

determining all road segments intersecting one of the cell sectors based upon the geographic information for roadways;

determining a plurality of boundary road segments for the cell sector based upon all road segments intersecting the cell sector; and

calculating the traffic routes between each boundary road segment in the cell sector.

24. The computer-readable storage device of claim 22 wherein the step of identifying a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations comprises the steps of:

identifying start and end cell sector pairs from a polyline of movement locations associated with the movement records for the same mobile station;

for each start and end cell sector pairs, determining all of the traffic routes between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair;

calculating a cell handoff score for each traffic route between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair;

eliminating any of the traffic routes between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair that are not within an acceptable range of the handoff scores;

calculating a velocity along each traffic route between the cell sector in the cell sector pair that are not eliminated by the handoff score using time stamps in the movement record;

trimming each traffic route for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity exceeds a maximum velocity cutoff;

eliminating any traffic routes for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity exceeds the maximum velocity cutoff and the traffic route cannot be trimmed;

eliminating any traffic route for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity is less than a minimum velocity cutoff;

calculating a z-score of the calculated velocity for all of the remaining ones of the traffic routes that not been eliminated; and

selecting the particular traffic route from the remaining traffic routes based on the z-score of the calculated velocity and the handoff score.

25. The computer-readable storage device of claim 22 wherein the step of calculating an estimate of an average velocity and standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time further comprises the steps of:

determining an average velocity of a vehicle for each route segment in the particular traffic route by using the movement records associated with the particular traffic route segment;

determining an average velocity of a vehicle for a traffic route comprising a plurality of route segments by using a distance of the particular traffic route and the travel time over the distance by using the movement records associated with the particular traffic route;

determining the standard deviation of the average velocity for a vehicle for each route segment in the particular traffic route by using the difference of the sum of the average velocity of a vehicle for each route segment comprising a traffic route of the particular traffic route and the average velocity of a vehicle for a traffic route.

26. A computer-readable storage device storing a set of computer-executable instructions implementing a method for determining traffic velocities along a plurality of traffic routes by using operational data associated with mobile stations operating in a wireless telephony communications network overlapping the traffic routes and comprising a cell sector coverage area having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:

generating a plurality of traffic data records based on the operational data from the wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time; and

generating a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station;

creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the wireless telephony communication network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network;

identifying from the plurality of traffic routes a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement of the vehicle associated with the same mobile station;

calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time by using the movement records associated with the particular traffic route;

determining whether the estimate of the average velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time is based on a number of movement records at or above a threshold;

for those traffic routes where the velocity estimate is based on a number of movement records below a threshold, requesting mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network associated with the particular traffic route at the specific time;

receiving the requested mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network; and

revising the calculation of the estimate of the average velocity and standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for the specific time by using the received mobile station location data.

27. The computer-readable storage device of claim 26 further comprising the step of receiving a continuous flow of the operational data from the wireless telephony communication network.

28. The computer-readable storage device of claim 26 further comprising the step of processing the plurality of traffic data records by removing certain confidential information associated with the operational data for the mobile stations operating within the wireless telephony communication network, the processing step comprising, for each of the traffic data records, the steps of

replacing the mobile station identifier number in the traffic data record with a unique identifying number;

and

maintaining a relationship between the replaced mobile station identifier number and the unique identifying number to assist the tracking of movement records generated for the same mobile station.

29. The computer-readable storage device of claim 26 wherein the step of creating a plurality of traffic routes by processing the cell sector coverage area information and the geographic information for roadways comprises, for each cell sector, the steps of:

determining all road segments intersecting the cell sector from the geographic information for roadways;

determining a plurality of boundary road segments for the cell sector from all road segments intersecting the cell sector; and

calculating the particular one of the traffic routes between each boundary road segment in the cell sector and all other cell sectors.

30. The computer-readable storage device of claim 26 wherein the step of identifying a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations comprises the steps of:

identifying start and end cell sector pairs from a polyline of movement locations associated with the movement records for the same mobile station;

for each start and end cell sector pairs, determining all of the traffic routes between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair;

calculating a cell handoff score for each traffic route between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair;

eliminating any of the traffic routes between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair that are not within an acceptable range of the handoff scores;

calculating a velocity along each traffic route between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair that are not eliminated by the handoff score using time stamps in the movement record;

trimming each traffic route for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity exceeds a maximum velocity cutoff;

eliminating any traffic routes for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity exceeds the maximum velocity cutoff and the traffic route cannot be trimmed;

eliminating any traffic route for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity is less than a minimum velocity cutoff;

calculating a z-score of the calculated velocity for all of the remaining ones of the traffic routes that not been eliminated; and

selecting the particular traffic route from the remaining traffic routes based on the z-score of the calculated velocity and the handoff score.

31. The computer-readable storage device of claim 26 wherein the step of calculating an estimate of an average velocity and standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time further comprises the steps of:

determining an average velocity of a vehicle for each route segment in the particular traffic route by using the movement records associated with the particular traffic route segment;

determining an average velocity of a vehicle for a traffic route comprising a plurality of route segments by using a distance of the particular traffic route and the travel time over the distance by using the movement records associated with the particular traffic route;

determining the standard deviation of the average velocity for a vehicle for each route segment in the particular traffic route by using the difference of the sum of the average velocity of a vehicle for each route segment comprising a traffic route of the particular traffic route and the average velocity of a vehicle for a traffic route.