American cars, trucks, motorcycles and buses traveled an estimated 1.6 trillion miles in 2001, the latest year on record. In addition to being one rather long drive (more than a quarter light-year), it represents a 77 percent increase over the nation’s collective odometer reading in 1970 when Americans logged about 920 billion vehicle-miles.(1) The job of keeping all that traffic flowing safely and efficiently over the nation’s highways, streets and roads falls to the U.S. Department of Transportation, its various agencies, and their many counterparts at state, regional and local governments.
No matter which agency or entity they work for, surface transportation professionals share a common need for real-time information about the number and variety of vehicles traveling over their particular patch of pavement at any given moment. They need to continuously gather and analyze such information and share it in real time with a myriad of audiences, from local public safety officials to authorities in nearby jurisdictions. Drive-time media need fresh, accurate data to share with transportation companies and individual commuters. Emergency response teams need to know the fastest, most reliable route to any point on the map at any given time.