Microsoft Is Crunching Huge Data To Foresee Traffic Jams Up To An Hour Before

Traffic jams are a part of our everyday problems, and there is no denying that most of our time is spent suffering through these jams. How about we tell you that soon you will be able to foresee these jams! and No, it is not an April fool gimmick. Reportedly, Microsoft is working on a research that could forecast traffic jams.

The company has collaborated with the Federal University of Minas Gerais,which is among Brazil’s largest universities, to initiate the research project, known as Traffic Prediction Project. If all goes well, then we could foresee a jam up to an hour before it happens.

The project is accumulating all traffic data from the transport department, road CCTV footage, Bing’s traffic maps, and also driver’s social media data, to see if the existing data pattern can help in forecasting the jams 15-60 minutes prior. Microsoft will utilize its Azure cloud-computing platform for the project, which will come handy in providing the processing power to record the huge data.

Although there are many online tools and services such as Google Maps that can project driver’s real-time blockage spot, but they are often too late in alerting the driver approaching a jam. Many companies are working on solutions that would provide real-time traffic condition, but there is still a long way to go in this field.

Microsoft has already tested the research model in cities such as London, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, and the accumulated results claim to have attained 80 percent of accuracy. The accuracy percentage seems impressive, but on considering that it was mostly sourced from the traffic-flow information, the accuracy might rise up to 90 percent if all the information from all the sources is added to the mix.

The world is frequently growing towards urbanization, which means that the solution to traffic jam forecast will be profitable territory. The solution would enable the drivers to take substitute routes in order to avoid the jam. According to the estimates made in 2014, 54 percent of the population lived in cities, which is a rise from 34 percent in 1960. The growth is predicted at almost 1.84 percent every year until 2020, and 1.63 percent until 2025.

Zara Ali
Categories: Transportation
Tags: Microsoft