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Get traffic info by text
22 November 2009 By Dick O’Brien
A Dublin start-up firm is launching the country’s first ‘real time’ traffic information system following an investment of €2 million.
iTraffic has struck a deal with mobile operator O2 that will make the service available, initially as a text message information service. It will later be expanded to include applications on smart phones and integration into vehicle satellite navigation systems.
Brendan Conway, founder and chief executive of iTraffic, said that the system worked by drawing data from a number of sources, including anonymous data about the mass movement of mobile phones along main roads.
The firm also has deals with companies with commercial vehicle fleets to gain access to data generated by their vehicle tracking systems.
It has also hired people to go out and gather information manually on main routes. The information is then collated to produce data about journey times on key routes.
Conway, who has a background in the motor industry, founded iTraffic in 2007 and has funded its development in conjunction with a small number of private investors. The system was developed using patented technology licensed from ITIS, a British plc.
iTraffic is initially covering the main inter-urban roads and the M50 motorway around Dublin.
Users text 53526 with the number of the road they are travelling on, and they will receive a text informing them of journey times, which are updated every five minutes. Texts cost 60 cent.
Next month, the company plans to launch a complete service for Dublin covering all the main arterial routes. By the first quarter of next year, iTraffic is expecting to be working on a range of smart phones and satnav devices.
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