Inrix travel time application

[cpzilliacus]

Anyone using the Inrix smartphone app?  I recently installed it on an (old) Android tablet, and it is pretty cool. 

A friend on Facebook says the premium version is on sale for $9.99 (I paid $25 for the Android edition from Google).

Just in Time for Memorial Day: INRIX Traffic Premium App for Only $9.99

[Duke87]

Y'know, the Google Maps app has live traffic data.. and it's free.

[NE2]

Apparently the Goog uses Inrix data, too.

[Brandon]

Y'know, the Google Maps app has live traffic data.. and it's free.

Why would I use either when I can go directly to the source for traffic data around here?
http://travelmidwest.com/lmiga/home.jsp

[agentsteel53]

I see that TravelMidwest has light green and dark green. 

google shows, as light green, when traffic is just dense enough to not be smooth; I wish they would differentiate between "still moving at 5mph above the speed limit, but be prepared to slow down or change lanes a lot" vs "cruise control, right lane, have fun".

[cpzilliacus]

Y'know, the Google Maps app has live traffic data.. and it's free.

Indeed they do - but the Inrix app has a pretty innovative display that "moves" with your vehicle as you drive down the road, and can estimate travel time to a location that I have tried in D.C., Md. and Va. (if you pay the $9.99 for the "premium" version).

[agentsteel53]

I dunno how much one values their time, but $9.99 is an hour's work at minimum wage.

how long before you save an hour of traffic based on this app compared to google?  seems like it might be as little as a few weeks before the app has paid for itself.

[cpzilliacus]

Y'know, the Google Maps app has live traffic data.. and it's free.

Why would I use either when I can go directly to the source for traffic data around here?
http://travelmidwest.com/lmiga/home.jsp

It is quite possible that they get their data from Inrix (that's where the I-95 Corridor Coalition gets theirs).

[Brandon]

Y'know, the Google Maps app has live traffic data.. and it's free.

Why would I use either when I can go directly to the source for traffic data around here?
http://travelmidwest.com/lmiga/home.jsp

It is quite possible that they get their data from Inrix (that's where the I-95 Corridor Coalition gets theirs).

Nope.  They get their data directly from IDOT (loop detectors in the pavement), ISTHA (I-Pass data), WisDOT, InDOT, and the consortium that runs the Skyway and the Indiana Toll Road.  More than likely, Inrix may get their data from them.

In 1993, USDOT identified the Gary-Chicago-Milwaukee Corridor (GCM) as an ITS Priority Corridor. Initial membership included a coalition of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin transportation agencies and other interested parties. The primary focus of GCM was corridor planning and development of coordinated responses to traffic congestion. In late 2006, the focus of the GCM Corridor was reoriented towards interstate operations, and the name changed to reflect the new focus. The new Lake Michigan Interstate Gateway Alliance (LMIGA) was born, and at this time its corridor boundaries were expanded to include southwest Michigan and the area east and south of Madison, Wisconsin.

Today, LMIGA is a voluntary organization with active member participation from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the Illinois Department of Transportation, the Indiana Department of Transportation, the Michigan Department of Transportation, the Illinois Tollway, the Skyway Concession Company LLC, and the Indiana Toll Road Concession Company LLC. The goal of LMIGA is to focus on operations within the region to ensure that traffic moves safely and efficiently. This goal is realized by interagency communication and coordination, improvement projects, training efforts, and region wide planning.

[cpzilliacus]

I dunno how much one values their time, but $9.99 is an hour's work at minimum wage.

how long before you save an hour of traffic based on this app compared to google?  seems like it might be as little as a few weeks before the app has paid for itself.

It has already saved me time where Inrix has "discovered" a problem that I would not otherwise have been aware of.

[cpzilliacus]

Y'know, the Google Maps app has live traffic data.. and it's free.

Why would I use either when I can go directly to the source for traffic data around here?
http://travelmidwest.com/lmiga/home.jsp

It is quite possible that they get their data from Inrix (that's where the I-95 Corridor Coalition gets theirs).

Nope.  They get their data directly from IDOT (loop detectors in the pavement), ISTHA (I-Pass data), WisDOT, InDOT, and the consortium that runs the Skyway and the Indiana Toll Road.  More than likely, Inrix may get their data from them.

Originally, Inrix was getting their data from commercial fleet vehicles of various kinds.

But now they are using "regular" private vehicles that have a smartphone or tablet with the Inrix app installed and running as probe vehicles.

Note that Inrix only reports on highway  network links that are in their system, and not others.  This is usually fine, but it seems to take them forever to add new links.  Md. 200 is still not in the network (and I reminded them of that recently).

I don't know if they are getting data from toll roads in the East or elsewhere (all-electronic toll roads like Md. 200, Ontario's Highway 407 and North Carolina's TriEx would seem ideal sources of data to check the Inrix data for accuracy).

[agentsteel53]

one problem with Google is that they always show the best traffic at a given resolution, and sometimes you have to zoom in to detect hotspots of shitty traffic.  it would be a very quick tweak to their algorithm, for each pixel to be rendered as the worst of the subpixels, as opposed to the best... but until then, this is a pretty fatal flaw of Google.

for example, the other day I was shown "all green" at a zoom level of half of San Diego for the section of I-8 and I-805 I wanted to drive.  when I got to the 8-805 junction, traffic was stopped.  I had to zoom in three levels before discovering the red line.

does Inrix do better at this?

[cpzilliacus]

one problem with Google is that they always show the best traffic at a given resolution, and sometimes you have to zoom in to detect hotspots of shitty traffic.  it would be a very quick tweak to their algorithm, for each pixel to be rendered as the worst of the subpixels, as opposed to the best... but until then, this is a pretty fatal flaw of Google.

for example, the other day I was shown "all green" at a zoom level of half of San Diego for the section of I-8 and I-805 I wanted to drive.  when I got to the 8-805 junction, traffic was stopped.  I had to zoom in three levels before discovering the red line.

does Inrix do better at this?

Inrix reports out at the link level in its network (and you can zoom in and out in its app - on my (old) Samsung Galaxy, zooming is easy and fast).  If you  get in "too close," streets and roads will render, but the colored lines that represent speeds disappear. 

On roads with functional classification of freeway, there is usually at least one link in each direction between interchanges, and some interchanges have a link "inside" the interchange. Link lengths in Inrix can range from as little as 25 or 50 feet to as long as 2 to 3 miles (and there is not always any logic to the lengths of the links).

Aside from new network links, I have found a few arterial highway links that are inexplicably missing, and have pointed those out to Inrix with its "feedback" tool.

[deathtopumpkins]

Y'know, the Google Maps app has live traffic data.. and it's free.

Indeed they do - but the Inrix app has a pretty innovative display that "moves" with your vehicle as you drive down the road, and can estimate travel time to a location that I have tried in D.C., Md. and Va. (if you pay the $9.99 for the "premium" version).

Does it actually give driving directions too?

Because Google Maps moves with you as you drive, shows traffic information that I've found to be accurate over 90% of the time, calculates drive times in current traffic and no traffic (and on the web version based on historical data at any given time of day) and gives turn-by-turn navigation. And it's free.

[kphoger]

I dunno how much one values their time, but $9.99 is an hour's work at minimum wage.

Huh?  Where do you live?  Federal minimum wage is 7.25 an hour.  The state with the highest minimum wage has 9.19 an hour.