TomTom Traffic Stats in scientific research

Other
#1

Hi,
I came over TomTom Traffic Stats as a promising source for insight on city traffic.
I would like to explore this data source further in my research studies. However, I find little to none documentation of the data sources, processing mechanisms, biases or limitations on TomToms web pages.
Can anyone here point me in the right direction, I am sure there will be reports or white papers that document the possibilities and limitations of this data source?
Best regards,

Christian

#2

Have you checked Support center at Move portal?

#3

Thanks for the quick reply and the hint with the move portal.
But also there I only find a list of countries that are covered, and the statement that the data originates from “anonymous TomTom connected car in-dash navigation systems, portable navigation devices and anonymous GPS-equipped mobile phones.”
Unfortunately, this does say nothing about biases originating from different user groups, which might have different travel behavior. There seem to be little data quality flags in place, indicating the robustness of query result. All I found in that direction was the ability to reject a report in case of “too few probes”, without any hints what “too few” might mean.
I am also missing benchmark tests, e.g.: How does this data source perform when compared to more traditional methods or sensors?

#4

Our data comes from from many different partners and the vehicle probes we observe are coming from in-dash car navigation systems, portable navigation devices and smartphone apps. When it comes to our data penetration rate - we usually observe up to 15-20% data penetration on highways and major roads. It means that 15-20% of all the traffic travelling on highways is connected with our data sources. The value goes lower on smaller roads. It’s difficult to estimate the actual numbers in a given location because it varies due to many different factors such as:

  • In some countries we may have more data sources, while in some countries we have less data sources.
  • Local driving conditions. In case there was some major road construction in an area, we will observe less cars travelling there.
  • Seasonality - we usually observe less cars in winter than during the summer. There may also be drops in car numbers during different holidays.
  • The number of data sources we have might change throughout the year as we gain new partners and contracts all the time.

Keep in mind that our historical traffic applications (Traffic Stats and O/D Analysis) are mainly used to analyze trip patterns and because the data is coming from cars that are part of the whole traffic network, you can still get meaningful conclusions from our data, even if the sample size is lower in some locations. The patterns are usually visible regardless of the number of cars observed. The data we receive is highly anonymized and in some cases trimmed to protect the identity of drivers and unfortunately, we cannot disclose a list of all our data sources publicly due to privacy measurements as well.

1 Like