Better Traffic Monitoring

Let's face it: everyone has been stuck in traffic at some point. My favorite is when you're bumper to bumper under a sign the traffic sign that say "normal traffic conditions ahead." While that may be "normal" for 8 am going into Manhattan, that's hardly useful information. there just has to be a better way. the latest idea is that the traffic could be monitored using cell phones.

Several state transportation agencies, including those in Maryland and Virginia, are beginning to test technology that allows them to monitor traffic by tracking cellphone signals and mapping them against road grids. The technology highlights how readily cellphones can become tracking devices for companies or government agencies - a development that troubles privacy advocates.

These new traffic systems can monitor several hundred thousand cellphones at once. The phones need only be turned on, not in use. And sophisticated software now makes it possible to discern whether a signal is coming from, say, a moving car or a pedestrian.

State officials say the systems will monitor large clusters of phones, not individual phones, and the benefits could be substantial. Source: International Herald Tribune