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Tracking Cell Phones for Real-Time Traffic Data
stillgoogling writes to tell us the Associated Press is reporting that the Missouri Department of Transportation is stepping up a project to track the mass movements of cellular phones. This project is designed to use the movements of cell phones to map real-time traffic conditions statewide on more than 5,500 miles of road. From the article: "Officials say there's no Big Brother agenda in the Missouri project -- the data will remain anonymous, leaving no possibility to track specific people from their driveway to their destination."
Here you go. I particularly like the phrase "Even though its anonymous, it's still ominous". Try saying that 20 times after a couple of beers.
I feel a disturbance in the aether, as if a million tinfoil hats rustled, and then fell silent.
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
It seems that INRETS (= National Institute for Transport and Safety Research) teamed up with SFR (one of the mobile operators) to do just that.
...
I can't find any direct link to the paper, altough somebody with an IEEE account could probably find some. It is also cited on University of Virginia Center for Transportation studies.
If somebody can link to more info
#include "coucou.h"
This was done in Finland a long time ago. Even made it to slashdot.
I don't think that the state will invest money only for traffic control purposes. Traffic was also the excuse for installing cameras on roads during the 2004 olympic games in Athens but were used to track people during demonstrations...
20 times?
You need a hobby, mate. Most of us get bored and go home after 3 repetitions!
"Officials say there's no Big Brother agenda in the Missouri project (outside of the obvious)-- the data will remain anonymous (Unless we want to watch a specific person), leaving no possibility to track specific people from their driveway to their destination (without a reason, though any reason at all will do)."
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
Our company has been experimenting with this idea since a year or two, to measure the traffic on smaller "B" roads, that unlike highways do not have traffic measuring equiment built into the asphalt. Here is a short article (In Dutch, use Babelfish), and the site with the traffic information (Type in the 6 digit number shown into the "log in" box). They obtain phone location data from one or more GSM providers. The data has been filtered so they only get generic location data; no phone numbers or other identifiers are provided.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
I have a theory which states that traffic, when essentially quantized (grouped into bunches of vehicles moving between traffic lights), exhibits several quantum mechanisms.
For example, whether or not a quantum of traffic (bunch of cars) reaches their intended destinations, the affects on the traffic of that area are the same as if they really did reach their intended destinations. This is essentially because people generally choose routes which they think will be the fastest or easiset, and people think "Oh it's Friday afternoon on the start of a long weekend, lots of people will be going out of the city for holidays down highway X, I'll go a different way." Hence whether or not a quantum of traffic is going somewhere, people avoid them just the same.
This can be simulated by a computer in a combination with this kind of system, to very accurately time traffic light sequences so as to reduce the average waiting time per vehicle across a large area. In theory it is possible to quantize traffic (eg, stop/allow single cars until they end up in a bigger group) and time traffic lights so that almost no waiting at traffic lights is needed. As long as you travel within one of the quanta you would have green lights all the way.
"Officials say there's no Big Brother agenda in the Missouri project -- the data will remain anonymous, leaving no possibility to track specific people from their driveway to their destination." Maybe for the trial run & to get approval it will remain anonymous - but just like the video cameras put up on american taxpayer paid roads and intersections "for traffic purposes", it won't take long before this technology, pitched as one thing, will be used for another. Coming from a friend in law enforcement - those video cameras are used for whatever they want.
This is old news. Slashdot is getting behind. Whomever posts this stuff is way behind. I read this colum every hour. Yes I spelt colum wrong.
Simple solution is to power off the cell phone; some newer models are rumored to never truly power off - simple work-around if unsure / paranoid is to then place the phone into a shielded bag similar to what is provided to folks who use EZPass.
Cell phone tracking is already so prevalent that use for traffic monitoring is merely another extension of the extensive data collection that's already being going on for quite some time from cell phone users, including actual data, such as text messages sent/received.
On an aside, most folks have no real need to always have their cell phone on when driving - let the voice mail take calls and help keep the roads safer; due to lawsuits some companies forbid use of cell phones while driving, so why even leave the phone on...
Ron Bennett
...and they'll want the whole mileage you make. whould any goverment official really SAY they are planning to spy on the poulation?? Does anyone remeber ANY government that announced such a spying plan BEFORE putting it in place?? seriously, this is just the infrastructure necessary to actualy get to the big brother level. the people putting it in place won't be the ones who get to use it to spy: this is just unlocking the door...
Write, e-mail, or call the Missouri Department of Transportation & tell them what you think.
Missouri Department of Transportation
105 W. Capitol Ave.
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0270
Phone: 573-751-2551
Fax: 573-751-6555
Toll Free: 888-275-6636
http://www.modot.state.mo.us/
a Wired article appears...
Virgin Radio
But you forget -- in some regions, traffic is a major issue. (eg, the Washington, DC metro area) -- if legislators can get get traffic issues cleaned up in an area that has major problems, it could mean an easy re-election for them.
If they're actually thinking about the general population, and not themselves, they'd be looking at the other benefits that something like this could provide --
Yes, there are potentially less-than-ethical reasons for wanting a system like this, but there are pleny of reasons why something like this is a benefit for the general population -- now, is the money for this project worthwhile? For all we know, it's being done because one of the politicians is getting kickbacks, and they're spending too much, as compared to other, more worthwhile projects for their state (in terms of Benefit/Cost Ratio or some other measure used to determine project viability)
(I didn't read the orginal article, so some of this may have already been covered. Of course, there wasn't a link to it, so everyone has an excuse this time. This might also show how much work some of the editors do to look at articles being linked to ... as opposed to looking for articles that are controversial and/or don't hold up, to result in 'animated discussion')
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Link to original AP article
When an editor decides to rewrite the copy, it helps to make sure the meat is still there -- in this case, the actual link to the article.
So that other people don't have to waste time like I did, here are a few assorted articles on the topic (some are marked as specifically from the AP):
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
You are a fool stop posting this asshole
Just count the fucking CARS!!!
The latest Slashdot meme.
Paper (pdf warning).
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
So what happens when someone forgets to turn off their phone on an airplane?
"Wow, traffic is really flying on the I-95 corridor"
Isn't the true average speed of the said cars much more interesting if you want to know your ETA to her place?
and there's a fork in the road. If they see that 99% of people go left and 1% goes right then they'll know 99% chance I'll go left.
.... I'm confused.
So. Then I think they think I'll go left, so I'll go right.
But they think that I think that they think I'll go left to go right so they go left.
But I think they think that I think that they think
Would that be you Budweisers or real beers ?
...Until further notice. Please check the 'I agree' box next to your signature to show you have read the contract agreement (which we know you didn't).
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
Oooops! What I said still stands, but just scroll down a couple of posts and figure out for your self who I was responding to. Damned sticky trackpad :)
Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise. - William Shakespeare
You heard the man. In order to assist this research, you must talk on the phone as much as possible when driving around. None of this wimpy "pulling off to the side" or paying attention to the road. Those of you reading Slashdot while driving: You know who you are. Now, take that other hand off the steering wheel and pick up the phone. NOW!
Nah, I make her come to get me. She texts me and tells me to stop reading /. and come out to her car.
By the way, I'm not joking.
The latest Slashdot meme.
It's got to be more cost effective than placing all of the speed sensors like they've done in Georgia ( available on www.georgia-navigator.com)
Jerry
http://www.cyvin.org/
This approach has been patented long ago. The latest US Patent on is 6,577,946 which has references to all the olds one covering basically the same stuff.
Wow, could there be any larger in your face privacy violations then this? "Hey we are going to track all our citizens in real-time. Don't worry its only for traffic... until a divorce lawyer subpoenas the logs for his case"
The next invasion of privacy will be requiring every automobile to be registered with the government. Armed law enforcement agents will compel any vehicle not displaying its government id to stop.
Oh, wait a minute...
org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
The perfect state job:
"seven hundred thirty two thousand three hundred fifty two"
"seven hundred thirty two thousand three hundred fifty three"
"seven hundred thirty two thousand ummm.... ah shit!"
"one"
"two"
"three"...
and then get the dog to chase its tail. The cops will then think your just driving in really small circles. You then make your gettaway while they're looking for you.
Evil people don't think they're evil. - George Lucas, Making of Ep III
Motorola did a lot of work with UK company Trafficmaster on their Smartnav product, where most of the traffic data comes in realtime from roadside cameras and sensors on Motorway bridges covering 9,000 miles of UK roads. When you push the button on the unit, the mobile phone rings into a call centre with the current GPS position encoded in the Caller ID of the phone call (3 bytes), you tell them the destination, and they send the turn-by-turn instructions back into the unit. If a jam shows up on your route before you get to your destination, the central servers ring the units and offer (with an estimate of the delay if you do nothing), then download, a route around the jam (if indeed one is available). Works really well.
Getting a GPS signal communicated back and forth in real time is the only way this hack will work - at least until the cell sizes get to 3G pico sizes.
There have been experiments with floating vehicle sensors, but most companies that say they use these for real time data collection do so as a PR stunt - the number of vehicles that need to be equipped and the economics of getting the data back in real time don't make business sense today, from either an accuracy or cost standpoint. Most instead download history at the end of the day, and just pick up details of roadworks and accidents from "journalistic" sources - whether there's a jam present or not.
Until we get GPS in most handsets (and if operators allow the caller IDs to be sent through with GPS data on board, but the call terminated at either end without any money changing hands), the use of mobile phones for spotting jams, or indeed navigating around them, will be very limited.
Ian W.
...does Mapquest not have to hire two guys to drive around and map out the entire North American road system (just track all the cellphones and map out the roads from there...but beware of underground parking lots and off-road adventures)...okay, maybe they still need the two guys for the boonies.
A customer of ours has an older cell phone. He likes it and deosn't see the need to upgrade. He's firmly in the "a phone is a phone" crowd. His contract came up for renewal this month and the sales rep told him that there were new Homeland security rules in place and, since his phone didn't have GPS, they could not renew his contract. Has anyone else heard of this? It sounds like bunk but....
i submitted this 2 weeks ago but i didn't use "stillgoogling" as my name....
I don't know what you're complaining about. The Slashdot editors' random submission selection system is totally and completely unbiased.
May the Maths Be with you!
The simple fact is we gave up any right we had to privacy in this area when we caved in to the E911 movement. Big Brother already can, will, and does track our movements through our cell phones. I see no reason not to use the info that can already be used to an individual's detriment for the common good. The only real concern here is that this information will be more publicly available. Special care should be taken to insure that only enough information is collected to meet their advertised purpose.
"Never limit what you know to what you do", Me
After some thought, most reasonable people conclude that the current method of taxing gasoline works better. It's anonymous. It's cheap and easy because prices must be computed per gallon when you sell gasoline anyway. It taxes you for how much you drive and imposes no burden on those who don't use the roads.
Why do some government officials love the Big Brother way? The greedy ones realize you can squeeze much more out of people if you charge them differential rates they are unaware of. I'll bet most of you pay more for telco than you do for gasoline and roads, yet roads are more expensive to maintain than coper wires or fibers. The invasive ones realize they can track their perceived enemies. Both of these principles are in full swing in the UK, where the camera networks track people and charge those who drive downtown at the right time of day or speed. The camera networks were built to, yes you guessed it, "fight terrorism" and have manifestly failed at that. To get their wishes, they are willing to create a whole new infrastructure - the black boxes mentioned in the above link. The trade magazines were full of shine on about revenue maximization that hinted at tracking abilities.
The wired article points to some of the privacy concerns and shows that public officials are now aware of the issue and have to lie around it. The fact of the matter is that your cell phone can already be used to track you and that our sorry laws let that happen without much trouble or notice. Better laws would require the destruction of all data not required for billing, the destruction of that after payment and all the usual constitutional requirements to obtain so much as that. Individual tracking tools are too abusive to be allowed for people who are not convicted fellons.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Making this system "opt-in", rather than universal (and usually undisclosed, especially to the unsophisticated mass of users), would go a long way to reassuring us that Big Brother's agenda isn't driving it. And publishing the source to the software that runs the dataprocessing will make sure that Big Brother isn't hiding in the details. Then an anonymous system that people join because they want to subscribe, so they publish, can be trusted - and popular.
--
make install -not war
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/USA_v_PenRegister/
When they passed the seat belt law in Washington State they said they'd never use it to pull people over, it was a "secondary infraction only."
Now of course they routinely pull people over for not appearing to have their seat belts on. Which then leads to things such as "I've pulled you over because you didn't have your seat belt on" "But I do have my seat belt on!" "Sir, you clearly don't have it on right now" "But I took it off when you pulled me over." "Sir, did you realize you don't have the legally required trash bag in the driver compartment?"...
So of course I believe them when they say they won't escalate the usage of this cell phone tracking data, 'cause I'm a Mo-Ron!
Perhaps this data could also be used to hold the mobile companies accountable for gaps in their network coverage along monitored roads.
And of course the signalling can go the other way. Yesterday I was the first car at the scene of a horrible road accident. There was no cell phone coverage, so we sent a car back up the road to get a 911 call through. But the responding deputy was actually alerted by the backup on the road itself that something was wrong.
The fact of the matter is, THEY can track you by your phone if THEY want to. THEY have been able to track you a bunch of other ways before this, if THEY wanted to. Maybe not your exact location right now, but close enough to go get you if THEY wanted to.
Then again, is it worth all the time worrying about THEM tracking you when most of the time THEY dont give a good goddamn if you're even alive, much less where you are at any given point in time, so long as you don't do anything horribly wrong.
I really can't see why people worry about this so much
<ramblin>
Things THEY could do to use the cell phone system more:
THEY could even use it to tell the highway partol where to put the speed traps now and start giving out a grip of speeding tickets. This would give an economic boost via court fees and fines, not to mention generating income for traffic court lawyers, whoc would then kick that back into the economy in the form of buying luxury items. Then we get a surplus of money in the government coffers, and they kick it back to the population of their respective states as a rebate every year, redistributing wealth from the people who can't seem to follow traffic laws to everyone else. (What? Have to speed to get where you're going? Sorry. Allow yourself more time to get where you;re goinig. Live closer to where you work. Your choice.)
Get stopped for doing something wrong and give the cops some fake id... lets check that against your cell phone, just for fun. "Sir, not to racially profile, but your cell phone says youre Eunice Witherspoon. You sure don't LOOK like a Eunice Witherspoon, being a man and all."
Or, like it has beeen said a million times already - you don't HAVE to have a cell phone. Carry a bunch of quarters and some disenfectant on you and use payphone!
</ramblin>
(hey, new submission posting form!)
s'wut i sed.
"Officials say there's no Big Brother agenda in the Missouri project -- the data will remain anonymous, leaving no possibility to track specific people from their driveway to their destination."
I remember that officials said the same of EZ Pass-like systems, then divorce lawyers found that they could successfully subpoena the information they want.
technically, that's not spying.
I guess that would be the only way to go. Pay cash for a prepaid phone.
...is here-
If they say they will keep it anonymous, there is still the fact that they got the data, and then there is not a long way to imagine them using it for some sort of "anti-terrorist" action or something of the sort. IMHO this is a very scary thing if it get implemented, since the gov. gets access to data they can use with less than a good reason in their "fight against terror".
Doolittle :
Bomb no.20 : To explode of course.
Australiand and Indian governments suggest surgically removing the eyes of Australian and Indian citizens. "Those are high resolution, stereoscopic imaging devices coupled with virtually infinite amount of memory. They sure can be used to scope out future targets, therefore in the interest of national security these tools of terror must be removed at birth, and retroactively for all citizens who have not yet undergone the procedure", an Australian official was quoted as saying. Complete removal of cerebral cortex is in the plans, according to a source in Indian government who shared information on the condition of anynymity.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has real-time traffic tracking capabilities (http://www.dot.state.mn.us/tmc/trafficinfo/map/re freshmap.html) in the Minneapolis-St.Paul metropolitian area that are completely anonymous. Mn/DOT embeds detectors in the pavement down the center of each lane of the freeway and on every entrance ramp to measure volume, occupancy, speed, and flow. They use this information to control the freeway entrance meters. We are one of the few metro areas in the U.S. that effectively uses on-ramp meters to assist in controlling traffic flow during the dreaded rush hours.
This seems like a much better way to gather really useful traffic information than tracking cellular phone movements, especially with how spotty cellular tower coverage can be.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Are they tracking individual phones? Or just checking the control channel load on towers along the routes?
-William
God is everything science has yet to explain.
Hey, Missouri traffic jams are better compared to most cities.
Subzerorz
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"Oh crikey... I've gone cross-eyed."
Libertas in infinitum
If we want more accurate information to generate a better model, sometimes we hire consultants to go out and do origin destination studies, which used to involve stopping traffic to ask them their destination, and now is done by matching licences plates passing an entry location to those leaving in another area. Both methods are quite expensive, and the first method isn't used anymore because people really don't like being stopped to answer surveys.
So why does this data matter? If we're trying to determine how many cars and trucks will use a new highway, we need to know what route they're currently taking to get a good estimate of which ones would benefit from the new route. Same thing if we're going to close a road, we need to know where traffic is likely to be diverted to.
Current measurement methods don't provide very accurate information. I'm as worried as anyone about possible privacy implications, but if there's a way to gather this data in a manner that can be guaranteed anonymous, the benefit to traffic planning could be tremendous.
I wouldn't be too surprised if a lawyer could get a direct subpoena against the phone company for data anyway.
That is great - where they put the sensors in, and the sensors work. However it costs money to put the sensors in. Then the sensors have to survive freeze-thaw cycles (which are particularly bad in MN). Then you need to account for the weakening of the road by the sensors (may or may not be a factor, I don't know). Then account for the cost of all those wires running around the city to collect the data.
Now the cell phone towers have issues of their own. However people want cell phones, so they will build them anyway. So you only need to account for the cost of extracting data from the towers. (which isn't easy as easy as road sensor, but you avoid all the other costs)
Pavement sensors only work where installed. Most side roads don't have them. Once you get the towers working it is a trivial matter to check on any side road you are interested in.
Don't work for the cellphone builders anymore....OUTSOURCED... but .... in my infinite archives likely still have a somewhat working set of the software somewhere. (not that it would work with current equipment) It was good enough to handle all calls and data plus in the biggest cities in the world... Dice and slice anyway you wanted... We spent 2.5 mil to prototype 10 working models. Just a matter of data mining.
heh!