Tracking Traffic Jams With Cell Phones

kaufmanmoore writes, "Companies and governments are looking to alternatives to expensive radars and road sensors to track traffic jams. Two Atlanta-based companies are aiming to use data from wireless carriers to mark how fast phones are moving and overlaying that with maps to calculate traffic conditions. One of the companies, AirStage, has already partnered with Sprint-Nextel and the Georgia DOT to cover Atlanta's notorious traffic. The plans raise obvious privacy concerns over the usage of the data of your cell phone's location and the accuracy of this data." From the article: "[The] systems rely on wireless companies allowing them to process the data from their towers that calculate the position of each phone about twice a second when it's being used and once every 30 seconds when it's not. [One company's technology] can track vehicles to within 330 feet without using Global Positioning System satellites. Its software is designed to weed out the difference between pedestrians and drivers, then crunch it into detailed color-coded maps that show average speeds along roadways."

Comments

Watchin ME or watching THERE?

[icebike]

If the phone companies strip identifying information from data one might be
tempted to think there is no problem in making this information available.

However, the privacy concern may not be limited to the ability track a specific phone, which they would probably require court permission to do.

There are lots other uses, and abuses of such technology, such as finding where tonight's big party is located, which local watering hole is over-capacity, how much traffic the local liquour store (or street corner dealer) is getting.

Even if such uses were void of personal data, they provide data about the location,
whether that be a private home or a business.

Are you fucking kidding me?

[Pink Tinkletini]

How many times does this article need to be duped on Slashdot?

1. Tracking Traffic Jams With Cell Phones
   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/05/22 20211
   
   
2. Tracking Your Cell Phone for Traffic Reports
   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/10/23 37259
   
   
3. Baltimore to Test Cell Phone Traffic Monitoring
   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/19/143247
   
   
4. Cell Phones to Monitor Traffic Flow
   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/19/074524 8
   
   
5. Using Cell Phones to Track Traffic
   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/01/159241
   
   
6. Tracking Cell Phones for Real-Time Traffic Data
   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/16/076217
   
   
7. Finns To Use Cell Phones To Monitor Traffic Jams
   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/30/124324 7
   
   
8. Using Cellular Traffic to Monitor Traffic Jams
   http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/06/13/042822 9