Google has selected Inrix, provider of real-time traffic data, to help power its navigation and mapping applications.
Initially available in eight countries across Europe, including the U.K. and Germany with plans to roll out into additional markets by the end of the year, Inrix’s real-time traffic information for major motorways will be integrated with Google products and services online and on mobile phones.
Starting today, Google Maps and mobile Maps Navigation users will begin seeing the benefits of Inrix’s data.
Inrix gathers information from 30 million GPS and cellular-based devices as well as from a network of tens of thousands of traffic reporters who report accidents, speed traps and other information.
Besides crowd-sourced data, Inrix analyzes traffic and traffic-related data from hundreds of public and private sources including traditional road sensor data, accidents, incidents and local traffic-impacting events including concerts, sporting events and school schedules.
Inrix says traffic is about more than just averaging speeds and coloring road segments on a map, but rather about analyzing road closures, accidents, construction, events and speed data together to analyze what’s really happening across a road network.
