Implementation of traffic management using transit probes

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) operates a central traffic management system used for both day-to-day surveillance as well as for traveler information. In King county real-time traffic speed information is created using virtual sensors based on tracking transit vehicles. In order for this new information source to be merged into the traffic management system, a number of questions, such as probe density in time and space, need to be resolved. This paper presents the solution developed at the University of Washington (UW).