Automatic traffic estimation system using mobile probe vehicles

We propose a mobile camera system that can be installed on a moving. The system will automatically evaluate traffic levels in the area that the car has been driven through. Our system consists of two parts, the mobile probe and a stationary server. The mobile probe is operated by Android OS smartphone installed in a vehicle, which is used collect GPS data and image sequence of traffic scene from the front of the vehicle. The GPS and image data is periodically transferred to the stationary server via EDGE/3G cellular network. The GPS data is used to find an average space speed, which is used as an indicator to traffic status. The image data is used to recognize and filter out data from parking events, which do not represent traffic status. The level of traffic congestion is displayed in the format of three colors: red, yellow, and green.