Cloud computing helps researchers predict traffic jams

Microsoft Research has joined forces with the Federal
University of Minas Gerais, home to one of Brazil’s foremost computer science
programs, to tackle the seemingly intractable problem of traffic jams. The
immediate objective of this research is to predict traffic conditions over the
next 15 minutes to an hour, so that drivers can be forewarned of likely traffic
snarls. The Traffic Prediction Project plans to combine all available
traffic data—including both historic and current information gleaned from
transportation departments, Bing traffic maps, road cameras and sensors, and
the social networks of the drivers themselves—to create a solution that gets
motorists from point A to point B with minimal stop-and-go. The use of historic
data and information from social networks are both unique aspects of the
project.

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