Introduction
Purpose
The mission of TomTom is helping our customers arrive at their destinations faster, more safely and more reliably, regardless of their locations. We developed TomTom Intermediate Traffic to deliver detailed, real-time traffic content to business customers who integrate it into their own applications. Target customers for TomTom Intermediate Traffic include automotive OEMs, web and application developers, and governments. We deliver bulk traffic flow information that provides a comprehensive view of the entire road network.
TomTom delivered our first live traffic product in 2007 and our experience has taught us how to continue delivering the best traffic products in the market. Our real-time traffic products are created by merging multiple data sources, including anonymized measurement data from over 650 million GPS-enabled devices. Using highly granular data, gathered on nearly every stretch of road, we can calculate travel times and speeds for virtually any day or time. We focus on our travel information so our customers can focus on their own business objectives.
What is TomTom's Intermediate Traffic API?
The TomTom Intermediate Traffic API enables business customers to download real-time TomTom traffic data for their server-based systems.
The data provided is:
- suitable for processing on the receiving end for online applications
- for delivery to client devices
- for analysis and display
Since customers are provided with direct access to the traffic data, they have control of more variables, such as the frequency rate at which the data is pulled from the server.
Available feeds and formats
TomTom Intermediate Traffic Events provides information on the current observed congestion and incidents on roads in all countries where we offer this service. Traffic 'incidents' in this context includes information like closed roads, lane closures, construction zones, and accidents.
TomTom Intermediate Traffic Flow contains information on the current observed speed on roads in all countries where TomTom live traffic information services are available.
Traffic product | Core content | Format(s) available |
|---|---|---|
TomTom Intermediate Traffic Incidents | Current locations and related delays of traffic jams, road closures, road works, accidents. | DATEX II |
TomTom Intermediate Traffic Flow | Current measured speeds and travel times by road segment. | DATEX II and Protobuf |
TomTom Intermediate Traffic Flow Detailed | Current measured speeds and travel times by detailed road segment. | Protobuf |
DATEX II is an industry standard for information exchange between service providers, application developers and traffic management centers. More information is at http://www.datex2.eu.
Protobuf is a method for encoding structured data in an efficient yet extendable format. Protobuf is highly recommended for TomTom Traffic Flow since it is more efficient for the transmission of data than XML based formats. For the detailed version of TomTom Traffic Flow, protobuf is mandatory. See http://code.google.com/p/protobuf for more information.
Figure 1: Rendering of TomTom Intermediate Traffic Incidents
Figure 2: Rendering of TomTom Intermediate Traffic Flow
Product features & benefits
| PRODUCT | FEATURE | BENEFIT | |
|---|---|---|---|
Intermediate Traffic Events and Intermediate Traffic Flow | Updates every minute. | Ensures access to the most up-to-date and accurate information. | |
| Global coverage | Provides access to real-time traffic information in sixty-nine countries. | ||
| TMC or OpenLR Location Referencing | Delivers flexibility and seamless coverage. | ||
| Prediction | Improves route-planning for long trips; improves the estimated time of arrival. | ||
Feeds are accessed by authorized servers only using dedicated API keys or by a certificate system for cloud-based servers. | Ensures secure and reliable transfer of data. | ||
| Intermediate Traffic Incidents | Turn-Dependent Jams | Provides more accurate information for routing. | |
| Weather Messages | Provides warnings about weather that will cause traffic delays. | ||
| Jam Tail Warnings | Helps drivers avoid potentially dangerous traffic situations. | ||
| Intermediate Traffic Flow | Up-to-the minute, granular updates for every stretch of road. | Enables detailed understanding of what is happening on the entire road network. | |
| HOV Flow | Delivers speed information that can inform road authorities about how HOV lanes are used at different times of the day and days of the week. |
Use cases
TomTom Intermediate Traffic has the following common use cases:
**Navigation and mobile applications: **current and predicted speed, and delay information enables better route calculations and more accurate ETAs. These help drivers save time, fuel, and money.
**Navigation and mobility applications: **real-time content enables the creation of a visual layer of live traffic congestion and events that can be displayed on a map or navigation application.
**Fleet, Logistics and On-Demand services: **routing drivers around traffic incidents enables more accurate ETAs and improves customer service.
**Traffic management: **real-time traffic insights enable road authorities, highway agencies, and traffic management centers to monitor traffic with an accurate, detailed view of average speeds and incidents across the entire road network.
A secure connection
TomTom Intermediate Traffic is a secure service that uses an API Key in combination with IP-address whitelisting. Customers accessing the service must connect from a (set of) fixed IP address(es) that were previously assigned to the profile, or access to the service is rejected. For those customers who use cloud-based servers, TomTom uses a different security certification process for granting access. This process is described in the Authentication page.
Technical documentation
For detailed technical product specifications, refer to this documentation.
Coverage
TomTom is continually expanding the geographic coverage of our real-time traffic. For the most recent information, contact your TomTom account manager. We offer real-time traffic information via the TomTom Intermediate Traffic API in the countries shown in the following map image:
Figure 3: Global coverage of TomTom Intermediate Traffic
