Assessing road traffic flow conditions using data obtained from mobile data sources

Abstract

Techniques are described for assessing road traffic conditions in various ways based on obtained traffic-related data, such as data samples from vehicles and other mobile data sources traveling on the roads, as well as in some situations data from one or more other sources (such as physical sensors near to or embedded in the roads). The assessment of road traffic conditions based on obtained data samples may include various filtering and/or conditioning of the data samples, and various inferences and probabilistic determinations of traffic-related characteristics from the data samples. In some situations, the inferences based on the data samples includes repeatedly determining traffic flow characteristics for road segments of interest during periods of time, such as to determine traffic volume and/or average occupancy of the road.

1 - 41 . (canceled) 
     
     
         42 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose stored contents configure a computing device to estimate traffic flow information for traveling vehicles, by performing a method comprising:
 receiving an indication of multiple data samples that each reflect travel of one of multiple vehicles on a road;   probabilistically estimating traffic flow of all vehicles traveling on the road during a period of time based at least in part on a quantity of vehicles whose travel is reflected by the data samples, the probabilistic estimating being performed by the configured computing device; and   providing an indication of the estimated traffic flow for use in facilitating travel on the road.   
     
     
         43 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 42  wherein the multiple data samples are each reported by a vehicle and each have information regarding travel of the vehicle on the road at a reported time during the period of time, and wherein the estimating of the traffic flow of all vehicles traveling on the road includes determining a quantity of vehicles that reported the data samples, the vehicles that reported the data samples being a subset of all the vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time, and includes determining an estimated arrival rate at a point on the road of all the vehicles. 
     
     
         44 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 43  wherein the estimating of the traffic flow of all vehicles traveling on the road further includes determining a likelihood of the determined estimated arrival rate based at least in part on the determined quantity of the vehicles that reported the data samples and determining an average percentage occupancy of a point on the road by the vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time, the determining of the average percentage occupancy being based at least in part on the determined estimated arrival rate, and wherein the providing of the indication of the estimated traffic flow for use in facilitating travel on the road includes presenting information about the estimated traffic flow to operators of vehicles for use in influencing decisions regarding travel on the road. 
     
     
         45 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 42  wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the configured computing device. 
     
     
         46 . (canceled) 
     
     
         47 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 42  wherein the contents are instructions that when executed cause the configured computing device to perform the method. 
     
     
         48 . A computing system configured to estimate traffic flow information for traveling vehicles, comprising:
 one or more processors:   a first component that is configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, and for each of multiple roads, receive an indication of multiple data samples associated with the road that each include information representing travel of a vehicle on the road; and   a data sample flow assessor component that is configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, and for each of the multiple roads,   determine a quantity of one or more vehicles whose travel on the road during a period of time is represented by the information of the data samples associated with the road, the one or more vehicles being a subset of all vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time;   generate a probabilistic estimate of traffic flow of all the vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time based at least in part on the determined quantity of vehicles; and   provide an indication of the estimated traffic flow for use in facilitating travel on the road.   
     
     
         49 . The computing system of  claim 48  wherein, for each of at least some of the multiple roads, the multiple data samples associated with the road are each reported by a vehicle and the information included with the data sample is information about travel of the vehicle on the road at a reported time during the period of time for the road, wherein the generating of the probabilistic estimate of the traffic flow of all the vehicles traveling on the road includes determining an estimated arrival rate at a point on the road of all the vehicles and a likelihood of the estimated arrival rate based at least in part on the determined quantity of the vehicles whose travel is represented by the information of the data samples associated with the road, and wherein the providing of the indication of the estimated traffic flow for use in facilitating travel on the road includes presenting information about the estimated traffic flow to operators of vehicles for use in influencing decisions regarding travel on the road. 
     
     
         50 . The computing system of  claim 49  wherein, for each of the at least some roads, the generating of the probabilistic estimate of the traffic flow of all the vehicles traveling on the road further includes determining an average percentage occupancy of a point on the road by the vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time for the road, the determining of the average percentage occupancy being based at least in part on the determined estimated arrival rate. 
     
     
         51 . The computing system of  claim 48  wherein the first component and the data sample flow assessor component each includes software instructions for execution in memory of the computing system. 
     
     
         52 . The computing system of  claim 48  wherein the first component consists of a means for, for each of multiple roads, receiving an indication of multiple data samples associated with the road that each include information representing travel of a vehicle on the road, and wherein the data sample flow assessor component consists of a means for, for each of the multiple roads, determining a quantity of vehicles whose travel is represented by the information of the data samples associated with the road, generating a probabilistic estimate of traffic flow of all vehicles traveling on the road during a period of time based at least in part on the determined quantity of vehicles, and providing an indication of the estimated traffic flow for use in facilitating travel on the road. 
     
     
         53 . A computer-implemented method for estimating traffic flow information for traveling vehicles, the method comprising:
 receiving an indication of multiple data samples that each reflect travel of one of multiple vehicles on a road;   probabilistically estimating traffic flow of all vehicles traveling on the road during a period of time based at least in part on a quantity of vehicles whose travel is reflected by the data samples, the probabilistic estimating being performed by a configured computing system; and   providing an indication of the estimated traffic flow for use in facilitating travel on the road.   
     
     
         54 . The method of  claim 53  wherein the multiple data samples are each reported by a vehicle and each have information regarding travel of the vehicle on the road at a reported time during the period of time, and wherein the estimating of the traffic flow of all vehicles traveling on the road includes determining a quantity of vehicles that reported the data samples and includes determining an estimated arrival rate at a point on the road of all the vehicles, the vehicles that reported the data samples being a subset of all the vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time. 
     
     
         55 . The method of  claim 54  wherein the estimating of the traffic flow of all vehicles traveling on the road further includes determining a likelihood of the determined estimated arrival rate based at least in part on the determined quantity of the vehicles that reported the data samples and determining an average percentage occupancy of a point on the road by the vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time, the determining of the average percentage occupancy being based at least in part on the determined estimated arrival rate, and wherein the providing of the indication of the estimated traffic flow for use in facilitating travel on the road includes presenting information about the estimated traffic flow to operators of vehicles for use in influencing decisions regarding travel on the road. 
     
     
         56 . The method of  claim 53  wherein the probabilistic estimating of the traffic flow of all the vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time includes determining a most probable total quantity of all the vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time. 
     
     
         57 . The method of  claim 53  wherein the probabilistic estimating of the traffic flow of all the vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time includes determining a traffic arrival rate volume of vehicles to at least one point of the road during the period of time. 
     
     
         58 . The method of  claim 57  wherein the determining of the traffic arrival rate volume of the vehicles to at least one point of the road during the period of time includes determining a most probable traffic arrival rate volume. 
     
     
         59 . The method of  claim 53  wherein the probabilistic estimating of the traffic flow of all the vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time includes determining a traffic density for the road during the period of time. 
     
     
         60 . The method of  claim 59  wherein the determining of the traffic density for the road includes determining a most probable traffic density. 
     
     
         61 . The method of  claim 53  wherein the probabilistic estimating of the traffic flow of all the vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time includes determining a traffic occupancy for at least one point on the road during the period of time. 
     
     
         62 . The method of  claim 61  wherein the determining of the traffic occupancy for the at least one point on the road includes determining a most probable traffic occupancy. 
     
     
         63 . The method of  claim 53  wherein the probabilistic estimating of the traffic flow of all the vehicles traveling on the road during the period of time is performed for each of multiple overlapping time windows during the period of time, at least some of the multiple data samples for the road being used for each of multiple of the time windows and having different weights for each of the multiple time windows that are used during the probabilistic estimating for that time window.