Most Floating Car Data (FCD) systems use data of fleet management companies to monitor the current state of traffic. However, the original task of these systems (e.g., tracking positions and status of taxis or protecting vehicles) is different from measuring travel times. Consequently, it is important to measure the quality of a given fleet from the Floating Car Data point of view. Usually, the number of vehicles and the mean time between two measurements is used to assess the quality of the data but these numbers are misleading in many cases. Another approach would be to carry out the whole process until travel time estimation and then compare the resulting travel times with other sources. The process is very time consuming and cannot be carried out because of the lack of data in most cases. This paper provides a simple way of estimating, monitoring and comparing different data sources.
Abstract