In order to meet the ever increasing demands of drivers who use pre-trip and on-board navigation services, the quality and quantity of live traffic information needs to be increased. A method for achieving this is to collect information at the local level and to transmit messages via the Internet using IP and XML directly into a private area on a hosted application server. The server would allow centralised merging of information via a hierarchy at a regional level followed by national level under the control of the information providers. This method is fast, efficient and cost effective. Distribution can then be simplified at a central point to satisfy the requirements of navigation systems for standard digital output formats which can then be directly correlated against digital map location codes, such as TMC. XML applications which use internet browsers could provide fast distribution of traffic information centre applications to local areas which do not have the desire to support complex executable applications on their PC's.
Abstract