Traditionally, when we speak of 'traffic', we refer to vehicles moving on a transportation network; these networks are nominally one of three types, land-based, maritime or aerial. However, with the emergence of computing to the mainstream and, of greater significance, the emergence of the internet since its beginnings in 1968, the term 'traffic' in the psyche of the interconnected masses refers to data rocketing through a wire in order to get access to one's email, or favourite website. There have been numerous references in data (internet) and vehicular traffic literature that use the other as an analogy. Although there has been some work in looking at the interconnections between vehicular and internet traffic, there does not seem to appear to be any systematic work in this area. This paper provides an overview to the study of vehicular/internet traffic interconnections, what lessons each area of study can learn from the other, and suggest some starting points for researching the interconnections. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E210528.
Abstract