The DGT (General Traffic Direction)/GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)/SMS (Short Message System) project is a new possibility of receiving real-time traffic information, using a standard GSM phone. The service has been designed in a public-private partnership with the main Spanish PTT (Telefonica). The GSM is used as a remote terminal to perform on-line queries to the DGT real time traffic information concentrator. The user must send a short message containing a coded query to a special Traffic Information number (505). After some seconds, the user will receive a message containing the requested information. The service has operated in Spain since June 1998, having a capacity of 20,000 queries per hour. It is a very stable system that gives accurate real-time on demand traffic information to road users. (A*)
Samenvatting