Data Driving Innovation

Gabriel Reid, Software Engineer at TomTom

10 June 20112

Who is Gabriel Reid?

• Software Engineer in TomTom Content Production since 2005

• Develop software for digital map creation, conversion, and maintenance

• Current focus: Explorative Development

• TomTom:

• Founded in 1991

• 3500 employees

• Sales in over 40 countries

• Navigation devices, digital maps, real-time services

10 June 20113

Introduction to digital map creation

More than just a bunch of lines

• High level of detail

• Stringent quality requirements for automotive clients

10 June 20114

House Number Information: Even

Numbers on the left side, starting from

12 and ending at 28, with 14, 16, 18, 20,

and 24 as intermediate numbers, odd

numbers on the right side, starting at 11 and ending at 25,

with 15, 17, 19, 21, and 23 as

intermediate numbers

Speed Restrictions, including vehicle and time validity

Back Road: false

Alternate Name: Fourteenth Street

Blocked Passage Information: Blocked every second Sunday of the month for all

vehicles except emergency vehicles

Construction Status: Construction planned

from July 20th to August 10th 2011

Direction of Traffic Flow: Open in both

directions for all vehicle types except heavy vehicles at all

times

Dynamic Speed Restriction: in both

directions

Form of Way: Single Carriageway

Lane Direction Category: straight with single solid line, always

valid

Lane End Information

Name: 14th Street

Lane Type Information

Postal Code Information

RDS and TMC code information

Street Code: AAABB723423XD3

Street Identifier: 1244322124543

Toll Information

Carriageway Designator: Local

Importance: Local Connecting Road

Composite Vehicle Restriction

Alternate Name Side of Line: Both

ADAS-Compliant: true

Route Number Information, Route Shield Information

Major Road Feature: true

No Through Traffic: false

Number of Lanes: 3

Part of a Structure: false

Plural Junction

Positional Accuracy

Processing Status: MRNW

Ramp

Road Conditions

Road Geometry Completeness

Rough Road

Special Charge

Special Restrictions

Speed Category

Stubble

Transition

Freeway: false

Functional Road Class

10 June 20115

Map content and map creation a few years ago

• Very static

• Relatively slow and expensive to collect

• Define exactly what you want, and then start collecting/producing it

10 June 20116

Anonymous data collection

10 June 20117

How anonymous probe data collection works

10 June 20118

See where (and when) vehicles have driven through the road network

10 June 20119

Map Corrections

10 June 201110

Probe data has changed how we make maps

10 June 201111

Road attribute extractionMore than just coordinates

Number of lanes

The number of lanes on a road can be extracted based on statistical probe traces

Speed restrictions

“Trustworthy” drivers are found and used to extend speed restriction information

One-way streets

Everyone driving in one direction along a road points is an indication of a one-way road

10 June 201112

Let the innovation begin!

10 June 201113

A recipe for innovation

Lots of data An inventive team

Result: innovations that couldn’t have even been dreamed of before the data was available

10 June 201114

Data has led to new products

Speed Profiles

Statistical information about the speed of traffic flow at any given time of day on any day of the week

Custom Travel Times

Expected travel times over a complete route based on statistical information

Road curvature and gradient information

Highly detailed information about the curves and gradient along roads that has been extracted from historical data

10 June 201115

Even more data

• Mobile phones used as remote sensor network

• No need to have GPS-enabled mobile phones

• Provides real-time data

10 June 201116

HD Traffic

• Real-time traffic flow information in Europe and the United States

• Based on anonymous real-time data

• 80 million mobile phone users

• 1.6 million connected TomTom users

10 June 201117

Data has led to a new business modelTomTom doesn’t just sell GPS units anymore

• Transitioning from a consumer device-based business model to a services-based business model

• Real-time traffic information services

• Consumer market

• Government and enterprise market

10 June 201118

Innovation breeds innovationSmart ideas lead to smarter ideas

• Data and information sharing

• Experimentation time

10 June 201119

There is no silver bulletHuge amounts of unstructured data can’t solve all your problems

• Not everything can be extracted/mined out of data

• Big data storage and processing aren’t always easy

10 June 201120

Conclusion

• Lots of data can lead to new ideas

• Don’t let storage or structure be too much of an issue in the beginning

• Encourage experimentation and foster knowledge sharing

• The innovations of tomorrow aren’t even being dreamed of yet…

10 June 201121

Thank you

Any questions?