GPS Enabled Mobile Phone Application for a Real-Time Traffic Information System

Abstract: Traffic congestion in big cities of the world is a major problem affecting millions of people in their everyday life. Traffic monitoring systems deployed until now, utilize data collected mainly through fixed sensors which provide information about the number and speed of vehicles that cross them. Nevertheless, this type of system is not deployed at wide scales mostly because of its high cost. However, the advances in the mobile phone technology and the high penetration of these devices globally, make possible the development of new traffic management systems that utilize location data from the driver's mobile phone. This thesis work focuses on designing the application for a real-time traffic information system based on GPS enabled mobile phones. Such traffic information system provides vehicles with user specific, on demand route guidance based on real-time traffic information. A JavaME application was developed for collecting the location information of vehicles through an available wireless connection with automatic failover. The security and privacy of the communication has been studied and a solution based on Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and digital certificates was implemented. Moreover, the traffic information is sent back to the user and is displayed on the user’s mobile phone on top of a map of the area