Traffic causality

摘要

One or more techniques and/or systems for providing congestion information for a road segment presently experiencing traffic congestion and/or likely to experience traffic congestion in the future are provided. In some embodiments, traffic models are configured to determine road segments where traffic congestion is likely to occur, to determine a cause of traffic congestion, and/or to determine the effect of such traffic congestion (e.g., the duration of such traffic congestion, the expected time delays due to such traffic congestion, etc.). Congestion information indicative of the cause of congestion and/or the effect(s) of such traffic congestion, for example, may be provided to a user to explain to the user why the congestion is occurring, to describe one or more road segments to avoid, and/or to explain why a particular route was selected as a preferred route to a destination, for example.

主权项

1. A method for identifying a possible cause of traffic congestion along a road segment, comprising:
providing a database that comprises a plurality of users and at least one of location information describing a location of each of the plurality of users or route information describing a route being traveled by each of the plurality of users; and upon detecting the traffic congestion along the road segment:
identifying, using the database, a user of the plurality of users who is within a specified geometric proximity of the road segment based upon the at least one of location information or route information regarding the user, wherein the at least one of location information or route information is periodically or intermittently provided to a traffic service and stored in the database;issuing a request to the user, the request seeking information from the user about the possible cause of the traffic congestion;receiving, responsive to the request, a notice from the user describing the possible cause of the traffic congestion;predicting, by a processor, an effect of the possible cause of the traffic congestion on at least one of a duration of the traffic congestion or an expected time delay resulting from the traffic congestion; anddistributing an alert to one or more other users of the plurality of users, wherein the alert presents and describes on a display or through a speaker the possible cause of the traffic congestion and the at least one of a duration of the traffic congestion or an expected time delay resulting from the traffic congestion.