Traffic TV Mobile is a subscription service delivered over either GPRS enabled mobile phone or over the newer 3G networks. It takes real-time traffic data from its partner trafficmaster and mixes this up with actual traffic cameras dotted around the UK.

Set-up of Traffic TV requires a compatible handset, typically this has to be one capable of running the Java MIDP 2.0 platform for the application to run. After a brief sign up on the traffictv website you will receive a text message containing your activation code and a link where you can download the installation file. The over the air installation works on both 2.5G (GPRS) and 3G mobiles and downloads the java applet to your mobiles memory.

Running the application starts up the Traffic TV screen and this is the point where you can input that activation code, you quickly skip past a warning that traffic TV is going to use your phones data connection and bingo your first traffic map loads up onto the phones screen. For those of you familiar with the trafficmaster interface the traffic TV GUI will be a friendly sight, the map screen can be scrolled by use of the phones thumb pad or joystick and zoomed into an area of interest from the menu.

The coloured symbols represent a delay on the road ranging from 5 - 20 minutes, when you zoom into more detail you can see the average speed over the last couple of minutes and the screen rather speaks for itself having proven its worth in numerous trafficmaster products. So why go with Traffic TV rather than Trafficmaster's own product?

The primary reason is a feature also in the menu system, marked clearly as CCTV, by selecting this option you are presented with a list of active traffic cameras for the area of map on which you are focused, selecting one of the listed cameras starts a feed of the live images. If you are on a GPRS link its most likely that you'll get an captured still image these are updated anywhere between every 1 and 10 minutes depending on the source, if you are using a 3G phone its possible to get real-time streaming video.

In our tests we used a GPRS enabled IMate Smartphone and concentrated in central London, where the vast majority of cameras are (provided by London transport) these are particularly useful for key pinch points and are often the ones you'll see used on breakfast TV. The image while not stunning quality is good enough to see the density of traffic and just how far a queue goes, those of us who drive the same route everyday can get as much use from an image as the main trafficmaster data.

The service seems good and is only limited by its same range of available cameras, LP wanted the M25 cameras available, but only a small section in Kent is on the system and these cameras show as being " available soon". There are some towns like reading and Newcastle that have cameras available but these may just be the councils who are forward thinking enough to offer up the images to the media.

Traffic TV costs £39.99 for a 12 month subscription and you should account for the likely cost in bandwidth for images / data downloaded, we found that a refresh of the traffic map was only a few kilobits and images around 10k per still. You can get a 14 day free trial to see if it's what you're looking for which is a nice touch and perhaps your route will have more of the active cameras on it to really make Traffic TV the indispensable tool that it should be.

They say the best ideas are so simple you wonder why no ones done it before and traffic TV is a simple yet effective idea that really needs just one more element to make it complete ands that's more cameras on the UK's major roads.

Traffic TV is Compatible wit the following Handsets -

Sony Ericsson Z1010, P910^**, P900^**, V800, Z800, K700i, S700i, K600i, K500i, and F500i

Nokia 7610, 6680, 6630, 6620, 6600, 6170, 6230i, 6230, 6021, 6020, and 3230

Orange C500 (also iMate SP3i)

LG U8150  Samsung Z107 and D500  Siemens SK65

Published - 27/03/2005

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