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Government Analytics, Government GIS

Beijing to monitor real-time traffic through mobile platform

By Jianggan Li | 3 March 2011

The proposal of building a new platform to collect real time traffic information in Beijing through tracking mobile phones has been approved by an expert panel. The first phase is expected to be rolled out by June.

According to Li Guoguang, Deputy Diretor of Social Development Department, Beijing Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, the “Beijing Residents Real-time Travel Information Platform” will be based on the location data of more than 17 million China Mobile subscribers. Whenever a phone is switched on, the location registration with base stations will be collected and then aggregated, giving a real-time view of crowd and traffic movements. Transport operators and city planners will be able to use this information to optimise transport arrangements, especially the public transportation network. China Mobile is the country’s biggest mobile operator, with 590 million subscribers across the nation. The Chinese Capital, with a population of 20 million, has been plagued by traffic congestions in recent years. A study in 2008 estimated that the jams cost the city RMB 120 billion (US$1.82 billion) each year. An IBM study last year put traffic in Beijing as the worst in the world, on par with that of Mexico City.

Previously, travel information was collected through household survey every five years. Government employees would interview 50,000 residents from a randomly-sampled pool. Information collected would include travel frequency, origin and destination, time used, means of transports as well as details of transits for a normal journey. In addition to being time-consuming and error-prone, the surveys are not able to reflect timely the rapid changes Beijing is experiencing. With the proposed mobile-based system, such surveys will not be necessary, saving the government sustainable amount of money and human resources.

Li didn’t reveal the cost of the project or exactly how much the government is expected to save.

Li gave assurance that the data collected would be strictly for real-time traffic monitoring and control only. He said privacy of mobile users will be protected, although he did not specify how.

Li also revealed that once the entire network is up and running, the Municipal Government will look to customise the aggregated information and feed it back to citizens for them to make travelling decisions based on real time data.

“It will, to a certain extent, improve the travel efficiency of citizens and reduce traffic congestions,” Li said.

The expert panel which approved the proposal also suggested that the platform should be linked to other departments’ applications to provide powerful support for better city management.

“It might also help with population management, as we will have a thorough grasp of distribution of population in Beijing,” Li said.

The first phase will be implemented in the residential districts of Huilongguan and Tiantongyuan, each with more than 300,000 urban residents. It is expected to complete in June, with Yizhuang, a high-tech zone to the south of the city centre, in line for implementation.

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