Skip to main content

Danish city uses cell phone data to reduce travel times

The Danish city of Aarhus is using the anonymous data from drivers’ Bluetooth-enabled cell phones and GPS systems to assist them in reducing traffic congestion. Using Blip Systems’ technology and placing the small sensors in the road network, the road authorities can obtain traffic flow data in real time and proactively manage the road network to minimise delays and congestion.
October 10, 2013 Read time: 1 min
The Danish city of Aarhus is using the anonymous data from drivers’ Bluetooth-enabled cell phones and GPS systems to assist them in reducing traffic congestion.  

Using 3778 Blip Systems’ technology and placing the small sensors in the road network, the road authorities can obtain traffic flow data in real time and proactively manage the road network to minimise delays and congestion.

The municipality started the project in 2011 and currently has nearly 40 sensors installed on the ring road, says project manager Michael Bloksgaard. He expects that when the BlipTrack solution is fully implemented by the end of the year, around 120 sensors will have been implemented.

According to Blip Systems, the solution has helped to optimise out-of-sync intersections and the roads administration has been able to record a reduction of 20 per cent in travel times on the ring road.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Valuing ITS
    February 6, 2012
    Politicians, policy- and decision-makers need no-nonsense, non-technical answers on which to base investments in ITS. The International Benefits, Evaluation and Costs (IBEC) Working Group can provide them, says its Chair, Richard Harris
  • Valuing ITS
    February 2, 2012
    Politicians, policy- and decision-makers need no-nonsense, non-technical answers on which to base investments in ITS. The International Benefits, Evaluation and Costs (IBEC) Working Group can provide them, says its Chair, Richard Harris
  • Substantial savings from smarter street lighting
    February 25, 2015
    As authorities strive to reduce expenditure and carbon emissions, Colin Sowman looks at some of the smart ways of managing street lighting while containing costs and maintaining safety. Street lighting can account for 40% of an authority’s energy consumption. So, faced with the need to reduce outgoings, some authorities are looking for smart ways of managing street lighting or even turning off swathes of street lights in the small hours. Back in 2008 the E-street Initiative report concluded that authorities
  • Time for a rethink on road user charging
    February 1, 2012
    There is no value in further US VMT charging trials, except to delay the inevitable. These trials should end after completion of the University of Iowa's National Evaluation of a Mileage-based Road User Charge. There is far greater promise in unleashing private operators to commence profitable, non-tolling services, then using these for toll assessment and collection as fuel distributors are currently used to collect fuel taxation. Bern Grush writes