Airsage Awarded Georgia Contract for Traffic Data from Cell Phones

Business Wire, July 12, 2005

ATLANTA -- AirSage has been awarded a contract by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) for traffic information from anonymous cellular phones traveling on Interstate 75 between Atlanta and Macon. The firm's speed and travel time data will help extend the benefits of the state's award-winning NaviGAtor system to one of the state's busiest road corridors.

NaviGAtor is a system of roadway sensors, signs and traveler-assistance "HERO" trucks that serve motorists along some of Georgia's busiest interstates and highways. It is also the software that drives several operations centers that the GA DOT uses to monitor and respond to traffic events throughout the state.

"Beginning with the 1996 Olympics, Georgia pioneered the use of Intelligent Transportation Systems to monitor the roadways, assist stalled motorists and provide real-time speeds and travel times on the state's busiest roads," said Assistant State Traffic Operations Engineer Mark Demidovich. "This effort will help us assess the potential of the AirSage solution to expand the benefits of NaviGAtor as affordably and quickly as possible throughout the state."

The pilot project covers 65 miles connecting two existing NaviGAtor installations -- one in metro Atlanta and the other on the I-475 Macon bypass. The AirSage data will allow GDOT to give travelers comprehensive speed and travel time in an area where the state currently has no traffic sensors. This data will start flowing to the state's Traffic Operations Center in Atlanta this Fall.

"We are very pleased to be working with GDOT on this pioneering effort to bring cellular-based traffic data for rural Interstates to the NaviGAtor system," said AirSage CEO Cy Smith. "Traveler information is a high priority for the driving public. This effort will demonstrate the real value of the AirSage technology to help fill the gaps across states in existing roadway sensor programs."

Part of the project involves validation of the cellular probe data against drive tests and existing NaviGAtor sensor data in the metro Atlanta region by URS, a leading transportation engineering firm that works with the Georgia Department of Transportation.

AirSage is an Atlanta-based company producing real-time traffic data from wireless phone signaling data. Its patent-pending technology assures individual privacy and offers states a fast, affordable way to extend ITS benefits without additional roadway work zones to install traditional sensors.

Signaling data between moving wireless phones and the carrier network are collected and anonymized at secure carrier sites, then converted to real-time traffic speed information and delivered as a live web-based service to government and commercial customers.

More information on AirSage is available at www.airsage.com.