TomTom and Elgin forge new partnership

Birmingham, 16 November 2016 – TomTom and Elgin are proud to announce their collaboration which aims to deliver more accurate and validated real-time traffic information to drivers, fleet managers and traffic management professionals. TomTom Traffic in the United Kingdom now includes relevant roadworks and traffic management information from Elgin. This collaboration ultimately enables drivers to reach their destinations more quickly and Highway Authorities and utility companies to monitor and respond to the impact of roadworks on road users in real-time.

Elgin, creators of roadworks.org, provides a comprehensive roadworks and traffic management communications hub, which also serves as the national roadworks database for England & Wales. The roadworks.org map is embedded within hundreds of local and national Authorities and the underlying data is widely disseminated through a variety of services.

“TomTom receives a detailed picture of current vehicle speeds and locations, reported by TomTom navigation systems and mobile applications, and this data is anonymised and fused with roadworks data from Elgin,” explains Anders Truelsen, Managing Director of TomTom’s Licensing Business Unit.

“By harnessing machine learning to improve the data’s quality, TomTom’s Traffic Fusion Engine creates a positive feedback loop and can discern whether, for example, scheduled roadworks reported to Elgin are causing traffic disruptions and whether these are occurring where they were planned to.”

This has the potential to revolutionise traffic management in the UK by enabling Traffic Managers and Works Promoters to truly assess the real-time impacts of their current works and to plan both roadworks and traffic management interventions more effectively.

“We’re extremely enthusiastic about the ways that TomTom and Elgin’s combined real-time data feeds can be harnessed by transport authorities and contractors alike to proactively monitor and minimise traffic disruptions resulting from planned roadworks,” adds James Harris, Elgin’s Managing Director. “We have worked closely with TomTom to ensure that this valuable data is made accessible through our respective data services.”

The combined TomTom/Elgin data, including the real-time impact of roadworks and traffic management measures, can be accessed by permissioned users within Elgin’s roadworks.org Pro operational environment, or licensed as a raw data feed through TomTom or Elgin for integration within Traffic Control Centres, Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) systems and Intelligent Transport Systems.

Private road users utilising TomTom’s live traffic information in the UK – e.g. through a connected navigation system or mobile application – also benefit directly from this new collaboration. TomTom Traffic helps drivers plan the best route and reach their destinations quicker thanks to the integration of UK roadworks data from Elgin.