ITS Research Program, UW

TrafNet:
Real-Time Seattle Area Traffic Conditions over the Internet

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About TrafNet:

TrafNet displays real-time, Seattle area traffic conditions on your Windows-based PC. Unlike a Web site, TrafNet stores all graphics on your computer and only uses the Internet to obtain small data files. This means your display updates extremely quickly, even if you're connected over a phone line with a slow modem. TrafNet also displays current traffic speed, records traffic information for future playback, and computes travel times based on current traffic conditions.

System Requirements:

• Operating System:
  Microsoft Windows 3.1 with WinSock 1.1 (or equivalent)
  or
  Microsoft Windows 95/NT
  Update (5-10-2001): TrafNet has been successfully tested under Windows 95 and ME, NT, and Windows 2000. For some undetermined reason it may not run under Windows 98. Since the TrafNet program is no longer under active development, the only workaround is to avoid running it on Windows 98.
• Total Disk Space Required: 550KB
• Memory Required: 4 MB
• Network Connection Type: TCP/IP

Downloading TrafNet:

• As a self-extracting archive
• As a ZIP archive

Operating TrafNet:

Here is a sample screen. (This image is not updated.)

TrafNet is a client which acquires data from a server via a TCP connection over the Internet; the display is updated with new information every 20 seconds. Since only traffic information is transferred (the client handles all the graphics), updates are quick, with very little overhead.

WinSock:

If your WinSock implementation does not have a working name server, use the address 128.95.29.50, but be aware that this is subject to change. The alias trafnet.its.washington.edu will be changed in the name server if the server is moved to a different host so that it will always resolve correctly.

Related Information:

loop_client is a Unix program which provides occupancy, speed and volume data for individual loop sensors embedded in Seattle area freeways.

A Kalman Filter, which can be incorporated into existing C code, is available to produce speed estimates from single loop data

To get a snapshot of current traffic conditions over the WWW, check out the Washington State Department of Transportation Metro Traffic Flow Map.