This is an idea for a new radio station. In the same way that The Weather Channel (tm) is always a weather channel, I want a local traffic station that's always traffic. Here's how I want it to work:
Everyone has a cellphone. Anyone who sees something interesting regarding traffic calls a number and leaves a message. Someone filters these, removing obscenities and offtopic messages, and puts them in a queue. The queue is then played on the air. Old messages (i.e. older than 15 minutes, say) are automatically removed.
Apart from the cost of transmitting, this could be done on the cheap. With a bit of work, the screener-person could do his/her work remotely (i.e. through a voicemail menu, even, as he/she is also in traffic). The whole system could be done volunteer-style, and provide everyone with up-to-date traffic info at all times.
The cost of transmitting could be covered by a grant from the local DOT, perhaps, or by ad revenue, and since other costs could be greatly reduced, few ads would be needed. It would even be possible for existing stations to allow this station to piggyback on their towers/equipment in exchange for promo time, as listeners will listen to one cycle through the reports, then tune elsewhere for their entertainment.
Whaddya think, sirs?
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I like it. I wouldn't call it "Open Source," though. Possibly "collaborative."
Locally (DFW) radio and TV stations routinely carry such call-in reports as part of their traffic coverage, paid for by ads. The on-air method presents metro-wide covrage and so gives more information that most people want.
The service could be improved by applying the localising info available to the cell-phone provider. A subscriber could hear, over the cell-phone, all reports from a selected set of ZIP codes, for example. This could best be managed and marketed by a cell phone company. You may want to check with your local providers.
Sevans,
I like the cell-phone distribution idea, except that it isn't free and open to all. (Of course, calling in costs too, but would be limited to those who care to report, such as myself.) And I, too, have heard other markets (Atlanta) refer to callers as providing info, but a) they didn't (to my knowledge) put the callers on the air (not a big deal) and b) you got traffic every 10-30 minutes (depending on the station), which is a bigger deal.
I don't mind listening to a 2-3 minute traffic cycle to get info I'm interested in, but I don't want to listen to 10-30 minutes to get 30 secs of info, and if I sneeze or drive under power lines, I miss info I want. Or, more to the point, I may want to get my info *before* I depart, and don't want to wait 10-30 mins or time my departure so I can listen before choosing my route. If traffic is always on, I can listen as I get in, get my info, and make my choice.
As far as getting too much info, it's certainly possible under this system, but good editing and more experienced reporters (i.e. drivers on cell phones) can help with that.
To be fair, the Weather Channel is totally a private enterpize.
Classicsat, that's true, I only mentioned TWC as I want a traffic channel that's nothing but that, that I can always get traffic when I want it, similar to how I can always get weather (or commercials) at TWC.
Am adding this comment to the most recent traffic related topic, even though not exactly on topic.
Proprietary and not radio, this has been announced to give a visual on PDAs and devices for traffic status.
www.trafficgauge.com
this already exists in spain/europe
I created this system Minus the Radio stations and including a scoring/voting system. Check it out http://www.kokuatraffic.com or the area code for the phone number on the site is (808) since I am in Hawaii we have only 1 area code.
I think there should be some device at every traffic signal which will constantly keep track of number of cars waiting and send the info to the computer or so where a person is sorting out all the info and announcing it on radio.