All of this data creates the potential for connected cars to help transportation planners get an accurate picture of how their roads are being used. Right now, though, this kind of data is generally uncontrolled, inaccurate and unreliable, with missing locations and paths.
Kuilin Zhang, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and affiliated assistant professor of computer science at Michigan Technological University, has developed a way to fill in the gaps, as presented in a recent study published in Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies. In the future, Zhang believes this will be a cost-effective way to allow transportation planners to do everything from make more effective traffic congestion mitigation strategies to know where to build wider or new roads.
