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`The Experience of Developing and Providing
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`Driver Route Information Systems
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`John Wootton and Michael Ness
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`Wootton Jeffreys Consultants Limited
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`Brookwood, Woking, Surrey GU24 OBL, UK
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`Tel : Brookwood (+44 4867) 80033
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`Fax : Brookwood (+44 4867) 88887
`Table 2. Drivers’ inefficiency in choosing a route
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`Percentage excess
`Percentageof drivers
`cost above the
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`achieving their reason
`minimum that was
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`for selecting a route
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`strictly necessary
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`Trip purpose
`Quickest
`Shortest
`6.5%
`To work
`57.3%
`90.3%
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`5.0%
`Firm's business
`36.2%
`50.3%
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`6.0%
`Commercial vehicle
`401%
`49.1%
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`49.6% 54.0%Leisure 8.0%
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`Table 2, from the same survey, clearly demonstratestheinability
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`of drivers to satisfy their desired criteria. Only 50% of drivers
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`seeking either the quickest or shortest routes succeed in finding
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`the route they desire. Theinefficiency introducedbytravelling a
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`time longer or a distance greater than desired has been estimated»
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`to be between 4 and 6, percent of total travel costs.
`A
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`substantial part, arounda third, of the inefficiencyis thought to be
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`concernedwith the “terminal search”, the problem offinding the
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`DRIVER’S NEEDS AND BEHAVIOUR
`exact location of the destination. Consequently the best driver
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`route information systems needsolve the terminal search problem
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`Common sense suggests that drivers are influenced by
`by giving more detail as the destination is approached.
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`Table 3. Comparison of actual and ‘ideal’ routes
`information from a variety of sources in selecting the route they
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`travel. Sources of information such as maps, signs, personal
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`Percentage of actual routes the same as
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`knowledge, experience and hearsay play an importantpart in Min. time—Min.dist.Planned
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`route
`route
`Trip purpose
`route
`selecting the route. The impact that each of these sources of
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`information has on route selection can not be easily quantified,
`Journey to work
`78.9
`60.9
`74.2
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`Leisure
`84.0
`36.8
`41.6
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`studies “| and experiments @ have suggested that there are
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`Employer's business
`93.0
`50.4
`65.1
`Commercial vehicle
`88.9
`65.1
`72.2
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`limitations in maps and road signsthat result in excess mileage
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`All journeys 63.4 86.2 53.3
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`being driven. The implication being that the information given to
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`drivers influences their choice and behaviour.
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`Further analysis of the survey comparedthe actualroutes driven
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`by drivers with a “planned route” obtained by consulting a map
`interviews with drivers suggestthat a minority, about a quarter,
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`and the direction signs found an the roads. The results in Table
`have somedifficulty in planning a route. The great majority say
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`3 show that there is little difference between the actual and
`that their journeys are repeated. They feel they know the route
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`plannedroutes, 86% of routes being the same. Far more ofthese
`that is travelled well or that their experienceis suchthat they can
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`planned routes are the sameas the actualroutes than either the
`overcome any route planning problems that they encounter.
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`minimum time or minimum distance, which puts into question the
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`Several studies have asked drivers the criteria they use for
`assumptions madein transport planning studies for more than
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`25 years that drivers follow a minimum time, distance or cost
`selecting a particular route. Table 1, taken from a survey ©in the
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`route.
`United Kingdom, is typical of the results that are obtained. The
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`overwhelming majority, about 70%, of drivers are trying to select
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`The quantitative and qualitative evidence suggests that the
`the quickest route, with approximately 10% trying to select the
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`shortest distance route and another 10% having no known
`majority of drivers respondto the information that is given. If the
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`driver can be provided with accurate information on the quickest
`alternative. Other important criteria are scenic routesfor leisure
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`route to follow the majority of drivers will obey that information.
`trips and specified routes for commercial vehicles.
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`Ifthe route that is given is better than the driver currently follows,
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`Tabie 1. Reasons given by drivers for choice of raute
`the driver will obtain a benefit and the communitywill benefit from
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`Percentage of sample
`fewer miles being driven implying fewer accidents and iess
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`No known
`Ani-
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`pollution. If information can be obtainedin reai time, for example
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`Scenic motorway Specified alternative
`Trip purpose
`Quickest
`Shartest
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`ontraffic incidents or congestion, then drivers might be advised
`0s
`To work
`76.0
`11.4
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`28
`Firm's business
`73.6
`9.3
`as
`1.0
`10.0
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`of new routesto follow to their destination with the consequent
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`15.4
`Commercial vehicle
`68.6
`a5
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`65
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`Leisure 10.9 479 10.3 28.8 15 08
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`reduced travel times and better use of the capacity of the read
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`network.
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`CH2789-6/89/0000-0071 $01.00 © 1989 IEEE
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`7A
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`BACKGROUND
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`The contents ofthis paper draw uponthe experience of developing
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`several driver route information systems over a period of 10
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`years. We werefirst concerned with improving the information
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`given on direction signs and this was quickly followed by the
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`development of systems for providing route information for
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`individual
`journeys. Subsequently these developed into an
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`autonomousin-vehicle route guidance system as early as 1980
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`and systems which have allowed automobile clubs to automate
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`the route information services they provide to members.
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`The future also offers exciting prospects. We are involvedin the
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`Autoguidetrial in London andlook forward to using the two-way
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`communication features of this system for improving traffic
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`control.
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`Page 1 of 5
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`Unified Patents Exhibit
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`1010
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`Page 1 of 5
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`Unified Patents Exhibit 1010
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`

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`ii)
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`MAPS
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`Every route information system needs information about the
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`roads that the vehicles can use. Maps are the most common
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`sources ofthis information for current computerised information
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`services. The information that can be obtained includesclassof
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`road, distance betweenintersections, horizontal profile, places
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`of
`interest, place and street names. The accuracy of this
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`information depends upon the scale of the map and the time at
`which it was collected. Some important information, such as
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`travel times, one-way streets and prohibited turns, may not be
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`available from maps and hasto be obiained bydriving the roads
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`that are to be used.
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`There are several sources of maps. Atlases and maps published
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`by automobile clubs, state/provincial departments of transport
`andcommercial organisations specifically for route finding usually
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`contain information at threelevels, overview, general, and detailed
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`insets of urban or special areas. They also include an index or
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`gazetter of places marked on the maps. For each of theselevels
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`the cartographer has made decisions on whichroads to include
`and how to emphasise someroutes over others. A driver using
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`the mapto plana route can only use the information given by the
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`cartographer and interpretit in the light of experience gained by
`using the information.
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`Topographical maps produced by national mapping agencies
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`(eg. Ordnance Surveyin Britain, United States Geological Survey
`or Canada Map Office) are an alternative source of route
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`information. These mapsare not designed specifically for route
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`finding but often provide the best sourceofdetail at the start and
`end of the trip. The aim of the cartographer in topographical
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`mapsis to give an even representation of the area being mapped
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`rather than to highlight particular details of the road system. The
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`disadvantage of using topographical maps for route planning are
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`their size, number ( over 500 mapsat 1:250000 scale to cover
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`USA), lack of index and their low frequency of updating.
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`COMPONENTSFOR ROUTEINFORMATION SYSTEMS
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`Mapsarea static source ofroute information, they represent the
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`road system at the time of publication, with perhaps a few roads
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`Route information systems have three major components;
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`marked as opening in the coming year, and are only updated by
`purchasing the next edition a year ortwo later. They require skill
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`i)|The product given to the driver. Products vary from simple
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`and experience by the user to estimate the best route, generally
`mapsto sophisticated electronic equipmentinstalled inthe
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`givinglittle information on journey times. They do have the
`vehicle.
`advantage over other pre-trip route information systems that
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`routes can be generated on demandby the user and that routes
`The infra-structure needed to create and maintain the
`can be modified while the trip is underway.
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`currency of the information required by the product. All of
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`The name of a town or district in a city is usually insufficient to
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`the products of which we are aware require a mapidentifying
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`the roads that can be used. In addition information on road
`locate the drivers precise destination. A more precise methodof
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`markings, traffic signing, incidents and traffic conditions
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`locating the destination and of determining where a vehicle is
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`may also be required. The information is usually coded so
`relative to the map is required. Cartographers have solved this
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`problem by two methods,
`the first a system of cartesian
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`that itcan be stored oncomputers and presented to drivers
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`coordinates, as for example the Uk’s system ofgrid references,
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`as required. Most ofthe cost of providing aroute information
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`serviceis spent on creating and maintaining the information.
`and the second a system ofpolar coordinates, as for example in
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`the universally used system of longitude and latitude. Whilst
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`iii) Communication of the route to the driver. This again can
`these systems provide a meansoflocating a paint on a map or
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`the earths surface, they are not universally understood by drivers
`take many forms. With pre-trip route information systems
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`and acomputerised route information service needs to construct
`communication might be by post, telephone or similar
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`indexes that relate an address to the map referencing system.
`means, whereas en-route trip information systems can
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`The addresses can take the form of zip codes, a house number
`demand a complicated communication infra-structure
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`and street name, the intersection of iwo-namedroads or even
`providing two-way communication between vehicles and
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`central control.
`the distance along a street from a named intersection.
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`The task of digitising and maintaining accurate mapinformation
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`and the creation and maintenanceof the necessary indexesis
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`enourmous. Mostof the cost of providing a computerised route
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`information service will be incurred in creating and maintaining
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`all this information. Not surprisingly this is a strong barrier at the
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`presenttime to the development of computerised services and
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`only large organisations willing to invest considerable sums of
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`money are able to develop systems.
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`TRADITIONAL SERVICES
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`The traditional pre-trip route planning product offered by
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`automobile clubs has been a set of preprinted pages bound or
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`stapled together to form a route. They may take the form of text
`as in the case of the UK Automabile Associations Home Routes
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`Service, ora strip map asin the case of the AAA ‘Triptik’ service.
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`Other organisations eg oi! companies, car rental companies
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`have also offered pre-trip route information services as a marketing
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`aid to their main product.
`In each casethe productis free or sold
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`to the customer at much below production cost and therefore
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`there is a strong incentive for the producer to reduce costs and
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`possibly to try and restrain demand. This need to restrain costs
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`has lead several automobile clubs to turn their pre-trip route
`information systems over to a computer basedroute information
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`system.
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`From the providers point of view the information imparted by a
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`pre-trip route information system mustbe robust without obvious
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`error, and sufficient to provide the customerwith a good route.
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`Usually the route provided will relate to averagetraffic conditions
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`as the customer has not specified a date or time for the journey.
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`The route may well be personalised sothat if the customeris
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`customer may wish to avoid tolled routes. The route provided
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`maybethe quickestor it may be the best by someother criteria.
`The wide variety of route selection criteria means that the
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`Unified Patents Exhibit 1010
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`Figure 1 - Part of AA Prepared Route from Brookwood to
`Bristol
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`Miles
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`Brookwood (crossroads)
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`Follow signs Bagshot A322
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`Bisley (“Hen & Chickens”public house)
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`West End
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`Junction with A319/B311
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`At roundabout take 2nd exit
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`Junction with M3
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`At roundabouttake 2nd exit
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`(signposted Bracknell)
`1.6 miles farther take left-hand
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`lane & keep forward
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`In 2.2 miles at roundabout take
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`2nd exit
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`In 0.5 mile at roundabout take
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`2nd exit
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`personalised route has to be generated from a databaseof raute
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`information. It is not economic to hold ready compiled routes for
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`all combinations of selection criteria, although some popular
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`touring routes may be precompiled.
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`Automobile clubs, as one of the longer established providers of
`route information, have built up manually maintained databases
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`of route information, and, equally importantly, establishedlinks
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`with highwayauthorities to record changesin the road system.
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`They also conduct their own surveys of the road system to
`continuously check the currencyof their information. Over time
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`many automobile clubs have created a database covering their
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`entire area of operation with a uniform quality of information
`within it.
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`Newer entrants to the field of route information provision have
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`either restricted themselves geographically, perhaps by only
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`offering asmall set of precompiled routes, or have built databases
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`from cartographic sources but have notyet built in the detailed
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`knowledge gained over time by the automobile clubs.
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`THE UK AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATIONS COMPUTERISED
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`SERVICE
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`10.0 5.3 Bracknell
`Until 1984 the AAin Britain used a text based system where each
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`sheet contained text describing a section of route including
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`Follow signs Reading A329
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`turning movements (eg take 3rd exit at roundabout). Acomplete
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`route was built up by a compiler choosingaline of route and
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`12.8 2.8
`Junction with A329(M)/B3408
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`At roundabout take 2nd exit
`listing the sheets to be included, which were then assembledin
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`order. Often the compiler would make typewritten alterations/
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`to join Motorway A329(M}
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`additionsto the route before dispatch to the member. This labour
`Junction with M4
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`intensive operation has now been replaced by a computer based
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`Branchleft (signposted South
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`system.
`Wales)to join M4
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`The computer generated productis stilladescription ofthe route,
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`Junction 11 (A33)
`the source material for which was an expansion of the manual
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`route sheets, but the quality of the product is much improved.
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`The route is produced on small fanfold stationery so that it can
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`be used in a car easily. There are no alterations/deletions
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`apparentto the user, although the system still has facilities to add
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`detailed instructions at the start or end of the route if required and
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`true cumulative distances are incorporated throughout the text.
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`An example of the output trom the system is shownin Figure 1.
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`Apart from labour savings the main benefits to the producer, and
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`to the user, has been the ability to keep the route descriptions up
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`to date by incorporating new roadsfrom the daythey are opened.
`The major problem of stockholding, updating and reordering of
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`route sheets has been eliminated. The software contentof the
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`system is approximately one quarter devoted to route production
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`and three quarters devoted to input, updating and checking the
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`database. The system produces about 500,000 routes per year.
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`The AA system runs on a Prime minicomputer. As an indication
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`of performance, a modern PC is capable of calculating and
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`printing a route every minute. in practice the operator and printer
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`are the limiting factors on throughputs and a single workstation
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`has a capacity of about 12 routes per hour.
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`0.3
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`1.7
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`47
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`15.5 2.7
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`21.1
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`5.6
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`Etc.
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`An alternative form of pre-trip route planning product is the
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`“Triptik” produced by the AAA and CAA. This againis assembled
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`from preprinted sheets, but the sheets contain strip maps,
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`supplemented by descriptions of major towns, cities and a map
`giving fuller details of the area highlighted on the strip map. The
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`systemis operated from a large number of regionalcentres, each
`of which has a numberoftrained counsellors who assemble the
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`Triptiks and mark routes on maps. This map based system
`presents a greater level of difficulty when developing acomputer
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`based system to replace it.
`In particular any text based product
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`has to be entirely computer generated and the technology for
`printing a map based product at speed, at an economic cost, has
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`only recently become available.
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`IN-VEHICLE NAVIGATION SYSTEMS
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`In-vehicle navigation systems are a natural extension of the
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`traditional pre-trip planning services. They fall broadly into two
`groups. Those that are self contained within the vehicle and
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`those that can transmit and receive information from external
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`units.
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`The most elimentary of the self contained systems are thosethat
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`undertake map matching. The Etak, Carin, Travel Pilot and
`Honda systems are typical examples. In these systems a mapis
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`73
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`Page 3 of 5
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`Unified Patents Exhibit 1010
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`Page 3 of 5
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`Unified Patents Exhibit 1010
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`displayed to the driver and the location of the vehicle on the map
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`is shown. The benefits from these systemsis largely with the
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`destination search problem and their value in relation to their cost
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`is debateable. The value of these systems would be increased
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`if additional informatian was available on meeting places, hotels
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`and other places of interest, but it should also be remembered
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`that drivers do not rate this additional information as highly as
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`receiving information on traffic conditions. The commercial
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`success of these systems seemslikely to depend upon their
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`inclusion as part of existing in-vehicle entertainment systems.
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`Other self contained systems, for example our own MicroPilot,
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`have the added feature of selecting the route and presentingit to
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`the driver as a set of instructions. The location of the vehicle
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`relative to the map is still required but as an intersection is
`approachedinstructions are spoken to the driver and can be
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`presented visually on which way to turn. For example the
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`message “turn right on the A322 towards Guildford” would be
`typical of the instructions given.
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`The cammunication system is the mast important feature of the
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`second group of vehicle navigation systems. Forgreatest benefits
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`this communication system must be two-waysothat the vehicle
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`can tell the central control system its location and its required
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`destination and can in turn be updated by the central control
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`system ontherouteto follow,trafficconditions and otherincidents.
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`The type of communication, for example infra red or microwave,
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`is not too important but in Europe systems based on infra red
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`communication are already operating in Berlin, Munich and
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`London.
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`There are other features of a two-way communication system
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`that have not yet been exploited. One can conceive pricing and
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`control mechanisms that depend upon these systems and
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`electronic signposts that give information on road andtraffic
`conditions ahead. For example a vehicle could receive a message
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`andtell the driver “the bridge 200 metres aheadis frozen over”.
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`mode, the system points, like a compass,in the direction of the
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`destination. This facility helps considerably with the terminal
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`search and allows the system to operate without having coded
`all the detailed information associated with local roads.
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`Theinstallation of an Autoguide system in London will become
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`possible when the Government's present transport bill has
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`gained Parliamentary approval. Thebill provides the legisiation
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`neededto introduce the system and allows the Governmentto
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`offer a licence to operate a pilot system which, if successful, will
`be followed by a London wide system. The Government has
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`already invited companies to bid for the licence, and whoever
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`wins, the pilot system can be expected to be operational in 1991
`with the installation of the larger system starting a year later. A
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`further licence to operate a system in anotherpart of the country
`can be expected within the same time scales.
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`The Pilot system will be used to prove the technology and
`establish the financial viability and benefits of Autoguide. The
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`Government believes that the system will provide substantial
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`benefits to users and non-users. Delays should be reduced as
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`the system can encouragebetter use of the road capacity. At the
`same time, by encouraging the use of main roads, sensitive
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`areas can be protected. The safety of the system is an important
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`matter and this will be watched closely during the Pilot phase.
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`Initial trials of the Ali-Scout system were carried out in Munich
`and this led to a fullinstallation of the system covering Berlin. The
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`Autoguide system in London is likely to be followed by similar
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`systems installed in other European cities. Within the next 5
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`years any criver with an in-vehicle unit can look forward to using
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`his system anywhere in Europe.
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`FINAL THOUGHTS
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`Wehavebeen involvedin traffic forecasting long enough to know
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`that any prediction we make will certainly be wrong in some
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`respect.
`is however tantalising to look into the future and
`It
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`speculate on the vehicle navigation systemsthat mayexist inten
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`Webelieve therewill still be a need for two typesof service. A pre-
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`trip planning service and an en-route service. The pre-trip
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`planning service will be a developmentof the personal service
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`currently provided by many automobile clubs. These services
`can be automated and providedrivers, at their home or in their
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`Office, with detailed information abouttheir journey andfacilities
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`along the route. The product we prefer is one which provides
`both a map and a written description of the journey.
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`The second serviceis the en-route service of which the Ali-Scout
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`system is currently the outstanding example in Europe. These
`systems can respondto traffic conditions, help drivers avoid
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`incidents and traffic congestion and guide them to their precise
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`destination. The systems are capable of providing firms with
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`information on the location oftheir fleet of vehicles and of forming
`part of sophisticated traffic control systems. We expect the Ali-
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`Scout system to becomethe de facto standard in Europe.
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`The autonomous in-vehicle systems, represented by Carin and
`Travel Pilot, look likely to be left out in the cold. But it must be
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`remembered that both are being promoted by large firms who
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`caninfluence the market. Consequently we expect the emphasis
`of these systemsto change with navigation elements becoming
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`AUTOGUIDE
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`The Siemens Ali-Scout system is now well established and
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`seemslikely to become the de facto Europeanvehicle navigation
`standard. An Anglo-German agreement has established
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`communication protocols and the Ali-Scout system is now being
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`promoted as Autoguide in the United Kingdom and Ulysse in
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`France.
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`Inthe Autoguide system a unit in the car gives spoken and visual
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`instructions to the driver on the best route to follow. The unit
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`communicates with
`roadside beacons using infra-red
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`transmission. A central computer is told the vehicles destination
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`and its current
`location by the roadside beacons so it can
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`calculate the best raute for the vehicle from the prevailing traffic
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`conditions. The driver receives messageson the turns to make,
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`routes to follow and is guided to within 50 metres of the required
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`The vehicle's location is determined by an odometer andelectronic
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`compass. The vehicle receives sufficient map information asit
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`approachesa beacon for it to matchits position with the mapuntil
`it reaches the next beacon.
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`Autoguide is also capable of operating in autonomous mode
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`independant of any information from beacons. In autonomous
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`only a small part of a more general information system.In the
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`longer term the autonomous systemsare unlikely to remain self
`contained and will develop communication links. Anew European
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`standard for digital cellular radio is expected to come into
`operation in the mid-1990’s. Itis not unreasonable to believe that
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`this will become the communication link for en-route navigation
`systems and that a rationalisation of all the existing systems
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`could take place at around the sametime.
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`REFERENCES
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`1. Wootton, Ness & Burton. “Improved direction signs and
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`the benefits for drivers”. Traffic Engineering and Control,
`May 1981.
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`Lunn. “Route choice by Drivers”. Transport and Road
`Research Laboratory, SR 374. ISSN 0305 1315
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`3. Outram and Thompson. “Drivers’ perceived cost in route
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`choice”, Proc. PTRC Summer Annual Meeting, University
`of Warwick, 1978.
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`2.
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