The number of online traffic cameras used to monitor traffic flow and road conditions is doubling every two-and-a-half years, according to Vizzion, Inc., traffic camera data and services supplier to customers in the web, mobile, automotive, and broadcast media industries. This is a double-edged sword for any product developers looking to give their traffic data or reporting a boost; while markets and applications grow exponentially, so too do the challenges of working with such constantly changing data.
Traffic cameras first appeared on the still-new World Wide Web in Seattle with just 45 cameras going live online in October 1996. When Vizzion brought to market the first traffic camera XML web service in 2005, it provided access to over 1,000 cameras. Fast forward to 2013 and Vizzion’s industry-leading database of traffic cameras is an obvious gauge of how the technology has taken over – more than 1,000 cameras are now offered in London alone, for example. Seattle's pioneering traffic camera network has grown 1,500% to over 700 cameras. As of November 2013, Vizzion offers a total of 30,000 traffic cameras worldwide.
To keep pace with the growth, Vizzion had to compete in what company President Chris Cooper describes as a “technology arms race” as well as form over 150 partnerships across 23 countries. Cooper projects 120,000 traffic cameras within five years’ time. So what keeps Vizzion going? "With every new set of cameras," says Cooper, "there are new markets and new opportunities."
The applications for traffic data continue to grow alongside technological capabilities; already ubiquitous on the desktop and mobile devices, automotive applications are the next frontier. Automotive researchers at SBD are projecting over $33 billion in total embedded telematics revenue opportunities in the next five years, reaching over $21 billion annually in only 10 years. Just this year, internet-connected car sales are expected to reach nearly 14 million units. Traffic cameras could be the differentiator in this new and lucrative market.
To read the full article, please visit http://www.vizzion.com/growth.html
Vizzion is the leading provider of traffic camera data and services, providing 30,000 cameras in 23 countries. With authorization from over 150 different national and regional agencies across 5 continents, Vizzion aggregates cameras from more than 500 cities and regions for use in media, mobile, web, and automotive products.
