seven day traffic forecast in california

A traffic forecasting system capable of predicting traffic conditions seven days in advance will go live to the public in California on Wednesday.

Beat-The-Traffic is the name of the system which bases it predictions on real-time sensors, historical trends on major routes, alerts on traffic related weather conditions, accident alerts, planned road construction, and nearby calendared sporting events. here's a 3d animated sample of how the system works, which is what viewers of kxtv news 10 will see beginning wednesday. sacramento is the guinea pig for this new system, with 19 other major cities on the list after us, including LA and Atlanta. if it actually works, that could be pretty interesting.

the _real_ question, though, is, "will this new system be able to accurately predict the changes in overall traffic routes after kxtv's viewers see its predictions for their usual traffic routes on tv?" if it can do that, i'll be impressed. i'll even post a follow up praising its abilities. or take a nap, either one. Matt @ 1:59 PM