re los angeles freeway traffic reports i live in the san francisco bay area and word has it that something similar is on its way here since we apparently don t have the sensor base you folks have they re installing cameras at strategic points along the freeways initial tests are going to be in the santa clara area i m told with the video being piped into a command center they re building somewhere in the east bay i m not sure if frame grabbers or cheap labor will be used to interpret the data but large multi colored status displays will show the various routes using different colors to represent the various average speeds for each stretch of highway an announcer will sit in front of the status wall and will relay continuous verbal traffic status to those who want to receive it they re apparently also looking into licensing a low am frequency to be dedicated to providing continuous audio from this system in the mean time they ll set up large incandescent display boards along the test stretch to provide commuters with data on traffic conditions up ahead my understanding is that the system is subsidized as a pilot program and information from it will be available free of charge perhaps the la system is similarly free or provided at an obviously subsidized rate read cheap we also have the traffic reports that are broadcast on the sap audio channel of television channels and these are verbal reports qualified with a identification tone to tell in vehicle receivers like the auto talk that the information coming next is applicable to a given area in la they re probably using some other tv channels but the concept is the same try setting your stereo tv or vcr to receive the sap audio channel and go station jumping to find out which one is broadcasting this information i believe this program is also subsidized making the in vehicle receivers cheap to purchase and without having to incur monthly fees to use it since the makers of these in vehicle receivers don t have to pay for the broadcast this may not be completely true they likely have no investment in keeping the system up and running when the cal trans stuff hits the airwaves you may have a nifty little tv audio receiver in your car nothing more when this happens perhaps a word to the wise i think we d all be interested in a summary post if you get more info on how the la system is networked and paid for cheers alan acooney netcom com
