The Basque Traffic Centre has also recently started using real-time traffic data from TomTom, which can be used in conjunction with the data collected from roadside measurement stations, helping them avoid investment in extra measurements stations, which are expensive to install and maintain.

1. CASE STUDY
Client:
Basque Government’s traffic Department
Donostia-San Sebastián, 1
01010 Vitoria, Spain
TomTom Case Study
Basque Government uses TomTom data to
improve traffic flow
Basque Government’s
traffic centre
The Basque Government’s traffic centre is now using GPS data from
SUMMARY
TomTom to improve its service provision. They’re also getting information
from TomTom’s Custom Travel Time via the user-friendly online portal,
Country: Spain
Traffic Stats, which can be used for in-depth analyses of specific routes
Sector: Government
and locations. The Basque government can then use these reports to
PROFILE
improve the traffic management on its road network.
The Basque Traffic Centre has also recently started using real-time traffic
data from TomTom, which can be used in conjunction with the data
collected from roadside measurement stations, helping them avoid
The Basque government’s traffic
centre collects traffic information
for the region between North
West and Central Spain, where
investment in extra measurements stations, which are expensive to install
the road network is very busy.
and maintain.
The traffic centre helps the
authorities limit traffic jams and
The Traffic Centre can use the real-time data to publish up-to-date traffic
provide a good service to road
information on online road maps, aiding road users to avoid traffic jams
users.
and therefore money, time and fuel. Added benefit of fewer traffic jams
are improved traffic safety and air quality.
maps & content | real time & historical traffic | lbs
www.tomtom.com/licensing

2. „The TomTom data
also lets us know
CHALLENGE
Basque government services are being forced to save
what is happening
money, managing the traffic centre has to continue to
in between our
provide the same service but with a smaller budget. The
measurement
stations.”
challenges are considerable: reducing traffic jams will
help the traffic centre raise the quality of life for people
in the region by improving road safety and limiting CO2
emissions.
Iñaki Eguiara, head of the
Basque Government’s
traffic research area
SOLUTION
The classic measurement stations work perfectly well
already, but they do not provide information for areas
between the roadside cameras. Instead of investing in
extra cameras, which would be very expensive, the Basque
Traffic Centre has opted to use data collected by TomTom
from its GPS network. This budget-friendly solution gives
them much more information, with both historical and
real-time route data.
BENEFITS
• No investment in installation and maintenance of extra
measurement stations
• Roads users save time and fuel thanks to a reduction in
traffic jams
• Lower CO2-emissions and improved traffic safety
• User-friendly technology
• Reliable data
maps & content | real time & historical traffic | lbs
www.tomtom.com/licensing

3. The Basque government was already using TomTom’s historical traffic data: traffic centre
employees retrieve TomTom’s Custom Travel Time from the user-friendly online portal,
Traffic Stats, to analyse the flow of traffic on certain routes, and produce reports, make
plans and offer advice. The new real-time traffic data provides further details of the live
traffic situation. This information can be used to intervene quickly and efficiently when and
where necessary.
“We were already collecting real-time data from certain places on the roads,” explains Iñaki
Eguiara, head of the Basque government’s traffic research centre. “We save this information
in a database to build up a historical picture, and this works very well, but we also wanted
access to more data so we could produce even better reports for more roads.”
Data from measurement stations combined
with TomTom information
There is always a distance of five to ten kilometres between each two stations, which all
consist of a digital display panel for providing information to road users, a camera, and
the measurement system itself which collects the data.
Iñaki Eguiara says that measurements stations would
ideally be placed everywhere along the roads, even
closer together. “But that’s impossible to implement
„Fewer traffic jams also results in less air
pollution and greater traffic safety.”
and very expensive,” he says. “The systems also need to
be maintained once they’ve been installed, which costs even more money. That’s why we
decided to combine the existing systems with the data from TomTom. The GPS information
doesn’t cover all the vehicles on the road, but it certainly provides a broader and more
accurate picture. It also lets us know what is happening in between measurement stations
– how many vehicles are passing, how fast they are going, and so on.”
TomTom was initially contacted following a presentation at a conference. “We looked at
other options too, but TomTom offered the most complete solution,” explains Iñaki Eguiara.
“The other options didn’t have the same quality and quantity of data.”
Online traffic information on road maps
The Basque Traffic Centre also wants to publish the real-time information online in the
near future. “This will mean all road users can see where there might be problems with
traffic jams on an online road map,” explains Iñaki Eguiara. “We used to publish incidents
that occurred on the road to our website using information from the police, so we knew
what was causing the problems, but we didn’t know how they affected the traffic flow.
Conversely, the information from TomTom doesn’t tell us the cause of a traffic jam, but it
does let us know how long the jam is, and how long vehicles are being delayed. Combining
the information from the police with the TomTom GPS data therefore means we now know
the cause and its consequences. The ultimate goal is to always resolve traffic jams quickly,
maps & content | real time & historical traffic | lbs
www.tomtom.com/licensing
Iñaki Eguiara, head of the
Basque Government’s traffic
research area

4. saving up to 500,000 euro of taxpayers’ money in fuel costs, and helping people be more
productive with shorter journey times. Fewer traffic jams also results in less air pollution and
greater traffic safety.”
The Basque Traffic Centre is not actually responsible for the road network itself, but it does
communicate with the government about it so that appropriate measures can be taken
when necessary, e.g. installing more traffic lights, roundabouts or speed bumps in places
where vehicles are driving too fast, or adding an extra lane to reduce traffic jams in certain
areas. The measurements also sometimes lead to unexpected conclusions. “We once
performed speed checks in a particular accident blackspot,” says Iñaki Eguiara. “We thought
the accidents were being caused by vehicles being driven too fast, but the combination of
TomTom data with historical information from our database identified they were mainly
being caused by the poor state of the road. We naturally pass this kind of information
straight on to the relevant authorities.”
Good collaboration with integrator
To get started with the TomTom data, the Basque Traffic Centre worked with integrator
Geograma, who ensured the information was displayed graphically, and are continuing
to provide technical support. “The collaboration with and communication between the
various parties has always been very easy,” says Giuseppe Noto, account manager with
TomTom. “We’ve been working with Geograma for some time now, so they already know
our products very well. The resolved technical problems straight away and, as a local partner,
they’re also close to both the client and the end users.”
The Basque Traffic Centre also stays in touch with TomTom. “We mainly contact them by
email when we have particular technical questions,” says Iñaki Eguiara. “We didn’t need any
training with the historical information for our first TomTom project because Traffic Stats is
such an accessible and user-friendly product. But the database analyses we want to perform
now are a bit more complex, so Geograma has been providing training.”
Interest from other regions
Following on from the first experiences with the data from TomTom, the traffic centre is
already very busy planning for the future. As well as the online maps for the general public,
it’s also possible we will start collaborating with other regions outside the Basque Country.
regional traffic centres. We gave a presentation about our project at a conference in Madrid,
and we’re hoping to get even more out of the possibilities provided by TomTom soon, so
that we can improve the traffic situation even further.”
© 2013 TomTom. All rights reserved.
Iñaki Eguiara: “We are the first to use this method, and we’ve had lots of interest from other
maps & content | real time & historical traffic | lbs
www.tomtom.com/licensing
2013.10.CS.BasqueGov.EN