Microsoft spent years developing its Clearflow technology, which provides routing based on real-time traffic data in Bing Maps. Previously only available in the United States, Clearflow has gone international and is now available to Canadian Bing Maps users.
Microsoft has said that Clearflow is now available “in every country” worldwide and will calculate your travel time, provide directions, and allow you to optimize your route based on current road conditions. The technology was first introduced to U.S. Bing Maps users way back in 2008 and uses both live traffic data and extrapolated data to cover roads where live data isn’t available.
“For example, Bing Maps extrapolates traffic on the ramps on a highway by considering live traffic data for the highway itself and traffic on the surrounding surface streets,” Microsoft explained.
Microsoft started developing Clearflow more than a decade ago, in 2003. According to this NYT article from 2008, the company first tracked traffic in its hometown of Seattle and then used its algorithms to provide traffic-based routes in cities around the United States. Now it’s applying those algorithms to map the traffic in every other country. Check it out at bing.com/maps on your phone.
[source]Microsoft[/source]
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