HERE, a Nokia business, announced that it is bringing its real-time traffic information to Esri, a market leader in Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping software used by enterprise and government fleet management companies around the world.

With HERE Traffic, Esri will enhance its web and cloud location platform with more precise location data for intelligent routing. Fleet operators will be able to better manage problems as they occur in real time, re-routing fleets when traffic unexpectedly hits, and providing alerts when pickup or delivery delays occur.

With congestion in the top 100 highway bottlenecks getting worse, real time traffic information helps fleets avoid traffic hotspots so that they get can get to their destinations faster and more safely.*

"For 10 years, Esri and HERE have had the shared goal of enhancing safety and increasing the efficiency of fleet operations by offering the most accurate transportation information on more roads than any other provider across the world," said Chris Cappelli, Director of Sales at Esri. "Launching real-time traffic from HERE on Esri's platform for our ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS for Transportation Analytics software products will offer a deeper level of logistic and analytic capabilities for enterprise and government fleet companies."

Real-time traffic is one of the services that HERE delivers based on the data it gathers from a wealth of sources, including the world's largest compilation of both commercial and consumer probe data, the world's largest fixed proprietary sensor network, event-based data collected from government and commercial sources, and billions of historical traffic records.

"Dependable real-time traffic information is crucial to improving fleet operations strategy today and for the long-term," said Roy Kolstad, Vice President for Mobile, Web and Enterprise in North America at HERE. "Our traffic offering will complement HERE map content, which Esri has been using for a decade. Through this combination of traffic and map content, Esri will be able to provide a richer location-based analytics offering that will help businesses make more informed decisions."

The freshness of that data enables HERE Traffic to provide a more accurate picture of traffic conditions. HERE currently processes 20 billion real-time GPS probe points a month, with almost half of all the data less than 1 minute old and more than three-quarters less than 5 minutes old.

"Traffic data is the single most important telematics application," said Roger C. Lanctot, Associate Director in the Global Automotive Practice for Strategy Analytics. "Whether for fleets or consumers, traffic data is essential to determining the fastest or most efficient route and HERE's expanding relationships on the enterprise side are significant. Traffic information is core to maximizing uptime and essential for alternative fuel vehicles such as EVs."

ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS for Transport Analytics are two GIS products supported by Esri's platform. The ease of accessing this powerful content will allow ArcGIS users to quickly embed traffic-aware routing into any application.

*U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Public Affairs FHWA 2011: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pressroom/fhwa1151.cfm