MEDIA BROADCAST to transmit traffic information from Navteq Services for a further five years

Traffic Guidance with TMCpro

Bonn, 17 December 2009 

MEDIA BROADCAST and Navteq Services GmbH, provider of the TMCpro traffic information service, have renewed their contract for the transmission of traffic data through the end of 2014. Each day, TMCpro provides thousands of drivers with information about traffic jams so that they can be recognized ahead of time and avoided. The services provided by MEDIA BROADCAST cover the preparation, playout and distribution of data among more than 80 private radio stations, with over 490 broadcasting stations throughout Germany. In addition, Navteq has access to a customer information system that shows the current operating status and regular quality reports.

As part of the contract, Navteq provides MEDIA BROADCAST with a broad range of traffic information, including traffic jams, impending bottlenecks, construction sites, lost time, weather on the streets and any applicable messages from Austria and Switzerland. To achieve this, MEDIA BROADCAST operates a redundant playout. The information is encoded according to RDS and TMC standards, encrypted and transmitted in a regional format to radio stations via line and satellite connections. RDS coders feed this data into active VHF transmitters so that broadcast signals can be received by TMCpro-equipped navigation systems. This data allows navigation systems to compute dynamic routing based on the actual traffic situation. MEDIA BROADCAST developed the TMCpro traffic service in collaboration with its market partners and has been broadcasting these signals via VHF networks since 2003.

About TMCpro
TMC (Traffic Message Channel) or TMCpro is a traffic notification system whereby digital signals are broadcast in VHF in what are known as RDS subcarriers. TMCpro is a fee-based service broadcast by private VHF radio broadcasters. The main sources of data for the service are automatic recording systems such as sensors on roadway and motorway bridges, as well as vehicles equipped for this purpose. Information is continuously being retrieved from a total of 60,000 data sources. The automatic systems on motorways enable the detection and notification of more than 95 % of all traffic jams within 10 minutes. Processing of the data is largely automatic. A traffic newsreader only intervenes if the situation on the roads is unclear, or with information regarding construction sites.