Press Release

24 January 2002

British Technology beats traffic queues around the Pentagon -
why not in the UK?

In Washington DC, Virginia, USA, commuters can now use their PCs to access individual cameras around the main road network to check out the best route to avoid jams. They view the scene directly and get images updated every second - clearly showing how fast the traffic is moving and allowing them to use their own judgement to plan the best route.

It's a British company, Sirrus, that provides the technology to make this possible, yet nothing comparable exists in the UK (despite the fact that we have far more CCTV cameras than the US).

The effectiveness of the system was dramatically illustrated on September 11. Sirrus's US partner Trafficland Inc had just completed the installation of a system to link traffic cameras around the city to the internet. This system was brought into action sooner than planned at the specific request of the State authorities because the cameras clearly showed the traffic routes around the site of the terrorist attack at the Pentagon. State officials used the system to monitor traffic movement and direct their emergency vehicles accordingly.

When the site address was listed on the site of the local radio station the resulting 6,000 hits per hour proved that individual commuters also wanted to work out the best way home for themselves.

The aim of the technology is to allow true public access to traffic information. Anyone with a computer can make their own decisions on the best route to use, without having to rely on traffic reports that may be out of date. With the advent of wireless internet technology the next stage will be to make it possible to access this information in-car.

Paul Davey, Managing Director of Sirrus, explains: "This is the only system to allow people to view near live footage. Existing traffic viewing sites only update the images every few minutes meaning that you are actually viewing a stationary image and consequently have no idea how fast (if at all) the traffic is moving."

Sirrus anticipates that the system is likely to find an immediate use in the UK by traffic management organisations needing to evaluate the impact of new routing and planning initiatives. The potential for the systems to be used by emergency services is another avenue to be explored. Existing cameras can be linked into the system - allowing current technology to be upgraded relatively easily and without needing to install a whole monitoring system from scratch.

<--- Back to top

Sirrus and Trafficland - putting Washington's Traffic Cameras LIVE on the 'Net

Sirrus Group, the UK video-over-networks specialist has just completed expansion of the Trafficland.com service to 107 cameras.

Sirrus provided US traffic systems specialist Trafficland Inc., operator of the Trafficland.com web portal, with a bespoke video system to give live Internet delivery of pictures from Washington D.C.'s Traffic Video Cameras. Sirrus is a British company which had its start with an OFEX IPO in July of 2000. Sirrus designs, manufactures and implements a wide range of systems for delivering pictures from video cameras over data networks - over distances of up to thousands of miles. Sirrus also holds an 8% stake in Trafficland, Inc.

The new high-update-rate web portal for Washington was put online and delivered to the Department of Transport ahead of schedule. The public site, which can be found at www.trafficland.com , is the first to offer real-time live images from the State's traffic cameras. In the past, Washington's traffic cameras on the 'net were limited to still pictures, updated once every few minutes. Sirrus' new system refreshes each camera image once every second, so that the traffic can actually be seen moving (there is a sample in our Case Study section).

A 'snapshot' of Trafficland's portal site is shown below - including a sample of the video.

Aiding the City during the Terrorist Crisis

Larry Nelson, President of Trafficland Inc., explained how the Trafficland portal had assisted during the crisis of September 11th:

"We had planned originally to launch Trafficland on Monday, September 10th, but had elected to delay a few days for final setup and adjustments. When the hijacked plane hit the Pentagon on the morning of September 11th, we immediately saw the smoke rising on one of our cameras.

"We subsequently found we had the only Internet-visible camera which could see the Pentagon from the right side - and the State authorities asked us if we could press the Trafficland site into use straightaway, to help with the traffic buildup.

"Within minutes we put the system online, and gave the site URL to the local radio station, who used the site - which shows 64 cameras covering all of the roads on the western side of Washington - to help guide drivers away from the crisis zone.

"A few days later I received a letter of personal thanks from the head of the state Department of Transport thanking us for pressing the system into service at such short notice - we were only too pleased to be able to help. Since the day the terrorists hit the Pentagon, one of our cameras has been used continuously to look at the recovery works going on there."

Some samples of those images - captured by Trafficland's freeway camera no. 740 - are below.

The impact site at the Pentagon	Closeup of the damaged facade
The rescue team encampment	A frenzy of activity at all hours

Right-click here and use 'Save As' option to download the Trafficland Case Study.

Trafficland and Sirrus are now working together on systems for other cities in the Eastern USA, and gearing up to offer traffic video on PDAs - palmtop devices. Many US cities already have true wireless internet access available, so using the Trafficland internet portal to check road traffic right from the car is already possible.

Notes for Editors

About Sirrus

Sirrus is a British company that specialises in the design and implementation of Remote Vision Systems over IP networks (corporate data networks and/or the Internet). They produce a range of camera products and systems that work with computer networks and the Internet to deliver quality moving pictures globally.

For further information contact Sirrus.