Houston’s KHCW-TV Uses Mobiles to Avoid the Holiday Rush
Posted by geoffwhiting on December 20, 2007
We all know what the holiday season will bring for us – unparalleled amounts of traffic. Surprisingly though, relief for some is coming from a TV station in Houston. KHCW-TV, Houston’s CW affiliate, is launching an ad-supported program, the Traffic Jam Cell Cams, targeting the two million commuters in the Houston area. This is a free mobile traffic site, which will allow users to view bottlenecks and traffic delays from their mobile devices before they head out on the road.
Houston TranStar and its more than 600 traffic cameras bring this service to commuters. TranStar was formed by four government agencies that provide transportation and emergency management to the area. The cameras are placed along toll roads, freeways and places of common congestion, covering about 6,000 square miles, 5.16 million people and 4.3 million registered vehicles.
“This is something that isn’t dependent on having a morning news show to offer traffic to commuters,” said Roger Bare, VP and general manager of KHCW-TV, Tribune Broadcasting Company, Houston. “This service gives people real-time traffic information anytime, anywhere and should prove to be popular with local commuters.”
3rd Dimension, a mobile application company, developed the technology. “Cell phones are incredibly useful and personal,” said Bruce Laskin, CEO of 3rd Dimension. “We hope that we have added to that utility with an application providing individualized video information whenever it is needed.”
KHCW Traffic Jam Cell Cams is compatible with data-enabled phones on the T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon Wireless networks.
