SUNA alert to Canberra traffic

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 20 August 2009 07:55

Your IT - Entertainment

The SUNA Traffic Channel has reached Canberra. The service delivers live traffic information to GPS navigation systems.

The SUNA Traffic Channel has been delivering up to the minute traffic information to drivers in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Adelaide and Perth. Coverage now extends to the national capital.

“Building a national traffic information service for Australian motorists has been a major achievement for the company," said Intelematics Australia CEO Adam Game.

"For the past two years we have been working hard to deliver a traffic service that benefits all motorists, especially those living in areas that experience a greater number of traffic incidents and higher levels of congestion," he added.

Data is sourced from traffic sensors, probe vehicles and tow truck allocations as well as lists of roadworks and special events such as major sporting fixtures and cultural activities.

"Canberra roads have become more and more populated over the past six years with over 28,000 additional vehicles hitting local roads.  As with all capital cities, motorists are increasingly faced with changed traffic conditions with major roads becoming unpredictable causing frustration for local motorists," said Game.

Owned by motoring organisation RACV, Intelematics Australia operates the SUNA Traffic Channel that now covers more than 95% of the Australian capital city population.

Traffic Channel piggybacks on conventional FM radio broadcasts, and the signal can be decoded by some GPS units while others require a special cradle. It is also available on some built-in navigation systems.

The international standard used is supported by many leading manufacturers including Eclipse, Ford, Garmin, Mio, Navman, Navway, Pioneer, TomTom, and Uniden.