Traffic monitor gets animated by Shockwave

A year after launching its Web site, car manufacturer Vauxhall has upgraded Trafficmaster, its real-time traffic information service to include an animated representation of UK traffic.

As part of the upgrade, Trafficmaster has been renamed Traffic-Net. The service makes use of Shockwave software which allows displays to be animated on the World Wide Web.

Traffic-Net displays the UK's motorway network and some A roads and users can zoom in on a specific area of the country.

On screen, "live" congested areas are indicated by red or yellow squares.

A red arrow means the traffic is stationary, and yellow indicates speeds below 30mph down to a crawl.

The company's Web site was developed by IBM's Interactive multimedia team using data collected from Vauxhall's network of sensors. The data is then processed at its control centre in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

Traffic-Net can be accessed on the Web at www.vauxhall.co.uk