The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) seeks to develop a hands-free Mobile Application (app) platform to aid travelers by offering travel information that utilizes the data it currently collects from its real-time transportation information systems and includes additional travel related information such as transit and shuttle schedules and availability of parking. As a data input for this app, NJDOT is providing the feed from their central data fusion engine that analyzes and prioritizes travel time source data from its various real-time transportation information systems, such as Bluetooth, Transmit Travel Time System and vehicle probe data.

Currently the only way New Jersey travelers can obtain travel time information is through Dynamic Messaging Signs (DMS), the 511 NJ website or through commercially available sources such as Google Maps and Waze. These traveler information technologies, however, are deficient in their own ways. While DMS technology is strategically deployed, it cannot provide the variety of information necessary to assess alternate route options, parking availability, transit schedules, or cause of delay. The 511 NJ website offers travel time information and other kinds of transportation network information but is not a mobile optimized website. It is not designed to maximize the technological advancements of the smartphone, be responsive to different device screen sizes, access GPS to assess location, or offer updated routing information in real-time. Google Maps, on the other hand, is designed to be mobile optimized and utilizes the richest set of real-time and archived probe data to determine real-time routing. Google Maps is even now integrating delay information regarding major incidents and work zones from Waze, which collects its information through crowd sourcing. Google Maps, however, does not incorporate the availability of parking along travelled routes, nor does it include official information about construction, incidents or detours. Its integration of Waze delay information means that it is dependent upon user self-reporting, which skews information away from less traveled roads.