Seasons greetings. I am most definitely in wind down mode and looking forward to a trip along the West Coast of New Zealand this holiday. It's been a hectic and very fruitful 8 months, establishing the New Zealand operations of the CRC for Spatial Information and 2011 will see some important milestones being achieved. However, before I pack up my laptop and heavy duty Bushman insect repellent (I hear the sandflies on the West Coast are mean), I thought I'd share with you a media release from Geosmart, one of New Zealand's 43pl members (43pl is CRCSI's SME consortium).

Wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday.

Mary Sue Severn
Director CRCSI New Zealand

Traffic flow and congestion information launched for New Zealand

The AA has today launched New Zealand's leading traffic flow and congestion information service.

The service provides motorists with information on traffic flows and congestion for all state highways and arterial roads across New Zealand. It is updated every five minutes using data collected from thousands of vehicles around the country.

Motorists can view the traffic flow and congestion information free of charge online at www.aaroadwatch.co.nz

"Motorists will now be able to better plan their journeys in advance or choose an alternative route, with less traffic, while trying to reach their destination," says AA Traffic spokesperson Phil Allen.

"Providing traffic flow and congestion data will result in improved travel times, lower fuel bills, and less stress from unexpected traffic congestion."

"This is the most important development in real time traffic information we have seen in New Zealand," says Mr Allen.

The AA's traffic flow and congestion information service has been developed by Geosmart, the AA-owned online mapping company. GeoSmart also supplies traffic information to GPS companies in New Zealand, including TomTom. TomTom utilises this information as part of TomTom HD Traffic on connected GPS devices in New Zealand.

Andrew Cooper, Managing Director, TomTom Asia Pacific says "the introduction of TomTom LIVE Services and HD Traffic to New Zealand marks a fundamental breakthrough in the quality and functionality of GPS devices, giving New Zealand drivers real-time information about road conditions."

Mr Cooper says "we are very excited to bring TomTom LIVE Services and HD Traffic to New Zealand, the first country in the Asia Pacific to start utilising our world-leading technology. GeoSmart was instrumental in providing a high-quality traffic information feed into our HD Traffic technology. We believe that through innovations such as TomTom HD Traffic, we can reduce overall road congestion."

For more information contact:

Phil Allen
AA Traffic Spokesperson, M. +64 21 415 310