Filtering road traffic condition data obtained from mobile data sources

A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose stored contents configure a computing device to assess data samples reported by vehicles traveling on roads, the data samples including information regarding the travel of the vehicles, the assessing of the data samples including performing a method comprising:

• receiving indications of multiple road segments of one or more roads;
• receiving information related to current traffic conditions of the multiple road segments, the received information including a plurality of data samples that each are reported from one of multiple vehicles and reflect a reported speed of the one vehicle at a reported geographic location and reflect a reported travel heading of the one vehicle;
• and
• for each of the multiple road segments, assessing traffic conditions for the road segment based on data samples identified to represent travel on the road segment by,
• identifying a group of multiple data samples from the plurality of data samples such that the data samples of the group have reported geographic locations that are within a predefined distance of one or more predefined geographic locations for the road segment and have reported travel headings that are within a predefined difference from one or more predefined headings for the road segment;
• automatically determining that one or more of the data samples of the group are unrepresentative of actual vehicle travel on the road segment based at least in part on the reported geographic locations of the determined data samples not corresponding to predefined portions of the road segment for which vehicle travel is of interest and based at least in part on the report speeds of one or more vehicles that reported the determined data samples not corresponding to one or more expected speeds associated with the road segment, wherein the predefined portions of one or more of the multiple road segments that are each part of a highway do not include any ramps on or off the highway, the automatic determining being performed by the configured computing device;
• automatically excluding from the group the data samples determined to be unrepresentative of actual vehicle travel on the road segment, the automatic excluding being performed by the configured computing device;
• and
• after the excluding, automatically using the data samples remaining in the group to infer traffic conditions for all vehicles traveling on the road segment to facilitate travel on the road segments.

A computing system configured to assess data samples reported by vehicles traveling on roads, the data samples including information regarding the travel of the vehicles, the computing system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more components that are configured to, when executed by the one or more processors,
• receive indications of multiple road segments of one or more roads;
• receive information related to current traffic conditions of the multiple road segments, the received information including a plurality of data samples that each are reported from one of multiple vehicles and reflect a reported speed of the one vehicle at a reported geographic location and reflect a reported travel heading of the one vehicle;
• and
• for each of the multiple road segments, assess traffic conditions for the road segment based on data samples identified to represent travel on the road segment by,
• identifying a group of multiple data samples from the plurality of data samples such that the data samples of the group have reported geographic locations that are within a predefined distance of one or more predefined geographic locations for the road segment and have reported travel headings that are within a predefined difference from one or more predefined headings for the road segment;
• automatically determining that one or more of the data samples of the group are unrepresentative of actual vehicle travel on the road segment based at least in part on the reported geographic locations of the determined data samples not corresponding to predefined portions of the road segment for which vehicle travel is of interest and based at least in part on the reported speeds of one or more vehicles that reported the determined data samples not corresponding to one or more expected speeds associated with the road segment;
• and wherein the predefined portions of one or more of the multiple road segments that are each part of a highway do not include any ramps on or off the highway;
• automatically excluding from the group the data samples determined to be unrepresentative of actual vehicle travel on the road segment;
• and
• after the excluding, automatically using the data samples remaining in the group to infer traffic conditions for all vehicles traveling on the road segment to facilitate travel on the road segments.