Galgalatz Radio Station Israel

Download PDF

Background:
Galgalatz is an Israeli radio station and part of the Galei-Tzahal group, which is one of the two national broadcasting associations in Israel. The station was established in 1993 with the aid of the Israeli Ministry of Transportation and broadcasts primarily nonstop music, traffic reports and traffic safety messages. Traffic reports are broadcasted every 10-15 minutes and a news report at the top of every hour. The radio station receives top ratings among most demographic groups in Israel.

Within a short time, Galgalatz had made a name for itself amongst the Israeli media and Galgalatz's traffic reports are frequently considered as the common traffic information source for the public.

Challenge:
One of the primary tasks of Galgalatz is to provide drivers with up-to-date information about the traffic situation on Israel’s roads. Therefore, it is important that the radio station is constantly kept abreast on all that is happening on the roads. Up to this point, Galgalatz has been received traffic information from three sources: a light aircraft flying above traffic hot spot areas during rush hours, call-ins from listeners, and free public camera Websites. Even with several data sources, the information gathered was not accurate: speed information, delays, and congestion lengths could be estimated at best. Therefore, for a report to be considered relatively reliable, it had to be compared and validated through at least two of the information sources.

While call-ins reports are an important psychological link between listeners and the radio station and callers are recognized by name and thanked for their effort in helping, traffic reports from this source are not very accurate in nature. Traffic cameras are only indicators of traffic problems, but depend on location and availability, they and cover only mainly intersections and small sections of roads. In addition, they give only a quick indication of the traffic situation, failing to give precise speed and delay information.

Requirement:
Galgalatz’s management was looking for a new kind of traffic information system that would allow the station to receive real-time, accurate traffic information on as many roads as possible in a way that was easily integrated into the operation of the radio station. The traffic information system was required to cover the entire Israeli road network and give accurate information as to average traffic speeds on these roads in real time. This would allow the radio station to provide its listeners with better tools to navigate around congestions.

Solution:
Decell's traffic system offers real-time traffic information that is nation-wide, accurate and comprehensive. The information is derived from the location and movement of cellular phones in cars, processed and delivered in real time.

Answering Galgalatz's specific request, Decell developed a customized Web-based interface that includes a direct feed of its real-time traffic information both as graphic maps as well as text announcements, displaying not only travel times and average speeds, but also incident information.

With the arrival of Decell’s traffic system and its Web-based interface, Galgalatz has acquired for the first time the ability to obtain real-time accurate traffic information on all major roads in Israel with detailed speed, delay, and incident information. The current information is read live in Galgalatz every fifteen minutes in special traffic bulletins, informing drivers of the exact and updated road situation they are about to encounter.