Traffic Intelligence - Daily Traffic Volume (AADT) by Road
Feature availability
- Free
- Lite
- Pro
- Lite Pro
- Pro Business
Traffic Intelligence colours roads on your map by traffic volume. It uses AADT (Annual Average Daily Traffic): the average number of vehicles that use a road on a typical day. You can play a 24-hour simulation to see when roads are busy, and click any road to get its traffic report.
The kit covers roads across the USA and Canada. It also displays official traffic count stations.
Add the Traffic Intelligence kit
You can add the kit from either place:
- Launch Pad: find the Traffic Intelligence card and click Use Kit.
- Maps & Data: open the Kits tab, find the Traffic Intelligence card, and click Use Kit.
The Traffic Intelligence panel opens on the map, and the roads are coloured by traffic volume.
When you add the kit, the base map changes to Midnight, because the traffic colours are easiest to read on a dark map. If you use a custom map style, your style is kept.
Note: If your plan is not Pro Business, you see Pro Business Required for Traffic Intelligence with an Upgrade button. To try the kit first, click Example on the card. The example shows central Washington, DC, and the panel says Example area: Washington, DC.
Read the road colours
Each road's colour indicates its traffic volume in vehicles per day. The legend under Daily Volume (AADT): in the panel shows the same colours:
| Colour | Legend | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Green | < 1k (Local) | Fewer than 1,000 vehicles a day, such as quiet local streets |
| Cyan | 1k – 5k | 1,000 to 5,000 vehicles a day |
| Orange | 5k – 25k | 5,000 to 25,000 vehicles a day |
| Red | 25k – 75k | 25,000 to 75,000 vehicles a day |
| Dark red | 75k+ (High) | More than 75,000 vehicles a day, such as major highways |
Run a 24-hour traffic simulation
The Time Simulation: controls show how busy roads are at each hour. The colours update for the selected hour. The panel starts on a weekday at 5:00 PM, the evening rush.
- Weekday or Weekend: select the type of day. Weekend traffic follows a different pattern.
- Hour slider: drag it to select an hour from midnight to 11:00 PM. The box at the top of the panel shows the day, the time, and whether it is a peak or low hour, for example Weekday • 5:00 PM • Peak.
- Play 24h Sim: plays a full day, one hour after another. Click Pause Sim to stop it.
- Speed: the menu next to the play button sets the speed: 0.5×, 1×, 2×, or 4×. At 1× a full day takes about 36 seconds.
Get a traffic report for a road
- Zoom in until individual streets are visible. If you are zoomed out too far, clicking a road zooms the map in first.
- Click a road.
You see Retrieving Traffic Report..., and then the Traffic Intelligence Report opens. The report may include the following values:
| Row | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Corridor | The road's name or route |
| Class | The kind of road, such as a highway or a local street |
| AADT (Daily Volume) | Vehicles per day on an average day, and whether that number is measured or estimated |
| Estimated range | For estimates, the low and high values the true volume likely falls between |
| Weekday (AAWDT) | Vehicles per day on an average weekday |
| Weekend (AAWET) | Vehicles per day on an average weekend day |
| Trucks % | The share of the traffic that is trucks |
| Peak Hour | The busiest hour of the day |
| Peak Volume | Vehicles per hour in the busiest hour |
| Reliability Grade | How much you can rely on the number |
| Expected error | For estimates, how far off the number may be, as a plus or minus percent |
A row is left out when there is no data for it.
The report also has an Hourly Profile (24h) chart. Click a day of the week above the chart to see that day. The chart shows the typical daily pattern for this kind of road, scaled to this road's volume. It is not a set of hourly counts for this exact road.
Measured and estimated numbers
Next to the daily volume, the report identifies the source of the value:
- Measured: the number comes from an official traffic count on this road. When the count year is known, it is shown too, for example Measured (2023 count).
- Estimated: no official count exists for this road, so the number is a model estimate. Check the Estimated range, Reliability Grade, and Expected error rows before you rely on it.
Save a road to your map
In the report, click Add Line To Map. The road is added to your map as a line that keeps its traffic data, so you can style it, share it, and export it like any other line.
Remove the kit
Click Remove Layer in the panel, or click the X at the top of the panel. Lines you added with Add Line To Map stay on your map.
See also
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