Traffic.com to offer real-time road info

Missed the rush-hour traffic broadcast? No worries, look it up on Traffic.com.

Traffic.com Inc. announced Thursday the availability of its real-time traffic-information service within the new version of Microsoft's Windows Live Local, which provides online mapping, driving directions and local search service available at local.live.com.

"We're very pleased to announce this first release of our data within Windows Live Local and look forward to continuing innovation from our Microsoft relationship," said Traffic.com Chief Executive Officer Robert N. Verratti. "The integration of our comprehensive, real-time traffic information and the Windows Live Local customization and localization capabilities results in a very valuable, compelling consumer service -- one that takes Web interactivity to the highest level."

Traffic.com will provide up-to-the-minute flow and incident updates displayed on interactive maps for 35 major metropolitan areas in the nation, the company said, while the Windows Live Local offerings will be promoted on the MSN.com site and provided as complementary to MSN services that attract more than 440 million unique users worldwide per month.

And this is only the first implementation, as a multi-year agreement between the two companies will provide further integration of traffic offerings in other arenas such mobile phones and other devices, it said.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International