According to the company's research, drivers equipped with NAVTEQ Traffic Patterns can save 22 hours a year in commuting time.

Recent extensive NAVTEQ research, including nearly 395,000 unique route tests in 18 U.S. and Canadian cities, concluded that NAVTEQ Traffic Patterns saves drivers 22 hours a year for an average, daily, roundtrip commute of 40 miles.

NAVTEQ Traffic Patterns is a robust traffic database that includes typical traffic speeds on nearly one million miles of primary and secondary roads across the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. This comprehensive coverage includes nearly all of the most heavily-traveled roads in North America, including major metro areas in the U.S. and Canada.

Additionally, testing showed that in major cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, up to 40 percent of typical traffic delays can be avoided with NAVTEQ Traffic Patterns. A cross section of high-traffic cities were tested, including: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Montreal, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington, D.C.

In Chicago, for example, this testing determined that drivers typically experience 65 hours of annual traffic delays, and could save 26 hours using NAVTEQ Traffic Patterns, avoiding 40 percent of these delays yearly.

Testing also determined that:

• In Los Angeles, where commuters experience approximately 94 hours of annual delays, they could save 25 hours annually using NAVTEQ Traffic Patterns, avoiding 27 percent of typical traffic delays
• In New York, commuters could save 23 hours and avoid 33 percent of typical delays yearly from approximately 71 hours of annual traffic delays.
  

Additional findings concluded that NAVTEQ Traffic Patterns:

• Calculated an alternate, time-saving route for up to 40 percent of all routes
• Showed that four out of every five times an alternate route was calculated, it was faster than the original route
• Confirmed that alternate routes are typically calculated more frequently in larger, more congested cities where a denser road network offers a greater number of rerouting options

NAVTEQ Traffic Patterns is created using multiple years' observations from GPS probe and sensor data, which is aggregated, verified and then matched to traffic location codes. GPS data from Nokia handsets will be integrated into NAVTEQ Traffic Patterns by the end of 2009.

NAVTEQ Traffic Patterns offers seven daily traffic models covering each day of the week, including 24-hour speed values in 15-minute intervals, which provide the most reliable typical traffic information for specific times of day. NAVTEQ Traffic Patterns robust coverage extends from the largest major motorways down to smaller neighborhood roads, resulting in optimal city routing.

"NAVTEQ is committed to rigorous and repeated testing to ensure our customers receive the most accurate traffic service from the most comprehensive and reliable sources," said Mike Finn, Vice President for NAVTEQ Traffic, North America. "Savvy commuters demand the highest-quality traffic solution available, and NAVTEQ Traffic Patterns provides accurate traffic information that saves travelers both time and money."