Traffic Service Developer's Guide

The Traffic Service provides real time traffic information related to markets, incidents, cameras, and flow.

The following example demonstrates a simple request to get incidents given a bounding box. The JavaScript code which sends the request and displays the result can be viewed here.

Sample URL for incidents on the current map:

Sample URL for cameras on the current map:

Sample URL for flow image of traffic on the current map:

The following table describes the request parameters common to all traffic service requests

The Traffic Incidents request returns a structured list of traffic incidents for a specified bounding box in JSON or XML formats, e.g., road construction, traffic collisions.

Incidents URL Parameters

The following table describes the request parameters that may be included to make an incident request

Incidents response

{incidents: [
   {impacting: false,
    eventCode: 0,
    iconURL: "http://...",
    lat: 38.743999,
    shortDesc: "Exit ramp closed on I 95...",
    type: 1,
    severity: 0,
    fullDesc: "In NEWINGTON exit ramp closed on I-95 ...",
    startTime: "2010-02-21T00:14:07",
    lng: -77.188004,
    id: "368598263",
    endTime: "2010-02-27T05:04:19"
   },
   ...
   ],
   info: {
     statuscode: 0,
     copyright: {
     },
     messages: []
  },
  mqURL : "http://www.mapquest.com/...."
  
}

<IncidentsResponse>
   <Incidents>
      <Incident>
         <id>368598263</id>
         <type>1</type> 
         <severity>0</severity>
         <eventCode>0</eventCode>
         <lat>38.743999</lat> 
         <lng>-77.188004</lng> 
         <startTime>2010-02-21T00:14:07.000-05:00</startTime> 
         <endTime>2010-02-27T05:04:19.000-05:00</endTime> 
         <shortDesc>ramp closed on I 95 ...</shortDesc> 
         <fullDesc>.......</fullDesc> 
         <iconURL>http://...</iconURL>
      </Incident>
      .....
    </Incidents>
    <info>
       <statusCode>0</statusCode> 
       <messages />
       <copyright>
          <imageUrl>http://...</imageUrl> 
          <imageAltText>...</imageAltText> 
          <text>...</text> 
       </copyright>
    </info>
    <mqURL>http://www.mapquest.com...</mqURL>
</IncidentsResponse>

The Traffic Cameras request returns a list of traffic camera objects.

Cameras URL Parameters

The following table describes the request parameters that may be included to make a camera request

Cameras response

{"cameras": [
   { "id": "7", 
     "sublicenseProhibited": false, 
     "copyrightNotice": "",
     "outOfService": false,
     "name": "Park Avenue West",
     "feeToEndUserProhibited": false,
     "lat": 39.758804,
     "lng": -104.9929,
     "view": "West",
     "useWhileDrivingProhibited": false,
     "updateFrequency": 598871
   },
   ...
]}

The Traffic Camera Image request returns a JPG image from a specific traffic camera.

Camera Image URL Parameters

The following table describes the request parameters that may be included to make a camera image request

Cameras Image Response

The response from this request is a JPG image

The Traffic Markets Request returns a structured list of regions, or "markets", for which MapQuest provides Traffic data. The list is available in JSON or XML formats.

This function takes no parameters other than a valid key.

Sample Markets request

{markets: [
  {state: "OH", 
   lng: -81.519202, 
   lat: 41.081401,
   iconURL: "http://...",
   city: "Akron / Canton"
   zoom: 10,
   mqURL: "http://www.mapquest.com...",
   boundingBox: {
     ul: {
       lng: -82.110762
       lat: 41.359286
     },
     lr: {
       lng: -80.926346
       lat: 40.803517
     }
   }
  },
  ...
 ],
 info: {
    copyright: {
    },
    statuscode: 0,
    messages: []
 }
}

<MarketsResponse>
   <markets>
      <market>
         <city>Akron / Canton</city>
         <state>OH</state>
         <lng>-81.519202</lng>
         <lat>41.081401</lat>
         <iconURL>http://...</iconURL>
         <zoom>10</zoom>
         <mqURL>http://www.mapquest.com...</mqURL>
         <boundingBox>
            <ul>
               <latLng>
                  <lat>41.359286</lat>
                  <lng>-82.110762</lng>
               </latLng>
            </ul>
            <lr>
               <latLng>
                  <lat>40.803517</lat>
                  <lng>-80.926346</lng>
               </latLng>
            </lr>
         </boundingBox>
      </market>
      ...   
   </markets>
   <info>
      <statusCode>
         0
      </statusCode>
      <messages/>
   </info>
   <copyright>
      ...
   </copyright>
</MarketsResponse>

The Flow Request returns an image of the current traffic for a particular area.

The following table describes the request parameters that may be included in a Flow request

Sample Flow Image request

The following sample returns a 400x400 pixel image centered on Arlington, VA, with a Mercator scale of 108336 (zoom level of 10 on a MapQuest map.)