Whether those cars will get to the intersection before they turn off and just how fast they get there is difficult to estimate. In the future it may be feasible to use a satellite in geosynchronous orbit or even a ballon to continuously monitor traffic platoons near a city's major intersections. Remote sensing also can be used to determine the wear on a roadway based on the numbers and types of vehicles that use it. This data can help determine where and when roadway improvements should be needed. Still, remotely sensing traffic from balloons, aircraft and satellites is not without its problems.
Current satellites are limited to the frequency with which they pass over an area.
And all these devices are expensive to operate. Right now we want to determine the capabilities of remote sensing for taking traffic counts and identifying traffic flow variables. Primarily, we want to determine how to best trade off the cost of data collection versus the data quality. We will spend our first year figuring out trade-offs with cost, field of view, spatial resolution and the frequency with which one can get data. Traffic flow data is an important ingredient in finding where these mobility needs are .