Appearance
Using the Traffic Tab
Quick Answer
The Traffic tab gives you road-segment detail after you select traffic on the map. It combines a headline daily traffic count with hourly volume patterns so you can evaluate access, timing, and road activity around a site.
How To Open The Traffic Tab
- Open the Base Map tab (chat-bar
mapicon, or from the Tabs Menu) - Turn on Real-time Traffic
- Return to the map and select a traffic segment
When a traffic segment is opened, the Traffic tab shows the segment details.
What You Will See
Header Summary
At the top of the tab you will see:
- The road name
- State or location label when available
- Direction or bearing
- A large cars / day value
The daily traffic count is useful for quick comparisons between nearby roads.
Direction Totals (Both Sides vs. Single Side)
By default the headline count sums a road's two opposing directions into one combined total, so a divided road reads as a single number for the whole road rather than one direction only. A Direction totals control in the section's display options (gear icon) lets you switch how the count is presented:
| Option | What the headline count shows |
|---|---|
| Both sides | The road's opposing directions summed into one combined total |
| Single side | Each direction on its own |
A road that only reports one side always shows as single, regardless of the setting. Your choice is saved per view and applies to both the Traffic Overview and Traffic Detail cards; a live per-viewer toggle can override it for the current session without changing the saved default. The selected mode is preserved in saved reports and shared links, so recipients see the same figure you chose.
Summary Stats
The summary cards call out:
- Peak Period
- Peak Hour
- Busiest Day
These help you understand when the road is most active, not just how busy it is overall.
Typical Hourly Volume
The lower chart shows typical hourly traffic volume across all seven days and 24 hours. A view toggle above the chart lets you choose how the data is displayed:
| View | Description |
|---|---|
| Grid | Color-coded square cells for each hour of each day. Good for spot-checking individual hours. |
| Bubbles | Proportional circles sized by traffic volume. Desktop only; see note below. |
| Summary | A grouped cross-section view that merges hours into configurable periods. |
On phones (screens narrower than 768 px), the chart opens in Summary view by default. You can switch to Grid at any time. Bubble view is unavailable on narrow screens; selecting it shows grid cells instead.
INRIX Subscription Required for Detailed Traffic
The detailed hour-by-hour (dayparting) traffic view — the Peak Period / Peak Hour / Busiest Day summary cards, the Typical Hourly Volume grid, and the section mini-map — requires the INRIX advanced-traffic subscription. If your company does not hold that subscription, these detailed elements show a blurred locked preview headed "Detailed Traffic Patterns" with an Unlock Traffic Detail button that opens a contact-support message. Basic road counts (the headline cars / day AADT value) stay visible. Companies that hold the subscription see the full detail with no lock. This lock applies both here in the standalone Traffic tab and in the Traffic Detail section of Location Analytics (below).
How To Use Traffic With Site Analysis
Traffic detail is most helpful when you want to:
- Compare road activity around multiple candidate sites
- Understand access patterns near a proposed location
- Pair traffic intensity with Site Sonar or scorecard workflows
- Decide whether a segment is busier on weekdays or weekends
For broader map context, keep the Real-time Traffic layer on while the Traffic tab is open.
Tips
- Zoom in before selecting a road segment if the map is crowded.
- Use the map layer for broad context and the Traffic tab for detail.
- Compare multiple nearby segments if access changes from one side of a site to another.
Troubleshooting
I cannot open the Traffic tab
Make sure Real-time Traffic is enabled in the Base Map tab first.
I do not see hourly detail
Some segments may not have the same depth of detail available. Try another nearby segment.
I want to close the view
Click the X on the Traffic tab in the tab strip at the top of the workspace panel.
Traffic Detail in Location Analytics
When you open Location Analytics for a location, the panel may include Traffic sections alongside other analytics sections. Two modes are available: Traffic Overview (nearby road segments) and Traffic Detail (the single closest road segment, with full hourly breakdown). Both are separate from the standalone Traffic Tab described above.
Section Mini-Maps
Both Traffic Overview and Traffic Detail include an embedded mini-map that is on by default.
Traffic Overview mini-map: shows all nearby road segments, AADT-color-coded to match the live traffic layer. Hover a row in the segment list to highlight that road on the map; hover a segment line on the map to highlight the matching list row. A road-name and AADT chip appears near the highlighted segment.
Traffic Detail mini-map: shows only the analyzed (frontage) segment, highlighted in teal. This focuses the callout on the single road whose numbers are being displayed.
To configure the mini-map, use the gear icon (Display Options) in the section header:
- Show map — toggle the mini-map on or off (on by default).
- Base map — choose a basemap theme (Vector or Raster options).
Mini-maps are baked into frozen reports and share links, so recipients see the same map without needing a live session.
What It Shows
The Traffic Detail section displays hourly volume patterns for the nearest road segment to the selected location. It shows the same day-of-week and time-of-day breakdown as the standalone Traffic Tab.
Note: Like the standalone Traffic tab, the detailed patterns here require the INRIX advanced-traffic subscription. Without it, the section shows the blurred "Detailed Traffic Patterns" locked preview and an Unlock Traffic Detail contact-support button instead of the hourly breakdown. See INRIX Subscription Required for Detailed Traffic above.
Collapsing and Expanding
The Traffic Detail section has a collapsible header. Click the Traffic Detail heading to collapse the section and hide its content, or click it again to expand it back. This behaves the same way as other collapsible sections in the Location Analytics panel.
Note: The Traffic Detail section in Location Analytics is based on the nearest road segment to the location, not on a segment you manually selected on the map. To inspect any specific road segment, use the standalone Traffic Tab (enable Real-time Traffic in the Base Map tab, then click a segment on the map).
Traffic Datasets in Report Maps
When you build a report using the report builder, the Map card has a Datasets settings panel (gear icon). The INRIX traffic group contains two traffic datasets you can bake into the frozen report map.
INRIX Traffic Datasets
Both datasets are grouped under the INRIX traffic sub-heading in the Map settings panel:
| Dataset | What it shows | Default |
|---|---|---|
| All Traffic | Color-graded INRIX traffic raster overlaid across the map area | OFF |
| Nearby Traffic | AADT road segments near the subject, as colored lines | OFF |
All Traffic renders a continuous color wash from INRIX traffic data covering the map area. It is distinct from the live basemap's "Real-time Traffic" overlay (Google congestion tiles) -- the raster is baked at report run time and appears in both the web viewer and PDF/deck exports.
Nearby Traffic bakes up to 15 of the closest road segments to the subject as AADT-colored lines. Colors follow the same gradient used in the Traffic section mini-maps.
How to Enable
- Open the Report Builder (Reports area in the app).
- Find the Map card in your report view.
- Click the gear icon on the Map card to open its display settings.
- Under Datasets, expand the INRIX traffic group and toggle All Traffic or Nearby Traffic (or both) on.
- Run the report. The selected traffic data is captured and included.
Key Differences from the Live Traffic Layer
| Surface | Data type | Default | Appears in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time Traffic (Basemap) | Live Google congestion tiles | OFF | Interactive map only |
| All Traffic (Report map) | Static INRIX raster | OFF | Frozen report map (and PDF/deck) |
| Nearby Traffic (Report map) | Static AADT snapshot | OFF | Frozen report map (and PDF/deck) |
Both report map traffic datasets are OFF by default. Enable them only in the views where traffic context adds value to the frozen report.
Note: Agent-initiated reports (generated from chat) do not yet include the INRIX traffic datasets. Enable them in the report builder when you need traffic context in a frozen report.
INRIX Traffic Wash in Report Maps
When you build a report, the Map card's Datasets settings panel also includes an INRIX traffic wash toggle. This is a separate dataset from Traffic segments.
What It Does
When the "INRIX traffic wash" toggle is ON, the report freeze bakes a congestion-colored INRIX raster tile overlay near the subject site into the frozen report map. Recipients who open the shared report see the same congestion-colored wash the author enabled at run time.
The wash is a raster image of INRIX traffic tile data painted over the map at the subject's location. It shows relative congestion levels using color (similar in concept to the live "Real-time Traffic" layer, but sourced from INRIX rather than Google and captured statically at report run time).
How to Enable
- Open the Report Builder (Reports area in the app).
- Find the Map card in your report view.
- Click the gear icon on the Map card to open its display settings.
- Under Datasets, toggle INRIX traffic wash on.
- Run the report. The wash is baked into the frozen map at run time.
Key Differences from Other Traffic Layers
| Surface | Data type | Default | Appears in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time Traffic (Basemap tab) | Live Google congestion tiles | OFF | Interactive map only |
| Traffic segments (Report map) | Static AADT snapshot (colored road lines) | OFF | Frozen report map (and PDF/deck) |
| INRIX traffic wash (Report map) | INRIX congestion raster baked at run time | OFF | Frozen report map (and PDF/deck) |
- The wash is sourced from INRIX, not Google. INRIX data is US-only; the dataset is not available for Canadian projects.
- Unlike Traffic segments (which shows AADT as colored vector road lines), the INRIX wash is a raster tile image -- a full-color congestion overlay painted over the map tiles.
- The wash bakes asynchronously at the moment you click Report. If tiles do not load in time, the report still runs without the wash rather than failing.
- The setting is OFF by default. Enable it in views where congestion context adds value to the frozen report.
Note: The INRIX traffic wash and Traffic segments are independent -- you can enable either, both, or neither. If both are on, the deck bake combines them into a single raster image in the frozen map.