CATT Lab

What CATT Lab does

CATT Lab (Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory) is an applied research and development laboratory established in 2002 at the University of Maryland in College Park. It operates a transportation data fusion and visualization platform that ingests hundreds of gigabytes per day from nearly 60 data feeds and thousands of sensors nationwide, producing what is described as the largest archived collection of traffic data in the world (petabyte-scale). Its core product, RITIS (Regional Integrated Transportation Information System), is supported by a portfolio of specialized tools including the Probe Data Analytics Suite, Incident Timeline, Incident Cluster Explorer, 4D Virtual Globe, Time Spiral, Crash Calendar, TreeVersity, the FMCSA Safety Explorer, FRA RISE highway-rail grade crossing tools, Weigh in Motion tools, and a Virtual Incident Management Training Simulator.

The lab's business model is that of an academic research entity rather than a commercial software vendor. It is funded by federal, state, and local government research grants and contracts, with all platforms and dashboards provided free of charge to qualified government agencies, emergency operations centers, and public safety personnel after a registration approval process. Its customers are exclusively public-sector: federal agencies (DHS, FEMA, FHWA, FRA, FMCSA, NSA, US Army/USCG/USAF, Senate, OPM), state DOTs (Ohio DOT, Maryland SHA/CHART, MDTA), state and local police (Maryland State Police), metropolitan planning organizations, transit agencies, and academic researchers. Distribution is direct to agencies via ritis.org and cattlab.umd.edu, supplemented by RITIS user group meetings, tutorials, and conferences.

CATT Lab leverages interdisciplinary talent from computer science, GIS, civil and electrical engineering, and digital simulation, with infrastructure spanning three independent data centers (12+ racks each, hundreds of TB of storage, primarily Linux-based). Documented operational outcomes include Ohio DOT's estimated $32M in delay-cost savings via the Travel Time Delta Ranking tool, deployment of the 4D Virtual Globe by FEMA during the Obama inauguration, and use of FMCSA-aligned CMV enforcement dashboards by Maryland State Police along I-81. The entity is operating, private, academically governed, and has no disclosed venture, private equity, or public ownership.

Name

CATT Lab

Legal name

Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory

Website

https://cattlab.umd.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

CATT Lab is a University of Maryland applied research lab that builds and operates RITIS, a real-time transportation data fusion and visualization platform used free of charge by U.S. federal, state, and local government agencies for traffic operations, safety, and emergency management.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Transportation Analytics Software

NAICS

Other Support Activities for Transportation (4889)

SIC

Transportation Services (4700)

akta.pro primary industry

Transit, Traffic & Mobility Data Platforms (BPAMANAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Data, Monitoring & Analytics for CV Compliance (Sensors, Imaging, Dashboards, Reporting) (TLAJAKAJ)

Keywords

• Transportation data analytics
• Real-time traffic monitoring
• Probe data analytics
• Transportation information systems
• Traffic operations software

Headquarters

HQ city

College Park

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Government Research Grants and Contracts: As a university research laboratory at the University of Maryland, CATT Lab operates primarily through federal, state, and local government research grants and contracts. Revenue is generated through funded research projects rather than commercial product sales.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CATT Lab develops and operates transportation data analytics platforms and visualization tools that ingest probe-vehicle, sensor, and incident data to support real-time situational awareness and archived performance analytics for public-sector transportation agencies. Its flagship offerings include the RITIS regional transportation information system and the Probe Data Analytics Suite used by state DOTs, MPOs, and USDOT partners.

Product overview

CATT Lab operates as an applied research and development laboratory within the University of Maryland focused on transportation technology. The organization offers an integrated portfolio of transportation data platforms and specialized visualization tools, with RITIS serving as the core data platform that provides automated data fusion, archiving, and sharing capabilities. The product ecosystem includes the Probe Data Analytics Suite for operations and planning analysis, alongside numerous specialized tools for specific use cases including safety analysis (EVC, Crash Calendar, Safety Explorer), traffic monitoring (CHART Reporting, Detector Explorer), incident management (Incident Timeline, ICE, Incident Cluster Explorer), work zone management (WZPM), freight enforcement (WIM Tools, FMCSA Dashboards), rail safety (FRA RISE), temporal visualization (Time Spiral), geospatial visualization (4D Virtual Globe, TreeVersity), and air traffic analysis (Sky Graph). The platform architecture processes data from thousands of sensors and agencies, fusing hundreds of gigabytes daily into petabytes of archived transportation data to serve thousands of transportation professionals nationwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RITIS (Regional Integrated Transportation Information System): An automated transportation data platform including visual analytics tools for situational awareness, performance measurement, and agency communication.
• Probe Data Analytics Suite
• Work Zone Performance Monitoring (WZPM)
• Weigh in Motion (WIM)

Products and services

• RITIS (Regional Integrated Transportation Information System)

Quantifiable outcome

• Ohio DOT estimated savings of more than $32M in delay costs using Travel Time Delta Ranking tool
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers17 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability12 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Maryland Transportation InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCATT Lab partnered with the Maryland Transportation Institute to develop the COVID-19 Impact Analysis Platform, which visualizes health, demographic, economic impact data, and mobility data during the pandemic.
• I-95 Corridor Coalition (The Eastern Transportation Coalition)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with the I-95 Corridor Coalition to develop Virtual Incident Management Training system including Core Competencies web application and massively multiplayer online training simulation for traffic management personnel and first responders.
• University of WisconsinminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Joni Graves at University of Wisconsin to create a digital interpretation of the Crash Calendar visualization tool, seeded with Maryland CHART data.
• Maryland State Highway AdministrationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint development of Explore and Visualize Crashes (EVC) web application for querying and analyzing accident data directly from a central database with connected visualizations.
• Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCATT Lab developed CMV analysis dashboards in collaboration with FMCSA and local/state CMV safety enforcement professionals to facilitate analysis of commercial motor vehicle safety performance metrics.
• Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAs part of FRA's Railroad Information Sharing Environment (RISE), CATT Lab partnered to develop highway-rail grade crossing risk assessment tools including vertical profile dashboards and CMV simulation tools.
• Maryland State Police (MSP)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPartnership to apply FMCSA CMV safety dashboards in real-world enforcement scenarios on I-81 in Maryland for proactive enforcement and evaluation.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Wejo: Wejo aggregates connected-vehicle data at scale for traffic, mobility, and smart-city applications. It parallels CATT Lab's approach of fusing large-scale vehicle-generated sensor data into analytics products for government and commercial customers.
• INRIX: INRIX is a leading provider of traffic intelligence, probe data analytics, and transportation data platforms serving DOTs and cities globally. It is the closest direct commercial analog to CATT Lab's RITIS and Probe Data Analytics Suite, both in product offering and target customer base.
• StreetLight Data: StreetLight Data (acquired by Jacobs) delivers transportation analytics from mobile and connected-vehicle data for planning and operations. Its data-driven approach to mobility insights mirrors CATT Lab's probe data analytics for state DOTs and MPOs.
• Iteris: Iteris provides transportation data, traffic management, and analytics solutions to state DOTs and municipalities. Its ClearAg and transportation analytics offerings directly overlap with CATT Lab's roadway mobility and signal-optimization tools.
• Miovision: Miovision provides traffic data collection, intersection analytics, and smart mobility platforms for cities and DOTs. Its intersection-level traffic analytics overlap with CATT Lab's Signal Analytics and traffic operations tools.
• Rekor Systems: Rekor Systems applies AI to roadway sensor, traffic, and license-plate data for DOTs, law enforcement, and cities. Its analytics-driven traffic monitoring use cases directly overlap with CATT Lab's incident, work zone, and CMV safety dashboards.

Broad incumbents

• HERE Technologies: HERE operates a global location and traffic data platform with deep automotive and enterprise reach. As a much larger incumbent it overlaps with CATT Lab's transit/traffic data platform offering but is not focused on US public-sector grant work.
• Bentley Systems: Bentley Systems provides infrastructure engineering and digital twin software for transportation and public works. Its broader infrastructure portfolio partially overlaps with CATT Lab's visualization and asset-monitoring capabilities, but it operates as a far larger incumbent across multiple verticals.
• TomTom: TomTom provides maps, traffic, and navigation data products globally. Its traffic data feeds and analytics intersect with CATT Lab's broader traffic intelligence stack, though TomTom serves a far broader commercial and consumer customer base.

Emerging players

• Cambridge Systematics: Cambridge Systematics is a transportation analytics and planning consultancy serving DOTs, MPOs, and federal agencies. Its analytics-driven decision support overlaps with CATT Lab's performance measurement and planning tools.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CATT Lab