Navigation system traffic congestion information

My wife & I have just noticed traffic congestion information appearing in Apple Maps, Google Maps and on the Mustang's navigation system here in Perth.

Does anyone know the facts of:
1. Who is gathering this information and how?
2. How it is transmitted to the car? (I believe FM radio, but is it just the one frequency, or is it encoded over the existing stations, etc)
3. Who is paying for this service to be provided ?

Google maps is powered by basically every device with google maps on it, which is a lot.

It uses data from your phone to give you the traffic information.

its the SUNA Traffic Channel and is transmitted on FM - for cars. Google maps is sourced differently.

there are two scenarios
1. once Sync is connected to your phone and your allowing the phone to connect to the internet using data the information is being shared with the likes of google or tom-tom or whoever is behind the mapping system in Ford Sync and or Apple CarPlay. one problem I have found with live traffic is if your the first one through the area of congestion it will not show up on the live traffic, but once you have been through the congestion the information is then available for those coming through behind you.
2. the phone providers are constantly tracking the location of your cell phone, that information is gathered and unsold or provided to a number of sources, one for example will be the government dept in charge of roading, they will use the information to work out the movement of people and cars during the day to forward plan roading and transport projects

jumby said:

its the SUNA Traffic Channel and is transmitted on FM - for cars. Google maps is sourced differently.

Click to expand...

I had read about SUNA, but was confused by the fact that it is a subscription service - and I haven't paid them any money. However, now I read their FAQ, it seems that for "in-built" navigation systems like ours, the subscription is for the life of the device.

Interestingly, if you click on Ford in their list of supported manufacturers, it only lists the FG series Falcon & Territory - no Mustang.