The City of Calgary in Alberta, Canada has entered into a data-sharing partnership with Waze – a platform that allows communities to contribute road data, edit Waze maps, and organize carpools in order to improve its transportation system.
Calgary’s Traffic Management Centre (TMC) expects to be able to improve traffic flow by quickly gathering road information in real-time and then informing citizens about traffic impacts, construction, and lane closures. Waze for Cities Data will give Calgary’s TMC a look at real-time road activity, the ability to harness real-time driver insights to improve congestion, and the information needed to make better-informed planning decisions.
“As a smart city, we’re always looking for opportunities to improve the services we’re delivering to Calgarians by connecting technology and data,” said the city’s Mayor, Naheed Nenshi. “This exciting, no-cost partnership with Waze will provide Calgarians with real-time information, about traffic and road conditions, reducing commute times and making our roads even safer.”
The system is a free, two-way data share of publicly available traffic information. Waze will help provide real-time, anonymous, user-generated incident and traffic information it receives directly from Calgary drivers and passengers themselves. In exchange, The City will provide real-time government-reported construction, crash, and road closure data to Waze to create a thorough overview of current road conditions. Waze uses this information to constantly update its maps and share its knowledge with drivers about potential delays to their commutes.
“Canadian cities are looking for ways to use data to improve the vital transportation services they provide,” said Mike Wilson, Head of Canada, Waze. “We’re pleased to partner with The City of Calgary as part of the Waze for Cities Data program, and help Calgarians understand what’s happening on the roads so their drives are as worry-free as possible.”
The free Waze app can be downloaded from Google Play or the App Store.