Iowa DOT enters traffic data partnership with Waze
BUSINESS RECORD STAFF Aug 17, 2015 | 8:46 pm
1 min read time
274 wordsAll Latest News, TransportationThe Iowa Department of Transportation has teamed up with a smartphone navigation app developer to enable motorists to access and update real-time traffic data.
The DOT today announced a data-sharing partnership with Waze, a crowdsourced navigation smartphone app. The app uses input from the world’s largest community of drivers to report and avoid many types of traffic disruptions.
The new Waze layer on the 511 traveler information system is available through websites, phones and mobile apps. The layer shows Iowa DOT-filtered crowdsourced data from the Waze data feed that might affect traffic, such as traffic jams, crashes, closures, objects on the road and heavy fog. The icons representing these traffic situations will have a white background and a blue circle around the icon. When a user clicks on the icon, more details will appear regarding traffic impact and indicating that the information is reported by the Waze app.
Sinclair Stolle of the Iowa DOT’s Traffic Operations Office said, “Every second counts. If we can get this information out to the public as soon as possible, they can make more informed decisions about their trip.”
Of course, the DOT recommends that drivers either stop at a safe location before using the app to update information, or have a passenger do it.
The more Waze users — known as Wazers — post to the app, the more useful the information is to others. Iowa currently has about 5,000 active Wazers in the Des Moines area and tens of thousands of Wazers statewide.
Find out more about the Waze Connected Citizens program online. Click hereto download the free Waze app for Android, iPhone and iPad, or Windows Phone.
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