Waze has entered a data-sharing partnership with the Canadian city of Calgary to improve traffic by gathering and sharing road information in real-time.
The company says its Waze for Cities Data programme creates deeper insights, and safer roads for the citizens along with more than 1,600 other partners around the world.
Waze is expected to help Calgary’s traffic management centre improve traffic flow by gathering road information in real-time and inform citizens about traffic impacts, construction and lane closures quickly.
According to Waze, the programme will give the centre a look at real-time road activity, the ability to harness real-time driver insights to improve congestion and make better-informed planning decisions.
Waze will help provide the city with real-time, user-generated incident and traffic information from drivers and passengers. In exchange, the city is to provide government-reported construction, crash, and road closure data.
Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi says: “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.”
Waze insists that its map evolves with every driver and data point it receives, promoting safer roads and sharing more knowledge with drivers about potential delays to their commutes.
Waze for Cities Data provides local citizens a greater ability to circumvent road closures and traffic jams within the app, the company adds.
The city can further provide Waze users with advanced notice of major traffic events that will affect their daily routes.
During emergency situations, such as major weather events, users can check the app for the latest details around road closures to ensure safe travel during potentially hazardous conditions.
Users can download the free Waze app from Google Play or the App Store.
