From the whitepaper “Smarter Cities: 5 Ways to See Results in 2017” (Download now)
In our previous post, we discussed how properly ‘agile’ smarter transportation projects can provide results now while at the same time laying the foundation for long-term smart cities success. Today we are walking through our first recommendation: Data-Driven Decision Making
Leverage up-to-the-minute data to manage your ever-changing traffic landscape.
To support its request to increase the speed limit on a local road, the Department of Public Works submits a traffic study to the Department of Transportation that includes an analysis of vehicle speeds at different times of day over an extended period. The report shows clear proof that the current speed limit is too low; DoT reviews and grants the request.
County police officers provide the traffic court judge with undisputable recorded evidence of individual traffic infringements by vehicle, making it possible to clear the docket faster and reduce officer time spent in traffic court.
A busy university assesses capacity at each of their campus parking lots to determine space availability at different times and days— to better manage class schedules, event planning, and security requirements.
If this sounds like a pipe dream, it’s not. A cloud-based solution, such as TraffiCloud™ from All Traffic Solutions, securely collects and stores data from all traffic devices and makes it possible for municipalities, law enforcement, and enterprise companies to download and share report-ready data remotely from any Internet-ready device. With immediate access to complete and actionable traffic and parking data, these entities can prioritize issues, utilize resources more effectively, do a better job of calming traffic, reduce congestion and emissions, control costs and generate analyses for long-term planning of transportation safety programs, parking availability, road construction and other critical transportation-related initiatives.
Providing real-time information access to citizens is important as well. “Developing ‘smartness’ in the eye of the citizen means developing contextual applications for them,” said Bettina Tratz-Ryan, research vice president at Gartner. For example, a smartphone parking app can direct commuters and shoppers to the closest available parking spots—reducing traffic congestion, maximizing facilities revenue, getting people to work on time and fueling commerce.
