GPS World

Tag: traffic alert

  • Esri partners with Waze on open data-sharing for governments

    Esri partners with Waze on open data-sharing for governments

    Global mapping company Esri is partnering with Waze to make it easier for governments to begin building intelligent transportation systems in their communities.

    Waze enables users to share and harness the power of anonymous, aggregated data to promote greater transportation efficiency, deeper insight into travel conditions, and safer roads.

    Governments already using the Esri ArcGIS platform can quickly and easily exchange data through the Waze Connected Citizens Program, a free two-way data share of publicly available traffic information.

    Governments that have not already subscribed to Esri technology or joined the Waze Connected Citizens Program can sign up online to start sharing road closure alerts and other information with their citizens right away.

    Waze Esri Traffic Alerts.
    Waze Esri Traffic Alerts.

    “Municipalities can now leverage real-time reports without having to invest in sensor networks or an Internet of Things infrastructure,” said Andrew Stauffer, manager of civic technology at Esri. “Waze allows local governments to share open data with a purpose — in an application that is already popular with constituents, commuters, and tourists.”

    The data feeds allow local governments to merge information into existing enterprise systems, such as emergency dispatch and street maintenance systems, to make their communities operate smarter and safer.

    The partnership also enables communities to extend the reach of the data they map and manage by sharing it with Waze, which has more than 65 million monthly active users worldwide. The public-private partnership allows greater government transparency and collaboration with citizens to help people better navigate their streets and highways.

    “The Waze Connected Citizens Program empowers municipalities to harness real-time driver insight to improve congestion and make better informed planning decisions,” said Paige Fitzgerald, head of new business development and data acquisition for Waze. “With 100 partners worldwide, Waze provides each partner with the same set of free, data-driven tools and resources to foster collaboration and communication between all partners. Working with Esri allows Waze to further scale the program and creates additional opportunities for our partners to collaborate, helping each other incorporate the power of crowdsourced data into their traffic management strategies.”

    In 2014, Waze pioneered data standards for road closure and incident reporting, which are embedded within customized data feeds provided to each partner. Established as a two-way data share, Waze provides partners with real-time, anonymous, Waze-generated incident and slowdown information directly from the source: drivers themselves. In exchange, partners provide real-time, government-reported construction, crash, and road closure data to Waze to return one of the most thorough records of current road conditions.

    For more information on how to get started, visit go.esri.com/pr-waze.

  • GPSTrackIt.com Adds Hard Turns to Driver Safety Alerts

    GPSTrackIt.com has introduced a new Driver Safety Alert that tracks hard turns. Driver Safety Alerts already track and report driving behaviors like rapid acceleration, hard braking, and seatbelt usage. GPSTrackIt engineers have now added the ability to identify “hard turns” to the alert list.

    Driver Safety Alerts are used by businesses across the country to help dispatchers and managers understand how drivers are doing in the field.  Businesses ranging from small-to-medium sized service companies to large transportation companies with fleets of hundreds of vehicles are able to help drivers understand the importance of safe driving behaviors.

    “Drivers represent their employers to the public,” said Eddie Bermudez, GPSTrackit.com’s product development manager.  “A vehicle that is driven badly or, more to the point, dangerously, does not reflect well on that employer.  These alerts notify managers and dispatchers via email or SMS text messages when their drivers are driving in a potentially aggressive manner.”

    Rapid acceleration and hard braking are indicators of bad driving behaviors that also impact a vehicle’s mileage.  Seat belt alerts indicate that the vehicle is moving while the driver’s seat belt is unfastened.  Statistics show that wearing a seatbelt dramatically reduces deaths and injuries from collisions.

    “Hard turns are another driving behavior that puts the driver and vehicle at additional risk,” continued Bermudez.  “It also puts additional wear on a vehicle.  We were able to utilize the accelerometer and gyroscope technologies built into the GPS tracking devices in a similar manner to the hard braking alert.”

    According to the National Transportation Highway Safety Administration’s 2008 report to Congress, “National Motor Vehicle Causation Crash Survey,” about 36 percent of vehicles involved in collisions were turning or crossing at intersections just prior to the crashes.

    “When we’re making a turn, we become more vulnerable,” added Bermudez. “Clearly in a left turn situation you’re putting your vehicle in the path of oncoming traffic.  But right turns can be hazardous as well to both pedestrians and drivers. Turn too soon and you clip the curb, which doesn’t do much for your wheel alignment.  Turn too late and you could end up making a wide turn.  If the device on the vehicle transmits a hard turn event, Fleet Manager checks if an alert is configured for that vehicle.  If so, it sends the time, date, and location information to the email and/or text recipients.”

  • Ford Studies Space Robots for Connected Vehicle Communications

    Ford is studying communications between space robots and Earth to enhance future applications of the connected-car communications protocol. The research furthers the company’s commitment to the development of connected vehicle communications to help reduce traffic congestion and aid in the advancement of emergency vehicle communication methods, Ford said.

    Ford has launched a three-year research partnership with the telematics department of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in Russia in its association with that country’s space industry. The goal is to analyze space-based robotic communications systems for vehicle mesh networks to aid in mobility solutions.

    The development of connected vehicle communications has the potential to reduce traffic accidents and ease congestion by enabling vehicles to communicate with each other, and to communicate with buildings, traffic lights, the cloud and other systems to deliver a message or detect and respond to imminent collision warnings.

    Webinar: The Connected Vehicle

    All major international car-makers are installing telematics units, sending a signal that wireless information and connectivity is here to stay in the vehicle, and location will be a big part of the growth. To learn more about the rapid changes in the connected vehicle field, tune in to our September 19 webinar, hosted by Wireless LBS editor Janice Partyka. Registration is free.

    “Ford has been committed to the research and development of connected vehicle communications for more than a decade,” said Paul Mascarenas, chief technical officer and vice president, Ford research and innovation. “Our participation in this research can aid in the development of next-generation Ford driver-assist technologies. These technologies will globally benefit Ford customers, other road users and the environment.”

    Emergency Situations. One promising development from Ford’s research project with St. Petersburg Polytechnic University is the advancement in emergency vehicle communication methods. Ford is analyzing how emergency messages should be sent to ensure delivery if network failures were to occur, identifying the systems and methods that provide redundancy in case of primary delivery failure.

    For example, if an accident were to cause vehicle-to-cloud communications (V2C) to be broken, a vehicle may still have access to a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications network. An emergency signal message could potentially be sent through V2V to a vehicle nearby, and then between vehicles and infrastructures until it reached EMS.

    “The research of fallback options and robust message networks is important,” said Oleg Gusikhin, technical leader in systems analytics for Ford. “If one network is down, alternatives need to be identified and strengthened to reliably propagate messages between networks.”

    Space Telematics. Telematics — the long-distance transmission of digital information — developed for use on space stations provide excellent potential for improving the reliability of future vehicle-to-cloud, vehicle-to-infrastructure, vehicle-to-vehicle and other forms of communication (V2X). The communications blend multiple networking technologies including dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), cellular LTE wireless broadband and mesh networking to ensure robust and reliable connectivity for optimum signal strength for critical messages.

    Using the knowledge accrued from analyzing the space robots, Ford engineers could then develop an algorithm that is integrated into the V2X system resulting in a message that would route through the appropriate network depending on the level of its importance. An emergency message, for example, may be communicated through the faster mesh network, whereas an entertainment-related message would route through a vehicle-to-infrastructure application, an embedded device or a brought-in device network.

    “We are analyzing the data to research which networks are the most robust and reliable for certain types of messages, as well as fallback options if networks were to fail in a particular scenario,” said Oleg Gusikhin, technical leader in systems analytics for Ford. “In a crash, for example, a vehicle could have the option to communicate an emergency though a DSRC, LTE or a mesh network based on the type of signal, speed and robustness required to reach emergency responders as quickly as possible.”

    The specific space robots leveraged for Ford’s telematics analysis include the JUSTIN Humanoid, EUROBOT Ground Prototype and NASA Robonaut R2.

    Here is a video showing how Ford is studying space robot communications.

    Findings from this work could potentially enhance Ford’s wireless communication technologies and Blueprint for Mobility. Ford’s Blueprint for Mobility details the company’s vision on how to tackle the issues of mobility in an increasingly crowded and urbanized planet between now and 2025.