Australian global smart-mapping company Esri has forged a new partnership with Waze, the Google-owned provider of a community-based traffic and navigation app.
Esri announced the partnership on Wednesday and says that Waze makes it easier for governments to begin building intelligent transportation systems in their communities, and under the partnership 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.
"Councils can now leverage real-time reports without having to invest in sensor networks or an Internet of Things infrastructure," says Terry Bills, global smart transport specialist 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."
{loadposition peter}Bills says Esri is the industry-leader in geospatial analytics, empowering more than 350,000 organisations in making location-based decisions, and starting today, 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.
"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—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."