TfL And Waze Agree Data Exchange To Manage London’s Streets

Transport for London (TfL) is working with Waze so it can use the Google-owned company’s crowdsourced traffic data to manage the capital’s streets.

London is the first UK partner for the Waze Connected Citizens program, which sees city authorities exchange their data for Waze’s database, which is compiled from millions of drivers in real time.

Waze claims that other cities, such as Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City and Boston, have all benefited from the data share, helping them plan infrastructure and reduce emergency response times.

TfL and Waze

Specifically, London will provide its construction, collision and road closure data from TfL’s APIs to accurately provide information to drivers to help them plan their journeys.

“We have a wealth of open data available and by working with Waze and joining the global Connected Citizens programme, we can not only ensure London’s road users have the information they need to plan their journeys, but we can also draw in more data to help us manage London’s busy road network,” said Phil Young, head of online at TfL.

Google bought Waze in 2013 for £813 million, fending of competition from the likes of Apple and Facebook who were rumoured to be interested in the Israeli company. It hopes the London partnership is the first of many for the firm in Britain.

“Harnessing the insights of more than 65 million monthly active users, its Map Editor communities, and varied, data-driven enterprise partnerships, Waze continues to share its unprecedented knowledge base of traffic and driver insights to improve urban mobility across the world,” added Paige Fitzgerald, head of new business development at Waze.

“It is critical that prospective partners show their dedication to citizen engagement and commit to use Waze data to improve city efficiency. Waze Partners are also expected to measure and share their findings with other municipal organizations, developing case studies that serve as keys to a global set of improvements which can be made for collective mobility.”

Earlier this year, Waze was forced to defend its security measures following claims hackers could spy on users in real time.

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