Smart data to help manage congestion in the Philippines

Traffic management agencies and city planners will soon have access to real-time data to better manage traffic flows on the streets of Cebu City and Metro Manila. The World Bank, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and Grab, a third-party ride booking app provider, have launched the OpenTraffic initiative, which it is hoped will help address traffic congestion and road safety challenges.
May 5, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

Traffic management agencies and city planners will soon have access to real-time data to better manage traffic flows on the streets of Cebu City and Metro Manila.

The 2000 World Bank, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and Grab, a third-party ride booking app provider, have launched the OpenTraffic initiative, which it is hoped will help address traffic congestion and road safety challenges.

Grab and the World Bank have been developing free, open-source tools that translate Grab’s voluminous driver GPS data into traffic statistics, including speeds, flows, and intersection delays. These statistics power big data open source tools such as OpenTraffic, for analysing traffic speeds and flows.

In the near future, traffic statistics derived through OpenTraffic will be fed into another application called DRIVER or Data for Road Incident Visualisation, Evaluation, and Reporting for road incident recording and analysis. This application, developed by the World Bank, will help engineering units to prioritise crash-prone areas for interventions and improve emergency response.

“Using big data is one of the potential solutions to the challenges faced by our transport systems. Through this we can provide accurate, real-time information for initiatives that can help alleviate traffic congestion and improve road safety,” said DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya.

“By leveraging advances in open-software and big data collaborations with companies like Grab, transport managers and city planners can have access to the most advanced congestion management analytical tools available,” said Mara Warwick, World Bank country director.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Industry-led consortium to develop oneTRANSPORT smart city initiative
    August 18, 2015
    An innovative smart city initiative focused on addressing the challenges in transportation systems with Internet of Things (IoT) technology has been awarded by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK to a consortium of leading European industry, academic and transport authority partners. The project, oneTRANSPORT, is an integrated transport initiative targeted at transport authorities. Totalling approximately US$5.4 million (with co-funding by Innovate UK provided as a result of a successful competition
    Read More
  • Here’s why WiM is value for money
    January 23, 2025
    Weigh in Motion systems are not new. What is new is their ability to collect more data and – importantly – more accurate data about axle loading and vehicle weight. Despite the obvious benefits, including safer highways and possibility of automated legal weight enforcement, obstacles remain for faster uptake. David Arminas reports on the manufacturers’ perspective…
    Read More
  • Smart technology keeps infrastructure operating safely
    August 30, 2013
    US Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are using smart technology to warn civil engineers when something is wrong with the infrastructure, says the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Association (AASHTO). Sensors installed on bridges, in roadways, and on maintenance vehicles are communicating real-time performance and weather data, allowing engineers to solve problems before they occur. "Most people look at a road or a bridge and never realise the technology that today's modern tra
    Read More
  • Data crunching ‘can prevent cars crashing’
    March 25, 2013
    Having already cut traffic collisions resulting in injuries and deaths by nearly forty per cent in five years by analysing patterns from data it has collected, the city of Edmonton, Canada, is using predictive technologies to increase road safety even more. The city’s Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) has installed as many as 200 digital signs as just one element of an innovative traffic safety program that has dramatically reduced vehicle collisions in the Edmonton region since OTS launched in late 2006. Unde
    Read More

Highlighted Content