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

  • Ohio DOT Selects Inrix and StreetLight Data for on-demand mobility intelligence
    September 26, 2017
    The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has added analytics and origin-destination to its existing Inrix traffic services to help monitor, measure and manage the state’s road network. As part of the agreement, StreetLight Data will enable ODOT to transform Inrix data into actionable intelligence. Ohio DOT will utilise analytic tools and traffic services from Inrix and StreetLight Data to improve system planning, traffic management and operations in Ohio.
    Read More
  • Arup’s vision of urban mobility in 2050
    May 6, 2015
    Arup’s vision of the Future of Highways considers a wide range of factors that will impact on mobility towards the middle of the century. In its consideration of the Future of Highways through to 2050, international consultants Arup has taken a broad and pragmatic view of where society is heading and the effects that will have on the transport requirements. In terms of major drivers it not only cites
    Read More
  • Data clears the road, says TomTom
    July 11, 2025
    Technology is one of the main tools in cutting congestion quickly and effectively. But it can’t just be about making things better for car drivers, explains TomTom’s Andy Marchant…
    Read More
  • Sensys & Verizon partner on intersections
    June 6, 2018
    Sensys Networks is here at ITS America Detroit to highlight solutions to address intersection safety - 40% of crashes, 50% of serious collisions, and 20% of fatalities occur in intersections. Unfortunately, many cities currently rely solely on historical crash data, hardly a systematic way to analyse and manage potentially harmful traffic situations. To help increase intersection safety, Sensys Networks is automating accurate and actionable safety data, and teaming with Verizon to do so. SensTraffic, the
    Read More

Highlighted Content