City of Calgary partners with Waze for Cities Data

Getting the best, safest route in real time just got a little easier for Calgary drivers, thanks to a data-sharing partnership between The City of Calgary and Waze, a navigation platform creating community on and off the road.

The City has joined Waze for Cities Data, which enables two-way data sharing allowing citizens to instantly share traffic and road condition information with the Traffic Management Centre (TMC) in real-time.

Through the Waze Navigation and Live Traffic smartphone app, The City’s Traffic Management Centre - which monitors, responds to and presents real-time information to motorists - collects real-time road information from Calgary drivers and passengers, including detail about incidents.

In exchange, the TMC provides Waze with advanced notice of road construction, closures and detours as well as real-time traffic information gathered by its traffic monitoring technologies, such as cameras and road sensors.

The Waze map evolves in real time with every driver and data point it receives, promoting safer roads and sharing more knowledge with drivers about potential delays to their commutes. The app is updated during emergency situations, such as major weather events, to provide up-to-date information on road closures and hazards to help keep drivers safe.

“As a smart city, we’re always looking for opportunities to improve the services we’re delivering to Calgarians by connecting technology and data,” said Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “This exciting, no-cost partnership with Waze will provide Calgarians with real-time information, about traffic and road conditions, reducing commute times and making our roads even safer.”

The Waze app complements other ways the TMC presents real-time information to motorists which include:

• Traffic incidents and road closures;
• Traffic drive times;
• Traffic congestion map.

“Canadian cities are looking for ways to use data to improve the vital transportation services they provide,” said Mike Wilson, Head of Canada, Waze. “We’re pleased to partner with The City of Calgary as part of the Waze for Cities Data program, and help Calgarians understand what’s happening on the roads so their drives are as worry-free as possible.”

Help keep Calgary moving and visit waze.com/apps to download the free Waze app from Google Play or the App Store. To learn more about the Traffic Management Centre and our partnership with Waze please visit Calgary.ca/tmc and check out the City of Calgary/Waze video here.