Boston Is Partnering With Waze to Make Its Roads Less of a Nightmare | WIRED

Boston's traffic is probably a perpetual worst-case scenario for Waze, lately...

"Specifically, the city reached out to Waze, a driving and directions tool owned by Google. By sharing the parade route on the service, the city helped users steer themselves around traffic, potentially easing the overall road burden.

That one-time data fling has resulted in a longer term data-sharing relationship. Last week, the pair sealed the deal: Boston will give Waze a heads-up about any planned closures, and in return the app’s owners will give the city’s traffic management center access to its profoundly valuable stream of user data. In the short term, this will let the city be more responsive to traffic problems as they arise. But going forward, Boston’s road-runners hope the data will help them fine-tune their traffic light timing and keep congestion from building up in the city’s intestinal road network."

Boston Is Partnering With Waze to Make Its Roads Less of a Nightmare | WIRED