IBM Engineers Tackle New Type of Traffic App

We may soon have access to a new kind of traffic app on our mobile devices that will provide more innovative real-time traffic data, writes Barb Darrow. Recently, the city of Boston won the "Smart Cities Challenge", a competition which awards its winners with $50 million worth in technological services to offer new solutions to manage growth and efficiency.

IBM staff submitted their findings to Boston City Hall, and presented the idea of creating a new app that would utilize various sources of traffic data to assist commuters in making more informed travel decisions from moment to moment. "There are literally millions of data points per second - from GPS and cellphone technology - that can be analyzed and made intelligent," Steve Wysmuller, an IBM Global Services exec, told the Globe.

Ranking tenth on IBM's list of the "most-car-choked U.S. cities," Boston is a clear candidate for improved traffic management services. This new app, which is slated for review and testing in the near future, could be a highly effective tool for planners to lead the way to more efficient traffic calming.