NY Times: Phone Data to Give a Picture of Traffic Shutdown in L.A.
In what is locally referred to as Carmageddon:
Chaos is expected to descend on Los Angeles on July 16, when a 10-mile stretch of I-405, a major highway running through the center of town that carries an average of 500,000 cars on a summer weekend, shuts down for more than two days....
But KABC, the local flagship station for ABC, sees the closure as an opportunity to experiment with technology tools as its plans to report on the mess as it unfolds. The station has partnered with Waze, an Israeli technology company that makes a navigation app for smartphones, to give drivers a real-time picture of what is happening on the roads.
Waze’s app tracks the movement of each of its users to get a sense of traffic, and then directs them to quicker routes based on the data it collects. The company says it has 180,000 users in the Los Angeles area.
In the first place, why did they close the highway? They should've warned the motorists earlier. But the opportunity they saw is actually useful! Technology can really help in times like this! If motorists are able to see real-time scenarios on the highway, then they could use alternative routes provided by the application! It's easy as ABC. But there is a critical question: how much would it cost the users? Those who are about to use the said app should ask current users if it really helps.