The intention is to gather all the good features and benefits that might happen from an agreement with Waze.
Since there are actual agencies participating in this forum their opinion will be useful too.
Having offered CCP to a bunch of people so far, I found very difficult to explain and expose all the solutions Waze could provide to a Municipality / City / Province.
I often feel like I’m “selling” a product, struggling to get through people.
So I was thinking of putting up a mix of FAQ and Features list, use cases… etc. to show in meetings.
I’ll start with a few:
What benefit could have an Official Agency from Waze?
Constant contact from up to thousands of users in a particular area. Even direct input from them.
Different sets of data (BigData) in order to make better decisions on the road planning.
What benefit could have Waze (or the Community) from the Agencies?
Improved maps, more accurate, having changes in place faster than ever.
There are some very nice case studies on the CCP page. www.waze.com/CCP , scroll towards the bottom. And these will be added to and updated soon as well.
Of course Waze can benefit from accurate closure and road construction information which translates to more accurate maps faster. This then is communicated to users which improves traffic flow, reduces congestion, and can thereby reduce accidents in confusing new traffic flows, which is a benefit to the agency.
The partner can collaborate with the editing community to fix any map issues they have, and prepare the map to be ready for when new traffic flows are opened.
Working with the beacons if applicable is great new tool for better navigation, and reducing accidents in tunnels (or poor gps reception areas). This is a benefit to both Waze and the partner.
These are just some cases above and beyond the listed case studies.
I already presented Waze to several potential partners in the past 2 years. The key messages are different from partner to partner, it depends on the field they are working, so I summarize it that way. I don’t explain it too much, you can elaborate on them on your own to describe it in detail.
DOTs (any transportation management company)
They have several sensors (cameras, inbuilt semsors in the road) in their territory, but how many? Tens or hundreds. Maybe the biggest metros have thousands, but not more. They are limited to the spot they are, they don’t see farther. With Waze they can have 10.000-100.000 sensors on the roads which provide them with big data about what’s happening there. Everywhere.
They can measure the impact of their work, whether it’s effective or not. E.g. they reduce the speed limit in a certain spot. They can compare Waze accident data before and after the changes.
There is no database for accidents/crashes. Police knows only if they are on the scene, insurance companies know only their data but not the other’s. Most of the accidents are minor rear-enders, which are not reported anywhere - but in fact they have effect on the traffic. With Waze data accident hotspots can be identified much more accurately than with anything else. If they know where they are, they can take counter measures.
Based on waze traffic data the traffic lights can be re-programmed. Boston found around 18% reduced traffic in a particular cross thanks to this action.
They get ticket to a show, where all the big DOT’s are present themselves - in the Partner Portal they can exchange ideas, even find solution for daily developing problems. They don’t have to reinvent the wheel, maybe others already did that. They will be in the Premiere League.
Roadworks are usually done by contractors. Deadlines are always inaccurate. They finish earlier or later but for sure NOT at the exact time which was written in the contract. The Waze community provides real time feedback on the roadworks whether it’s in progress or already finished. Usually drivers know it first when a closure is ended, and the road authority is the last in the chain…
Municipalities - talking to a mayor or a smart city branch
You can use some from the previous block too ofc.
By partnering with Waze they show that they do care about motorists. They show their citizens that they understand and use the technology, they are modern and developed.
They will have a new connection with the citizens. Waze is a direct communication channel, where citizens voice will be heard (potholepalooza Washington). They can use push messages for important stuff (MTEs, hurricanes, important rule changes (New York Police - speed reduced from 35 to 25 mph in downtown))
Who follows municipality Fb, Twitter or website? Precisely those who are either masochists or government employees and it’s their job. The REACH of their audience is very low. But with simply using the ad system in Waze (Regional connector - LA) or sending a push message, their reach can go up from 50 to 50.000.
The local community can assist them to have ALL businesses on the map in Waze. Municipalities have databases, Waze has volunteers who love to use them and make the map more accurate. When e.g. all the pharmacies are on the map, municipality can shout out loud that they assisted all citizens to find a nearby pharmacy.
Waze has unique role in times of disasters. Hurricane Harvey (CarpoolHarwey), Hurricane Sandy (fuel shortage and accurate fuel database from Waze). Real time closures, shelters, immediate direct communication and information to people on the roads. Waze can save lives.
Disaster Management, Ambulances, First responders
Genesis Pulse - great example for how Waze can be used to literally save lives. Waze crash reports have 4.5 minutes advance to 911 calls.
Furthermore 70% of callers don’t exactly know where they are. Only approximate. With Waze, responders can have exact coordinates and even faster routes to the scene.
Closures, shelters in case of a disaster or havaria (see in previous block)
Some tools I always show to potential partners:
Waze Livemap
Waze Traffic View Tool
Waze Reporting Tool
Waze event RSS feed (can be created from feed and showed in a box on the municipality website e.g. all accidents in the territory)
And finally I always tell them: CCP is FOR FREE. Needs only minor development and resources to attach Waze data to the existing system. It’s a win-win situation, it is not worth to miss it.
I always emphasize that they don’t have to do everything at the beginning of the partnership. They are not urged to do anything and they will not have a strict deadline to do things. It’s their choice which Waze data they want to use in their system, which is the most valuable for them. The only thing they need to give is the scheduled closure data they know. And this can be done in email, in feed, with or without the community assistance.
It’s also a good tool to highlight one particular problem in the partner’s field of operation, and tell them how Waze can help solving the case. When a presentation become that tailored to the audience, it always will have bigger impact. However…don’t urge them either to join. We had a partner with which it took 2 years to sign
