I think aggregating publicly available traffic sensor data into Waze would be possible. Probably not simple, but possible. I don't think I've ever heard an answer to this question from them. You could pose it to them from the Quick Help box on the /support page and let us know what they say.

MReiser4670 wrote:As an example, here in Pennsylvania, PennDOT has installed a system of traffic metering sensors on all the Freeways in the Philadelphia area. These sensors then transmit data to electronic variable message signs along the roadway giving drivers approximate travel times to certain major interchanges. On I-95 South, it might say "Travel time to: I-676 6 miles 10 minutes, I-76 10 miles 16 minutes". As far as I know, this data is publicly available. If there was a way to incorporate that sensor data into Waze, it would be a tremendous improvement on real time traffic data available to all the Wazers in the area.

Road sensors are prevalent throughout the United States on Freeways. In the past Waze has basically advertised that their community data is 'better'...

Yes, the sensor data is limited to where the sensors are installed. So yes, Waze can generate and use traffic data from any road vs. just roads with sensors. Although we all know that there is also a problem with collecting traffic data from roads with POI's on them - Waze is also getting a large amount of false traffic data when Wazers are snapped to a mapped road but actually in a parking lot, drive through, gas station, etc. We as map editors cannot map and landmark every square inch of property adjoining every single road to avoid the false jams. Possibly a flaw of the algorithm - creating a jam based on only one Wazer's traffic data. Really, there needs to be some validation of the data. Months ago I had suggested that Waze not create or clear a jam unless two Wazers have contributed similar data.

The problem is that to tap into this road sensor data Waze will likely need to build a relationship with every state. Many of the big traffic providers that the 'other' Navigation solutions use harness this road sensor data.

The feed external data in the United States that Krankyd is referring to 'Total Traffic Network' or whatever it is called now is fairly useless since it's treated as a manual traffic report and not as a "jam" that is used for routing and ETA. Waze needs to the flow rate data to integrate so that it can be used for routing.

The Waze data can be quite good if there are a significant number of Wazers in a city. But yes, the data will not be generated until a Wazer drives through the traffic so that Waze has the flow rate and can use the data for other Wazer's routes and ETA's. Is this a flaw in Waze's strategy only to Wazers flow rate data for routing and ETA's? Maybe.

so, I assume that by 'local cities traffic' you mean an external provider of traffic, that can 'feed' waze with his reports.
This is being done, in fact, in some places including the US where we have reports by an external feed in the system (you can see it in the reporter name).
In other countries, we have an entire mechanism (thanks to our dedicated wazer 'wroadd') where we feed events from publicly available feeds of traffic into the system.
We also have a few plans to bring even more data into Waze, which will help us in this case. You're right that without the external data - (at least) one wazer has to sacrifice his commute and sit in traffic, for the others to know about it... but this is part of what waze is about. You lose some and you gain some...

Ok, I've submitted an email regarding this and we'll see what they say. I'll let everyone know once I get a reply

I have heard mention of a feature to allow the reporting of traffic from an area you are not in currently but as of late haven't heard that it has been implemented.

krankyd wrote:so, I assume that by 'local cities traffic' you mean an external provider of traffic, that can 'feed' waze with his reports.
This is being done, in fact, in some places including the US where we have reports by an external feed in the system (you can see it in the reporter name).
In other countries, we have an entire mechanism (thanks to our dedicated wazer 'wroadd') where we feed events from publicly available feeds of traffic into the system.
We also have a few plans to bring even more data into Waze, which will help us in this case. You're right that without the external data - (at least) one wazer has to sacrifice his commute and sit in traffic, for the others to know about it... but this is part of what waze is about. You lose some and you gain some...

As an example, here in Pennsylvania, PennDOT has installed a system of traffic metering sensors on all the Freeways in the Philadelphia area. These sensors then transmit data to electronic variable message signs along the roadway giving drivers approximate travel times to certain major interchanges. On I-95 South, it might say "Travel time to: I-676 6 miles 10 minutes, I-76 10 miles 16 minutes". As far as I know, this data is publicly available. If there was a way to incorporate that sensor data into Waze, it would be a tremendous improvement on real time traffic data available to all the Wazers in the area.