The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has added more information to its QuickMap platform to assist drivers with avoiding slow traffic, road closures, highway incidents and other travel issues.
Caltrans has now added real-time user-reported travel information from the crowdsourced Waze navigation and traffic app, with the new data layers able to be launched from within QuickMap, giving users even more options while using the statewide service. QuickMap users can now select to add the Waze layers to either the mobile or desktop version of the application, allowing access to information about highway incidents, road conditions and other roadway events reported by Waze users, known as ‘Wazers’. This new feature joins QuickMap’s current facilities, which display traffic speed, road closures, California Highway Patrol (CHP) incidents, chain controls, fire locations, electronic highway sign messages, and live traffic cameras.
As part of the company’s worldwide Connected Citizens program, Waze has been sharing traffic and incident report data from Wazers with Caltrans since 2016. The data helps provide real-time travel information on California’s roadways provided by Caltrans’s QuickMap platform. Waze, in turn, has been receiving Caltrans’s road condition reporting data, construction and road closure information to share with its users. Together, both apps benefit through more data and a thorough overview of road conditions, giving drivers more power to plan their commutes and trips, while helping to prevent congested areas get any worse.
QuickMap was launched online in 2011, with an Android app released in August last year and an Apple iOS version available from January this year. In an effort to reduce distracted driving and ensure road safety, users of Quickmap or Waze will be prompted to close either app while operating a motor vehicle.
“We’re always looking at ways to integrate new technologies and innovations into bettering our traffic management strategies,” said Malcolm Dougherty, director of Caltrans. “This partnership with Waze gives motorists even more options to make informed decisions before traveling, and that’s important for making travel easier and safer for all of us.”
