Toronto selects HERE for smart city and traffic mitigation initiative

Chicago - HERE, the global leader in mapping and location services, is providing the City of Toronto with real-time and historical traffic data to support the city's efforts to reduce road congestion and improve transportation services.

"Toronto is one of the fastest growing cities in North America, and as the population grows so does our effort to create a smarter traffic management system. We are pleased to have HERE on board to help Toronto's citizens get around the city quickly, efficiently and safely," said Barbara Gray, General Manager, Transportation Services, at the City of Toronto.

With HERE's solution, which includes an analytic and reporting tool provided by Iteris, a global leader in applied informatics for transportation, the City of Toronto is developing a new understanding of transportation issues including the impact on traffic of weather conditions, construction works and infrastructure changes. Based on these observations, the city's Big Data Innovation Team can manage the traffic in real-time and in a smart manner for the benefit of all Torontonians.

HERE's extensive coverage creates visibility to speeds on every single road including arterial roads in the city centre. Not only do arterial roads represent a huge chunk of the road network and are therefore key to a smart network management strategy, their analysis is also complex. Many arterial roads, for example, must accommodate a wide range of users, such as pedestrians, bicycles and cars, with different needs.

"We are excited to work with the City of Toronto to turn big data into smart insights that can help alleviate congestion, enable safe road networks and reduce pollution," said Monali Shah, Director of Intelligent Transportation Solutions at HERE.

In North America and globally HERE serves as a vital partner to smart cities and the broader public sector, helping them make decisions that improve the quality of life for citizens. For example, HERE supplies traffic information to several Department of Transportations across the United States, including Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio and New York, and is also supporting intelligent transportation initiatives in Colorado, Iowa and Michigan.