Flagstaff Utilizes Smartphone Data To Map Traffic

By Chloe Jones
Published: Sunday, January 6, 2019 - 5:05am
Updated: Monday, January 7, 2019 - 9:20am
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Flagstaff is using smartphone data to help map traffic and bus routes in the city.

Many smartphone applications have the option to have location services on. When location services are on, app companies can sell this information, known as "big data."

Kate Morly is with the Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority (NAIPTA). She said Flagstaff is one of the first cities to utilize big data.

“We use it for the longer term planning about where we want routes to go. In the future we typically will do a service update once a year in August, so right now we’re planning for those August changes”

Morly says they are interested in knowing travel times between places, general origin, destination and historical information. She assures that big data only provides the number of people commuting, not any identifying information.

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