There are three (3) basic steps in building smart cities:

1. Digitize your infrastructure
2. Build a real-time data platform
3. Engage your community

Waze is a GPS-based geographical navigation application for smartphones with GPS support. Waze Ltd. was founded in 2008 in Israel by Uri Levine, software engineer Ehud Shabtai, and Amir Shinar. In June 2013 Google bought Waze for $1.1 billion, adding a social data aspect to its mapping business. Since November 2012, in monetizing its app, Waze offers resellers and advertisers a web interface to advertise based on locations where a small icon will appear in a particular place for an interested Wazer to engage with the ads.

However, with all the data that has been collected by Waze, I think it’s such a waste that the developers are unable to utilize them fully. Waze collected the data directly from the Wazers who willingly share their data to the cloud and in return will get the latest update about the best traffic routes and its alternatives etc.

Waze has captured Terabytes or Petabytes of mapping and real-time data from many major cities around the world. Why can’t we use these data to help the city municipals plan and build better roads to prevent the horrendous traffic jams faced by the public every day? Here are some of the data that Wazers have been willingly share:

1. Traffic Jam level – moderate, heavy or standstill
   
2. Police
3. Accident – minor or major
4. Hazard – on-road, shoulder or weather
5. Camera – Speed, red light or fake
6. Map issue
7. Pave new roads (if there’s none on the map) – Waze will get the latest map when new roads are paved.
8. Speed of vehicle
9. Location of vehicle
10. Photos of the destination

I believed the city/urban planners would love to have these data to help them accurately plan the city roads in the future. The public will have a better picture where to live and work. Housing estates will know how to price their property. Businesses will know where to strategically build their offices. In fact, there are many other benefits if we are able to use the Waze data. It’s such a waste if Google limit the Waze data for advertising only.

But there’s also an option. What if we can build a similar “Waze-like” application ourselves rather than depending on Google’s Waze? And later share these data to our developers?

FAVORIOT developed FAVORSENSE, a crowdsourcing solution using mobile app that collected information about city’s issues. Favorsense also provides backend solution that can handle all the issues.

Favorsense is a CrowdSensing platform that allows public and private parties to build better Communities and Cities.

Crowdsensing Management Platform (CMP) – Problem resolution backend system that eases the workflow in handling issues.

Field Force – The public, private or communities can join hands in resolving any problems.

Insights – Crowdsensing data are aggregated and decision making can be made based on the insights.

About the Author

Dr. Mazlan Abbas the Co-Founder of FAVORIOT Sdn Bhd. He is an IOT Evangelist and a Thought Leader. He received an award as 50 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders by World CSR 2017. He is ranked No. 20th Thought Leader in IOT by 2014 Onalytics Report – “The Internet of Things – Top 100 Thought Leaders”, ranked Top 10 in IoT Top 100 Influencers by Postscapes 2016/2017, ranked Top 100 in Smart Cities Top Experts by Agilience Authority Index May 2016. You can reach him on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check all his presentation slides HERE

The article appeared in APAC CIO Outlook magazine: Special Edition on IoT (September 2017 Issue). See – HTML version HERE. Digital Magzine Version – HERE.