GMA News to use Waze in broadcasts starting in March

Popular traffic-reporting app Waze will be coming to Philippine TV this March, to broadcast real-time road information on GMA 7 and GMA News TV, including the shows "Unang Hirit" and "News To Go".

 

“What we want is a different kind of traffic reporting. We want (to report) alternative routes. We also want forecasting for traffic,” said Carlos Primo David, GMA's IMReady Overall Head, in the Waze for Broadcasting training held on February 20.

 

Waze is an app where users can input information such as road blockages, police checkpoints, traffic jams, and the like, to warn fellow wazers of the inconveniences that could affect their commute.

 

There are 200,000 wazers in the Philippines that contribute these information.

 

Information verification

 

While Waze accepts reports from anyone who uses the app, these reports don't automatically appear on the Waze maps. The reports go through a system where the information will be verified.

 

For instance, a wazer sends a report of a road blockage on Street A. The system first marks the wazer's location and checks if other wazers in Street A have their apps opened. The system then checks the wazers' direction patterns, whether or not they are avoiding Street A or turning around. If they are, the system accepts the report and posts a warning on the Waze map.

 

When you open the Waze app, you also activate your GPS, which allows the system to know where you are.

“All the wazers that (have the app) open are contributing to the movement patterns, and these are what we use to analyze,” said Amir Mirzaee, Global Business Development Manager for Waze.

 

Once cars start passing through Street A again, the system assumes that the road is no longer blocked and removes the warning.

 

The same mechanism works for traffic jams. But instead of checking for direction patterns, Waze checks the cars' speeds. The system estimates how slow wazers are going in these roads and posts an estimate on the map. The roads are also color-coded according to how heavy the traffic is. The darker the color, the heavier the traffic.

 

Once the wazers go fast again, the warning is removed from the map.

 

These all happen in real-time.

 

Which way?

 

Waze can also help in figuring out which route will be the fastest to take at a particular time through its ETA tool.

 

Every five minutes or so, the ETA recalculates the traffic in all the routes you can take to get from Point A to Point B. It then suggests which route will be the fastest to take.

 

This is being done by radio programs in other countries, and can be used by GMA's broadcasters as well.

 

IMReady Portal to be available by the end of February

 

GMA's IMReady Portal will be available for use starting February 28. It is a one-stop shop of an assortment of weather and traffic data from the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), Metro Rail Transit (MRT), Philippine National Railways (PNR), and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

 

A IMReady Waze Group will also be made where users can converse with reporters and with each other after the traffic reports. — TJD, GMA News