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    Crowdsourcing for Advancing Operations

    State and local Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) programs strive to optimize the use of existing roadway facilities through traveler information, incident management, road weather management, arterial management and other strategies targeting the causes of congestion. TSMO programs require real-time, high-quality and wide-ranging roadway information. However, gaps in geographic coverage, lags in information timeliness and life-cycle costs for field equipment can limit agencies' ability to operate the system proactively. Crowdsourcing for Advancing Operations is a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Every Day Counts Round 6 (EDC-6) innovation that Pennsylvania championed.

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    How Does It Work?

    Public agencies at all levels are increasing both their situational awareness and the quality and quantity of operations data using crowdsourcing, which enables staff to apply proactive strategies cost effectively and make better decisions that lead to safer and more reliable travel while protecting privacy and security of individual user data.

    Three common sources of crowdsourced data are social media platforms, third-party data providers and specially developed mobile applications. This data can be passively or actively transmitted and may be quantitative or qualitative in nature. This includes information related to speed, travel time, incident type, travel behavior, public sentiment, vehicular operation and more. Some data is free with little to no cost to process, while other data can be purchased more cost effectively than traditional traffic monitoring equipment, such as roadway sensors and cameras.

    Crowdsourced data can often be accessed by Traffic Management Centers (TMC) with minimal or no time lags and is not subject to local sensor or system outages. Complementing crowdsourced data with data integration tools enables TMC operators to focus more quickly on proactively managing emerging events, rather than reacting to them after congestion forms.

    What Are The Benefits?

    • Improved Operations – Better traveler information and more proactive and effective operations strategies can lead to reduced traffic congestion.
    • Increased Safety and Reliability – Crowdsourced data leads to faster and more accurate responses to traffic incidents and other congestion-causing events, reducing the likelihood of secondary crashes.
    • Cost Savings – Crowdsourcing allows agencies to use their existing intelligent transportation systems infrastructure more effectively and could reduce the need for installing and maintaining additional roadway sensors.

    Innovation in Motion

    PennDOT expanded its partnership with Waze to improve the quality of data being provided in 2023. A resource email account was established for contacting the Waze’s Pennsylvania map editing team. Key information that can be provided to this account includes: the start/end dates for projects, planned lane shifts or turning restrictions, complicated traffic control plans and detours and emergency closures. The first uses of this partnership occurred in response to the I-95 bridge collapse in June 2023.  

    Communication with the map editors can be submitted to the PennDOT Statewide TMC or the appropriate PennDOT Regional TMC, who relay the communication to a resource account. The objective is to use the data available to provide actionable information to those who make decisions that improve mobility and safety on our roads – from planning and design down to operations. Crowdsourced data expands PennDOT’s ability to do this in areas that we would be unable to do so with traditional data sources.