Are you kidding? City Engineers (for example) will no longer wonder if they are looking at the most recent traffic count for a particular roadway (unless they have a cool GIS – see adjacent post). Never again, will the engineer or planner get a phone call asking for traffic data (well, maybe once, but after they tell the caller that everything is online that puts an end to the requests–especially when the caller realizes it is on a Google Maps platform that they “already know how to use”).
Planners love it–to see a visual representation (some people call them “bar graphs” but I’m trying to avoid sounding technical) of historical data and trends…pull this site up on the big screen at your next public meeting and watch the smiles…
Developers can’t believe a site like this exists. Free access to traffic data? Are you kidding me? That’s amazing!
Even traffic engineers are amazed at how easily they can see where traffic data has been collected and when. And because they are a traffic engineer, they may be interested in peak hour data, bi-directional data, vehicle classification, speed, etc. So guess what? By the icon, they will know who to contact to see what detailed info is available. Before now, traffic engineers did not even know where data was collected, let alone who to contact for details. And, if it is not on the map, well, that’s an opportunity for someone to collect it and help build the map…who knows, someday I may include a link to the client GIS…