Moovit’s map on the big screen in Rio’s Department of Transport’s control room; (Photo via Moovit)
In a recent article for Forbes, Parmy Olson reports on the new data
sharing practices of two popular travel apps, Waze and Moovit. The article focuses on Rio de Janeiro, “the
first city in the world to collect real-time data both from drivers who use the
Waze navigation app and pedestrians who use the public-transportation app
Moovit, giving it an unprecedented view on thousands of moving points across
the sprawling city.” These companies are
turning “millions of users into a network of sensors that municipalities can
tap into for a better view on traffic and hazards.”
Instead of using the information to make money, the apps are “swapping
data for data,” exchanging an aggregated view of their users’ movements in
exchange for real-time information on roads, traffic, and transit. Though the data the apps are sharing is “anonymous
and aggregated… that could change in the coming years as cities exploit the
monitoring abilities of these apps to not just keep an eye on us, but tweak our
behavior too,” by influencing drivers’ departure times or assigning car-pooling
groups.
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