It’s clear that modern technology has greatly impacted how the world operates, and unsurprisingly, technological advancements have made their way into the traffic industry. From reducing pedestrian-vehicle collisions to mitigating wrong-way driving, intelligent traffic systems have improved roadway safety. And to ensure optimal performance of these investments, transportation officials should actively manage and monitor their intelligent traffic systems, which can be a cumbersome task, especially when responsible for many systems.

Using one central point of management for active intelligent traffic systems helps traffic professionals understand the effectiveness of their system(s), gather actionable data and identify areas in need of additional safety systems. Smart city platforms and IoT software make this possible. While there are a variety of smart city platforms available to manage your intelligent traffic systems, not all software is created equal — and understanding the different benefits offered by each is crucial when it comes to making informed decisions.

What is a smart city platform?

If you’re unfamiliar with smart city platforms, these systems are worth exploring to ramp up roadway safety in your community. Smart city platforms are cloud-based software systems that connect to intelligent traffic systems with the aid of IoT software, allowing users to access and manage their intelligent solutions in one location.

Whether overseeing a community with numerous intelligent traffic systems or a rural area with systems 20+ minutes apart, smart city platforms make monitoring and managing intelligent traffic systems easy and convenient. Smart city platforms work remotely to gather data, set alerts, identify emergencies, maintain systems and more, giving traffic professionals assurance that their community’s roads are always safe.

BlinkLink®, powered by TAPCO, is one smart city option to begin remotely managing traffic systems hassle-free.

What is BlinkLink®?

BlinkLink® is an easy-to-use, cloud-based smart city platform, designed for traffic officials to remotely manage, schedule, quantify and monitor their community’s deployed Intelligent Warning Systems (IWS).

BlinkLink® provides traffic officials with real-time data in one place, giving them the ability to identify emergencies or traffic system issues as well as the health status of each system. When a problem is identified, BlinkLink® communicates this directly to users via voice, email and SMS notifications, allowing action to be taken quickly. Image and video recording can also be implemented with systems that have cameras.

Other features include convenient tracking of cellular data and power usage, as well as the ability to livestream alert footage from an intelligent traffic system — like a wrong-way driver on a freeway off-ramp. Users can also download video footage for later review and opt in to receive usage warning notifications to avoid exceeding data limits.

BlinkLink® communication is secured through various network configurations and may be integrated with third-party software via an application programming interface (API).

BlinkLink® can be integrated with these popular TAPCO-made Intelligent Warning Systems:

What does BlinkLink® do?

BlinkLink® enables transportation professionals to access data and other valuable information about their IWS solutions in one central place. Users no longer need to make unnecessary trips to understand why a system isn’t working — this information is available remotely from any internet-connected device.

As Buck Hodgkinson, Senior Field Service Technician at the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) said, “The cool thing about BlinkLink® is that it has its own diagnostics that come through and send emails. I don’t even have to go to BlinkLink® — it comes to me!”

This user-configurable smart city platform enables traffic officials to proactively send resources to the right roadway locations.

More specifically, BlinkLink® will:

Notify: Keep users informed in real-time when an incident is detected by sending a voice, email or SMS alert with minimal delay.

Monitor: Allow users to easily program and view the status and activation schedule of every IWS solution from the interactive map view.

Manage: Eliminate time-consuming site visits by proactively monitoring each system’s health and diagnostics.

Report: Customize your reporting parameters to develop a comprehensive view of each system’s activity and implement best practices based on historical data.

Smart city platforms give users the ability to optimize their community’s intelligent traffic systems.

To learn even more about BlinkLink® and get a quote, reach out here >