Thursday, 12 July 2012
DOHA: In a major move to develop an intelligent transport system in the country, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) has launched a pilot project to use smart solutions for monitoring vehicular traffic.
The pilot project will use Masarak, a suit of smart applications developed by the Qatar Mobile Innovations Center (QMIC), formerly the QU Wireless and Innovations Center based at the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP).
The Ministry on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with QMIC for implementing the project.
QMIC developed its intelligent traffic solutions with support from Mowasalat. Now the Ministry of Interior has come forward to apply the system on an experimental basis.
The MoU was signed by Dr Adnan Abu-Dayya, Executive Director of QMIC and Brig Abdullah Al Suwaidi of the Ministry of Interior.
"This project is to upgrade the mechanism to monitor the traffic in the country. All information collected through this system will be used to develop a smart traffic system," said Al Suwaidi.
Masarak provides real time information about the traffic flow in different areas allowing the user to plan the trip accordingly and to monitor traffic.
It offers a suit of applications and services that cater to the needs of three major segments: government entities, enterprises and the public.
The system will help the authorities monitor the flow of traffic, identify traffic congestions and implement solutions. An individual customer can use the system to check the traffic congestions and plan the trip accordingly.
The system will plan the trip for the customer using information about the starting and ending points based on the fastest, shortest, or easiest route to reach his destination on time.
Masarak helps companies manage their fleets as well as track and dispatch them. A user of this service can easily track a car's location and know if it is online or offline.
Also this system shows the users whether the car in question is POB (Passenger on Board) or not. These services and applications are provided through multiple channels such as mobile applications, web applications, voice, SMS, broadcast. Masarak delivers intelligent traffic services such as traffic monitoring, trip planner, fleet management, vehicle tracker and dispatching system.
Masarak is powered by Labeeb, QMIC's Smart Sensing and Services Platform, which has been fully developed by QMIC. Labeeb processes raw traffic data received from different sources and refines the data through a series of operations, producing meaningful and accurate traffic information, claims the QMIC.
© The Peninsula 2012
