The free app gives an overview of the traffic in System, Map or Line View which covers EDSA, C5, SLEX, Roxas Boulevard, Ortigas, Commonwealth, Marcos Highway, Katipunan, España, and Quezon Avenue.
It shows road incidents that might affect the normal flow of traffic so that motorists would avoid them, as well as share and report traffic info via Twitter.
The application for iOS was developed in-house by Atty. Yves Gonzales of the MMDA's Traffic Discipline Office, under the leadership of Chairman Francis Tolentino.
Last September 21, Atty. Gonzales updated its app in the iOS platform, including iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches in compliance with the iOS 6. The iOS 6 is the newly released operating system for Apple's mobile devices.
Tech Pinoy Trend: When was the MMDA app in iOS developed?
Yves Gonzales: The development of the project started November 2010. It was conceived and developed at the same time with the Traffic Navigator yet both development had stopped by February 2011 because by that time, we were awaiting for the legal agreement between MMDA and TV5. Even before the agreement, MMDA and TV5 had started working on the product until the point that we could no longer move forward because we needed that formal agreement. So our lawyers had to step in and draft the agreement. It was finally signed by May 30, 2011 that eventually led to the launch of the Traffic Navigator by August 1 of the same year. That time, I started writing the codes for the MMDA iOS and was released on September 17. It took me almost two months and only during weekends to finish the version 1 of the app.
TPT: So you did this app in partnership with TV5?
YG: It was the Traffic Navigator that we developed in partnership with TV5. The navigator serves as the data source and the apps were just simply the output. There are two aspects of it, the database portion and the web interface. The database portion is its back-end and was developed by the team of Stray Interactive led by Ninoy Leyran. The back-end was developed in accordance with how we envisioned it, like the one-button click instead of using the track-down menu. All of these, we developed with Stray Interactive. The web interface on the other hand, was also developed by the same company which its output is also from the Traffic Navigator project. The TV5 had its web output, MMDA on the other hand had the apps output, namely for iOS, Android, Windows 7, and Blackberry. MMDA did not release the web interface because it would already be redundant. But TV5 released Interaksyon app yet it is just basically a web interface and not a local mobile native app. So, that is how we deal with it. TV5 for web interface while MMDA for mobile native apps and both gets data from the Traffic Navigator. Other applications also benefitted from it, like the Metro Traffic Live! which is a third party app. We gave them the API because we also encouraged the use of the data yet in a controlled environment since the servers are housed in TV5. So the data is not as public but if you request for an access, MMDA will give it to you but in a controlled sense. The MMDA server has been turned over to TV5 for load-balancing since their own servers can no longer hold the entries of the data coming from the MMDA apps. During Habagat, for example, the apps were consuming at least 95% of the server load.
TPT: What is the percentage of the funding between MMDA and TV5 for this project?
YG: To summarize, MMDA's responsibility is in the data encoding. Which means, we hire the personnel who will encode the data as well as gather the data through our field personnel. That is where MMDA responsibility stops. TV5 on the other hand, took care of the two computers, two 50" LED monitors for monitoring, software development for the traffic navigator, both website and back-end, and server maintenance. So, all cost-related through maintenance of the hardware of the project, TV5 takes care of it while MMDA generates the data and encoding.
TPT: How does TV5 benefit from it?
YG: It is public service on their part yet they also have commercial goal. For example, the Traffic Navigator website helps boost traffic to their main Interaksyon website because they are the ones who are controlling the website's banner. They also use it for their live reports displaying the navigator while talking about the traffic situation. The other agreements we had before was DZMM, where they wanted to tap into the CCTV of MMDA, they were actually the first. They had access to the CCTV and then as part of their public service, they provided MMDA with two (2) 6 Mbps connections which our office used so that we would be able to cut on our internet expenses. That was the first model of public-private partnership between a network and MMDA. When TV5 approached us, Chairman Tolentino suggested to add more value to the relationship. So we've come up with an agreement with TV5, which is not only to have access to our CCTV but also coming out with a Traffic Navigator project. After TV5, we also signed an agreement with GMA7 also to have access to our CCTV as well as develop an Incident Monitoring Software similar to the Traffic Navigator yet it gives more report on incidents, such as flooding, fires, catastrophes. The app is still under development and the data generated from this project can be pulled to the MMDA app again. That may gain additional functionality and value to the app.
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| The MMDA app in the iPad platform |
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| The MMDA app as shown in the Apple iTunes |
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| The MMDA app as shown in the Android website |
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| Atty. Yves Gonzales at his MMDA office |
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| The team who covered the interview with Yves From left to right: Roy, Jelico, Yves and myself. |
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| A total of 2,322 downloads from week of June 25 to July 01, 2012 data from iTunes Connect |
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| The chart shows the shoot-up on the demand of the app during the height of the monsoon rain last 06 to 12 August where it made a total of 7,788 downloads |
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| A total of 2,685 downloads from week of September 17 to 23, 2012 data from iTunes Connect |
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