The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) installs technology from
Applied Information to improve road safety in school zones across the
state with the company’s smart beacon product, powered by AT&T
connectivity. Georgia is the first state to deploy Applied Information’s
IoT technology for school districts statewide.
The unique program connects school zone beacons – those flashing signs
that are intended to slow drivers down as they pass by a school – to the
Internet of Things (IoT) to make them more reliable and more responsive
in the event of a change of schedule caused by inclement weather,
biannual time changes, holidays or other disruptions.
The Glance™ School Zone Beacon System was developed by Applied
Information, in collaboration with AT&T
for secure wireless connectivity and Temple,
Inc. for installation and maintenance. The technology is being
installed at more than 300 schools in 118 Georgia Counties in time for
the first bell of the 2018 school year.
Each smart beacon has its own cellular modem to handle all
communication, enabling traffic engineers using their smartphone or
tablet to determine if the beacons are operating correctly and, if
necessary, instantly alert the appropriate resources in the event of
lamp or battery failures. AT&T’s 4G/LTE mobile network will power the
smart beacons and AT&T’s IoT platform, AT&T
Control Center, will be used to manage the solution on the backend.
“Making school zone beacons smarter is a perfect example of how we can
use connected technology to improve safety on our roadways,” said Bryan
Mulligan, President of Applied Information, Inc. “GDOT is to be
commended for taking the lead to improve safety around school zones on
such a large scale and in such a short amount of time to be prepared for
the new school year.”
“Mobile technology is becoming more integrated into existing traffic
equipment to help make school zones safer for school children and
drivers,” said Mike Zeto, Vice President of AT&T IoT Solutions and
General Manager of Smart Cities. “Our initiative with Applied
Information is a great example of our growing effort in public safety to
help cities become safer and more connected to their citizens.”
The Applied Information and AT&T collaboration provides a complete suite
of Glance™ Smart Cities connected transportation technologies including
emergency vehicle traffic signal preemption, bus rapid transit signal
priority, connected crosswalks, smart school zone beacons, connected
traffic calming device and the TravelSafely™
smartphone app.
About Applied Information
Applied Information is the industry-leading developer of Smart Cities,
connected, intelligent transportation system (ITS) solutions designed to
save lives, improve traffic, drive commerce and help the environment.
Applied Information’s Glance Smart City Supervisory platform enables
cities to manage all their traffic and ITS assets on one web-based
application. Key product areas are traffic signals, school flashers,
emergency vehicle preemption, transit and freight priority and ITS
systems. AI’s TravelSafely™ smartphone app connects drivers, cyclists
and pedestrians and the transportation infrastructure for a safer
mobility experience. For more information, visit www.appinfoinc.com.
[Editors: For media related to this release, visit https://appinfoinc.com/newsroom/school-beacons/]
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