GovHack NZ awards Tait travel route application

Tait Communications software engineers have been recognised at GovHack NZ for their application that improves travel routes by using public information.

The application queries the Google Maps service for typical route information and combines this with available local data about roadworks and road closures on the suggested routes. This provides commuters with information about the length of disruption times and assists in delivering the best unimpeded route.

GovHack NZ requires small teams of competitors to produce a ‘hack’ within 46 hours using government data. The most common entries are web applications, mobile applications and visualisations.

The event was based in Christchurch, New Zealand — a city still rebuilding civic infrastructure after a series of destructive earthquakes in 2010–2011, where citizens still encounter frequent roadworks and road closures during their daily commutes. Identifying this as a problem that could be solved with public data, ‘Team Angus’ from Tait created a working concept in the category of ‘Bounty: Christchurch Transport Data Hack’.

“We got involved because we’re working on delivering a lot more capability in our next generation of terminals, so we were interested in how to translate that into value for our customers,” said John Carter, Team Angus member.

“We need to go to our customers and say, ‘We know how to get your data to the front line, in your vehicles, in a manner that’s robust, reliable, mission critical, secure and authenticated. We have the skills and tools to do it’.”

Tait Communications congratulates the members of Team Angus on their success at GovHack NZ.