A communication transmitted from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 18-87, regarding editing capabilities for navigation applications

MEMORANDUM To: Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager From: Joseph E. Barr, Director Date: July 29, 2019 Subject: Awaiting Report 18-87 – Report on the Editing Capabilities for Navigation Applications This memo is in response to Order No. 16 from the July 30, 2018 City Council Meeting (Awaiting Report No. 18-87) requesting a report on the navigational editing capabilities of the City of Cambridge. Overview While the introduction of navigation apps such as Waze and Google Maps have allowed drivers to more easily navigate unfamiliar streets and change their routes to avoid congestion, there are significant consequences for cities like Cambridge. “Shortcuts” through small residential neighborhoods have introduced volumes of traffic not previously experienced. In addition, some drivers rely on navigational tools in lieu of paying attention to traffic control devices and their surroundings. This had led to feelings—from residents and policymakers alike—that these apps have taken away some level of control over our streets and that they are profiting from sending “cut through” traffic down local streets. Partnerships In 2017, the City entered into a partnership agreement with Waze, which was touted as an opportunity to better share information between the City and that company. In practice, we have found very limited utility from the agreement. The Waze interface that allows cities to submit data has little functionality beyond what is available to the general public and is difficult to use and frequently inaccessible. The information available to the City on traffic congestion and speeds is also very limited and in particular does not provide us with any historical data that could be useful for planning or engineering purposes. Other navigational companies have not granted the City any specific editing power beyond that which is offered to the general public. In the past, some

companies have operated on a crowd-sourced model, but over time most have begun to shift away from that model or added restrictions on who can edit the maps, and how and when edits are pushed through to the apps. The City has not made any specific efforts to receive additional editing powers from these companies as there are not currently laws or regulations in place that would require them to grant these additional permissions and it seems increasingly clear that the companies do not have any interest in expanding their map editing interfaces. Furthermore, these companies are not currently required to provide any information about usage to the City of Cambridge. As data becomes a commodity, companies are beginning to further restrict the data that is publicly available and are instead opting to sell the information. There are companies that aggregate and anonymize this type of trip data for transportation planning and engineering purposes, and we have allocated funding in our budget to procure access to this type of detailed data in the near future. Regulations and Restrictions While the City does not have a direct line of communication with each company, they appear to do a relatively good job of keeping their routing information up to date to include information about current regulations such as “No Left Turn,” “Do Not Enter from 3-7 PM,” or “No Trucks.” It is worth noting that many of the companies have terms of service that place the onus on the person using the app to pay attention to any posted signs or restrictions. This becomes especially important when considering construction zones, temporary street closures, and other common situations that may result in a person needing to seek an alternate route that is not noted in a navigation app. The terms of services will often also exclude use by commercial and/or large vehicles, and these apps often do not indicate truck restrictions or locations where trucks cannot physically fit. The Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department does not typically restrict access on streets to abutters or local residents, except in the event of construction or special events. There is no research showing that these types of signs are effective at reducing traffic volumes. For example, the definition of a “local resident” is unclear, which would make it very difficult to enforce any such restriction. As noted in the attached legal opinion from the City Solicitor, these types of restrictions could be vulnerable to legal challenges. Even if these types of restrictions were to survive a legal challenge, we do not believe they would be effective in managing traffic. In particular, restricting volumes on one street simply pushes the problem to nearby streets, often ones that are equally unsuited for higher traffic volumes. In addition, these types of restrictions would not be effective in preventing navigational apps from routing traffic on these streets, since the app has no definitive way of knowing whether the user of the

app is a local resident or otherwise meets the criteria established in the restriction. Since the business model of many of these apps depends on providing users with access to as many streets as possible, it is highly likely that the apps would simply ignore these types of local resident/abutter restrictions.