Implementing MyCity in Wolverhampton

Client Requirements

SWARCO has been working with the City of Wolverhampton Council since May 2019 with a target to streamline the city’s traffic management. As part of our Lighthouse Programme, SWARCO’s design team identified how the City of Wolverhampton uses data and how the council can use that information to manage the road network. Using this as a guideline, a wireframe of the potential solution was made so the users could check the operational viability and identify any improvements in the way they wanted to interact with the solution. This iterative process kept the key users engaged in the whole design and ensured the delivered solution worked exactly as expected and as needed.

The original specification of the project outlined a need for air quality management as well as the management and monitoring of over 150 journey time information and vehicle counting stations. As the project progressed, the client was able to include additional devices such as Variable Message Signs, Parking Guidance information, an additional air quality data feed, and over 100 additional CCTV feeds. All of this is managed by SWARCO’s MyCity urban mobility management software, which, being based on open APIs, aggregates all data sources and allows the user to monitor, manage and report from a single, easy to use platform.

We worked very closely with the client to define their needs and ensure we delivered a solution fully meeting their requirements. The highly configurable nature of MyCity means that users can personalise their own dashboard and only have access to functions necessary for their roles.

The Solution

MyCity is a secure cloud-based modular platform so that clients such as Wolverhampton can have as few or as many modules and functionalities as they require. Further modules can be added or removed over time to match user requirements. The web-based nature of the solution means that traffic can be managed from anywhere, at any time, across a range of devices including mobile. Gone are the days of needing full-time control rooms to manage traffic.

MyCity includes live map views of network routes showing journey time with in-depth reporting from millions of data points which provides unsurpassed visibility of the transport network performance.

MyCity also provides live CCTV streaming from ONVIF cameras, complete with PTZ functions. Vehicle count and classification statistics for prescribed vehicle classes are supported by AI cameras for 19 different vehicle classes, including motorbikes, public transport and taxis.

The City of Wolverhampton also manages their legacy estate of VMS from different suppliers in addition to 30 new full matrix full colour VMS from SWARCO, taking the total number of VMS assets to approximately 70 including over 20 vehicle activated speed and hazard warning signs. Several newly installed signs mimic plate signs with car park locations, and display public information or current traffic information messages. There are several bespoke systems being managed by MyCity in Wolverhampton, including full colour VMS with speed radar functionality which interfaces with a vehicle detection system at a signalised junction. A separate VMS with speed radar has been linked to a BOF2 compliant ANPR camera to display bespoke messages and registration numbers.