Crowdsource location app Traffic Lite hits Nigeria’s streets

New community-based app Traffic Lite by Nigerian software developer Panthelope Technologies has been launched in an attempt too curb Lagos’ notorious traffic.

Traffic Lite is said to crowdsource real-time information from its users. This means that the more people using it, the more accurate the information will be.

Panthelope is responsible for Point of Sale apps Kollect and Uxie. Company founder Ikenna Iloeje hopes the app will enable people to help each other by just going about their usual business.

He explains:

By just driving or walking around with the app running passively on their phone they are immensely contributing to traffic and other road data, but they can also take a more active role by sharing road reports on accidents, traps, or any other hazards along the way, helping to give other users in the area a ‘heads-up’ about what’s to come.

Of course, the app can also be used by fleet management companies to monitor routes and movement of their vehicles.

“By connecting drivers, passengers and pedestrians to one another, we help people create local driving communities that work together to improve the quality of everyone’s daily driving,” Iloeje tells Nigeria Communications Week. “That might mean helping them avoid the frustration of sitting in traffic, cluing them in on traps or shaving five minutes off of their regular commute by showing them new alternative routes they never even knew about.”

Read more: TrafficButter to launch crowdsourcing app to help solve Nigeria’s road issues

The app, which is currently available on Google Play, Blackberry World and iTunes, isn’t the first real-time crowdsourcing tool Nigeria has seen. At the beginning of this year TrafficButter launched a similar community-driven app after seeing massive traction on its traffic reporting Twitter account.