Traffic Radio as a Precursor to Smart Travel Planning Systems: The Challenge of Organizing “Collective Intelligence”

Abstract

This paper depicts how a Swedish radio station organized a means of real-time information management to report on local traffic conditions long before the common use of the Internet. Drawing on a history of the Stockholm traffic radio staff the study examines particular conditions for organizing a service that may inform next generations of smart travel planning systems. The author notes how a vision of involving the public together with the use of increasingly mobile and interconnected communication devices provided the service with an opportunity for harnessing collective intelligence. The study highlights critical success factors and barriers for organizing collective intelligence and the importance they may have had for providing a real-time information service to the public.