We have a world first in our country. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management recently announced on their news page that the Netherlands is the first country in the world to receive a digital overview of road signs this week. The data from the traffic signs are stored digitally via the National Road Traffic Data Database (NDW) and made available free of charge as open data for, for example, road authorities and providers of information services.
The NDW is specialized in the field of data collection of road traffic data. In the N.D.W. 19 authorities are collaborating on the collection, storage and distribution of road traffic data. The partners in NDW are all provinces, Rijkswaterstaat, Metropolitan Region Rotterdam The Hague, Transport Region Amsterdam and the four large municipalities.
By processing all information from these traffic signs in navigation systems and traffic apps, road users can get up-to-date and correct information about traffic situations (such as road works, events, etc.) on their respective route. From now on, the data from the traffic signs along main roads and provincial roads and the data from the traffic signs in 130 largest municipalities in our country will be collected and made available. The data of the rest of the road signs of smaller municipalities in our country will follow later, probably after the summer.
HR Group, specialized in traffic objects in public space, collects the data and keeps the information up-to-date for the next two years and perhaps longer. This project will benefit road safety, in particular the current and correct information that can be given to road users about applicable speed limits, loading and unloading points, overtaking bans, parking options, road narrowing, etc. can contribute to making it safer on the roads.
