The winter season in Slovakia complicates the traffic flow on the roads every year. Deteriorated road conditions have been resolved with reactive road maintenance so far, which was expensive and unsustainable in the long term. Searching an effective solution, we teamed up with the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMÚ) and developed low-cost IoT weather stations, thanks to which we are able to collect more detailed data and thus more accurately predict the need for road maintenance. Microsoft Azure technology plays a big role in this success, thanks to which we can store data in the cloud and evaluate it in detail.
Every year during the winter, Slovak cities and regions struggle with variable weather conditions on the roads. They often complicate the flow and safety of road traffic. So, we joined together with SHMÚ and delivered affordable weather stations that efficiently assist with managing road maintenance.
“Today, governments are moving from reactive maintenance to preventive measures before conditions arise. This leads to significant savings and environmental benefits. For example, you can save up to two thirds of salt by salting before snowfall. To do this, authorities need reliable forecasts and information on road temperatures,” explains Ondrej Svacina, our Business Development Manager & Senior Consultant.
Our weather stations monitor a variety of variables such as surface temperature, air humidity and more. This data is processed and stored in the cloud and interpreted using Microsoft Azure technologies.
Road dispatchers had to rely solely on citywide general weather forecasts, which were unreliable in regions with a variety of meteorological conditions. With IoT weather stations, they can do more localized and targeted salting instead of costly city-wide interventions. After launching our solution, the number of traffic accidents decreased by 28% and the consumption of road salt decreased fourfold.