Building the AI Foundation for Smarter Traffic Management in Auckland

Auckland Transport (AT), the council-controlled organisation responsible for managing transportation across Auckland since 2010, keeps people and goods moving efficiently across the city's transport network. That gets harder as multimodal traffic grows and traffic light systems along key corridors need faster, smarter updates.

The challenge wasn't a lack of data; it was that AT's data lived in disparate systems, making it difficult to bring next-generation geospatial and AI/ML tools to bear on day-to-day network performance. Without a consolidated foundation, even simple questions about traffic flow across corridors took more effort than they should have.

Designing a Digital Twin built for what comes next

NGIS partnered with Auckland Transport to design and deliver Phase 1 of the solution the "AI Foundation" using Google Cloud and TraceMarkTM Flow. This phase focused on three things: consolidating AT's data sources, building geo-visualisation into a single working view, and setting up the AI/ML enablement needed for future traffic optimisation.

The result is a working, scalable, cloud-based Digital Twin of Auckland's transport network. AT's data scientists now have a consolidated platform for visualisation and insight, backed by an AI foundation ready to work with cloud-based models rather than a patchwork of disconnected data stores.

From real-time visibility to smarter traffic lights

With the foundation in place, AT can already see real-time traffic data visualised across its busiest corridors a meaningful step up in day-to-day congestion management and network planning. But the bigger shift is what this foundation unlocks next: the platform is built to support AT in optimising traffic light sequencing itself, using AI to actively ease congestion rather than just report on it.

That's the throughline of this project solving today's visibility problem while deliberately building toward tomorrow's smart traffic light optimisation, on a platform that's ready to scale as AT's needs grow.