Make sure data is accessible and useful, says Sayegh

screen shot of Dr. Amir Sayegh during webinar
GeoTab’s Dr. Amir Sayegh delivers online UT-ITE seminar, September 25, 2020

From Geotab’s Big Data group, Amir Sayegh, PhD, presented “Leveraging Telematics Data for Intelligent Transportation Systems” on September 25, 2020.

Telematics is a method of monitoring an asset (car, truck, heavy equipment, or even ship) by using GPS and onboard diagnostics to record movements on a computerized map. (Source: GeoTab blog post January 18, 2008)

Sayegh says the goal of leveraging telematics is to track vehicles for improving safety, productivity, fuel economy, reducing costs, and asset optimization.

Geotab produces Geotab GO devices which collect vehicle data such as acceleration, turning, braking, windshield wiper activation, and temperature for fleet management. Placing these devices in vehicles creates “sensors on wheels” which collect raw data that can enable insights about the environment like road condition, traffic, and weather.

Sayegh says that raw data act as proxies for both the immediate and larger, surrounding environment. For example, windshield wiper activation may indicate rain, or frequent braking in an intersection may suggest heavy traffic. Meanwhile, tracking movement over a region could be a proxy for the economy; in relation to economic activity affected by COVID-19, increased traffic in a province may indicate economic recovery. These insights can help people at all levels, from city planners thinking about which roads to electrify for electric cars to regular drivers who want the quickest routes. These insights can also make safer cities by predicting dangerous driving, extreme local weather, and traffic patterns.  These analytics, powered by AI and machine learning in partnership with traffic experts, transform the raw data into human-centric insights for decision making.

In closing, Sayegh emphasizes the importance of working with subject matter experts to collect data to ensure it is useful, accessible and of practical use.

This seminar was presented by the University of Toronto ITE student chapter.

Watch videorecording of Amir Sayegh’s presentation “Leveraging Telematics Data for Intelligent Transportation Systems” on September 25, 2020 on the University of Toronto IT Student Chapter YouTube channel.

head shot of Amir Sayegh
Dr. Amir Sayegh

Dr. Amir Sayegh is a Senior Data Enablement Manager with the Data and Analytics team at Geotab, working with clients and partners to build out minimum viable products that use big data.  Prior to this, Amir was with TELUS and Deloitte. Amir has a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from McMaster University and is an adjunct professor with the University of Western Ontario. Amir’s passion lies at the intersection of technology, business, and human-centric innovation.