Your window on local traffic

Traffic data for better streets.
Get high quality, continuous and real-time data, in collaboration with local citizens.

What is Telraam?

Telraam is your citizen-powered solution for collecting multi-modal traffic data with a purpose-built, affordable, and user-friendly device.

Our Telraam sensor continuously monitors a street from a citizen’s window, providing crucial data on various modes of transport, including motorised vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians, and more. Telraam networks also create the opportunity for dialogue between traffic planners, local authorities and their most affected communities: the citizens who live on - and use - these streets, by turning traffic counting into an open and accessible citizen science project.

Whether you are a local resident, a campaigner, an employee of a public or private organisation, or work for a government agency, a Telraam project delivers reliable data to help you achieve your goals.

Rat running. School runs. Road safety. Air pollution. Active Travel. Complex issues require quantitative traffic data. How to get that?

Client

Telraam is your citizen science solution. We provide a user friendly web based tool, best practices for recruiting and an award winning api.

Telraam

Inform the debate

Complex issues require quantitative traffic data to enhance our understanding and to find better solutions.

Gathering data to get a full picture of transport, leisure, and social activity for a network of streets is often impossible or very expensive with traditional tools like pneumatic tubes or manual counts.

Telraam sensors and networks provide a solution for citizens and their local representatives.

Traffic data for better streets

Telraam creates custom networks of sensors that leverage the knowledge and access of local residents, using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to deliver consistent, timely, quality data for more efficient and effective infrastructure, traffic flow and traffic management plans.

Involving citizens and publishing open data brings researchers and policy makers into contact with local residents, creating the potential for interaction, dialogue, co-creation, and other forms of participation.

Speak with us today about a Telraam count in your street

"By analysing the V85 standard, we get an indication of the best times for performing speed checks. These checks are used to achieve a change in the behaviour of the road users."

— Lotte Demeestere

Mobility expert for the city of Kortrijk

"Telraam provides not only insights through data but also understanding through interaction with residents, and the local and provincial governments."

— David Tailleur

Neighbourhood police team-coach, Lubbeek

How does the Telraam S2 device work?

Telraam S2 is our newest device. It counts and classifies road users, providing anonymous, aggregate data per traffic mode and per direction with a 15 minute resolution. In addition, it derives an estimated speed distribution (and the V85 speed) for cars.

Telraam S2 uses specially-trained AI and a proprietary tracking algorithm to detect, classify, and count road users with high precision in a wide range of typical street environments. Citizens place a Telraam sensor in their window, and the data that is collected can be shared with local authorities and policy makers as Open Data.

Telraam devices can be set up by citizens on their individual streets, or by local campaign groups and government authorities who fund citizen networks to gather local traffic data.

Read more about the S2 device

What does a Telraam S2 device do?

The Telraam S2 is a custom device that sits in your window. Once connected, you don’t need to do anything, just watch the counts as they happen.

The Telraam S2 has a low resolution camera (for privacy), an AI chip for detecting and categorising street users, and a built in mobile data connection that relays aggregated, anonymous data to the Telraam servers. The device simply needs to be powered and mounted on the inside of an upper-floor window with an unobstructed view over the street.

How can I get Telraam devices on the streets near me?

You can choose to host an individual device on your street, or work with the local authority or a campaign group to establish a wider network for a whole groups of streets.

You can read more below on Telraam's methodology and why Citizen Science is so unique and valuable, but it only works when you get involved.

Telraam provides the tools so motivated individuals can monitor their own street, but can also work together in a network to empower whole communities to work together.

Read all about our Network subscription and tools and see how you could build your own.

Use Cases

Traffic models

Use Telraam to calibrate traffic models and provide insights into traffic volumes at a local level.

Check out Traffic scout for a ready-made application built on top our api.

Safer Streets

The main causes of danger are motor vehicles, so it stands to reason that we need to measure how these use the street, in terms of modal share, volume and speed.
Read more

Clean Air

Maps of air quality can highlight a link between poor air quality and high traffic levels, but to reduce car journeys you need to know how many cars are actually using the road, and when.
Read more

School Streets

Arriving and leaving a school should be a safe, healthy and enjoyable experience for children, parents and local residents. Measure the implementation and success
Read more

Want to make your view count?

Is your street too busy, marred by cars and vans driving too fast? Do people want to walk, cycle, and play more in the street, but consider it unsafe?

Heavy traffic, especially on residential streets designed only for local traffic, can cause residents to question traffic flows as they impact livability.

Traffic counting in itself is not the solution, but it can be a powerful, quantitative tool in capable hands, forming a solid basis for meaningful discussions and reforms.

Forward-thinking local authorities are finding ways to address these social issues, to make our communities cleaner, safer, and healthier, but to do this they need supporting data.

That is why Telraam works with citizens and mobility professionals together: to gather the data needed to make the streets a better place.

Read about our Devices, our Data and our Network solutions and see how you could get involved.

The Telraam Methodology

Telraam offers purpose-built, affordable, artificial intelligence driven traffic counting sensors, a network-management framework, and a complete architecture for storing, analysing, visualising, and distributing traffic data. In this setup the Telraam sensors are hosted by citizen scientists, establishing a valuable bridge between their neighbourhoods, local authorities, and mobility professionals. This connection, and the open access to the collected traffic data, democratises local traffic planning, and opens up new opportunities for all involved parties.

The Telraam approach:

Citizens collect traffic data from their windows using Telraam sensors. These typically keep counting continuously over a longer period of time (usually 12 months), sending data every 15 minutes (during daylight hours).

Mobility professionals and local authorities analyse the data to understand the local traffic and propose solutions to specific issues

Citizens and professionals work together to review the data and co-design ways to implement better traffic management plans

Telraam sensors can be used further to monitor, evaluate, and adjust the implemented changes

Why Citizen Science?

Cost-effective

Citizen science projects can be a cost-effective way for local authorities to gather data and gain insights into traffic issues in their community. No need for expensive street installations to protect the security of street users and the counting devices.

Local knowledge

Citizen scientists are residents of the community in which they are collecting data, which means they have the local knowledge and perspectives that can be valuable in understanding local issues and developing locally applicable solutions.

Engaging the community

Citizen science projects can be a way to engage members of the community in the decision-making process and to get them more invested in finding solutions to the local challenges.

Broader impact

By involving citizens in the data-gathering process, local authorities can also create a greater sense of ownership and buy-in for solutions that are developed as a result of these collaborations, which will lead to more widespread adoption and a greater positive impact and reception in the community.

What does Telraam Count?

Telraam sensors count road users classified into various categories.

The data that is displayed on the Telraam website (and made available via the Telraam API) includes four categories.

The new Telraam S2 device is capable of differentiating between an even broader set of road user. These new classes are available to Data subscribers on the website reports and via the API.

V1 data categories	S2 data categories
Pedestrians	Pedestrians Strollers
Two-wheelers	Bicycles Motorbikes
Cars	Cars
Heavy vehicles	Vans Trucks Buses Trailers Tractors

How to start counting?

Buy a device

As an individual citizen you can buy your own Telraam device and count traffic in your street on your own via the Telraam platform.

Visit our shop

Join a network

Alternatively, join one of the many networks already counting or recruiting.

Browse the network list

Start a network

No existing networks in your area, or need to decide where to collect traffic data?

Start and manage your own network

Do not hesitate to drop us a message. We love to hear from you.

Get in touch