1. ITE JOURNALITE JOURNALI N S T I T U T E O F T R A N S P O R T A T I O N E N G I N E E R SI N S T I T U T E O F T R A N S P O R T A T I O N E N G I N E E R S
JULY
2013
JULY
2013
Technology/Future
of Transportation

2. 16 ITE JOURNAL / JULY 2013
interview
The Next Generation of Traffic Survey Technology
Interview with Traffic Duco, Inc. President & CEO James Beeksma
I
TE member James Beeksma, presi-
dent and CEO of Traffic Duco, Inc.,
has applied his own field experience in
traffic engineering to develop a new web
service that is helping fellow profession-
als obtain accurate, timely, auditable, and
cost effective traffic survey information.
James recently discussed his efforts with
ITE Journal, explaining how his innova-
tion enables transportation engineers and
planners to obtain reliable information for
making important decisions that affect their
communities.
ITEJ: What is your background in traffic
engineering?
James: I’ve spent 15 years in traffic engineer-
ing in both the public and private sector,
with a focus on planning and operations.
ITEJ: How did the idea for Traffic Duco emerge?
James: Early in my career I did many traffic surveys. When you
are out surveying, you have plenty of time to think, and you
gain good perspective for opportunities to solve problems in
engineering.
I believe having people out in the field to conduct surveys is
the most accurate and reliable way to obtain data for engineer-
ing and planning. The issues in conducting traffic surveys that I
experienced were never about a person’s ability to press a button
when a car passes. About two years ago, I saw a great opportunity
to develop a technology that overcomes the true obstacles of
data collection and management, such as inadequate training,
complicated equipment setup, and lengthy data processing times.
“Duco” is Latin for “to count, to calculate, or to influence” with
the company name signifying our goal of becoming a valuable
information and technology resource to engineers and planners.
ITEJ: What can transportation professionals using your ser-
vice expect?
James: The Traffic Duco App for the iPhone and iPad makes
surveying very easy and accurate. Surveyors do not input any
setup information, and the App orients the device automatically
so it is impossible for them to be at the wrong location. The App
benefits from the advancements of readily available touchscreen
mobile technologies.
As great as the App is, it is only a small part of the overallTraf-
fic Duco solution and value. Our clients benefit the most from
wirelessly linking the App software to our data collection and man-
agement Internet web service. It is the first
system to manage the entire process of data
collection and manages traffic data from all
technologies. The web service dynamically
generates useful reports that are instantly
available after the survey. There is literarily
no processing time. Even surveys from mul-
tiple surveyors are instantly merged. This
saves our clients valuable time processing
data and completing their analysis.
Another important feature of the ser-
vice is that it makes surveys using people
auditable. We can guarantee to our clients
that they are receiving the surveyor’s true
recordings. We provide the exact location
of the surveyor throughout the survey using
GPS, as well as the exact time the survey
recordings were made.The service makes it
practically impossible to fake survey results.
Clients also have the only copy of the data; there is no opportu-
nity to modify, copy, or redistribute it without their permission.
ITEJ: How is Traffic Duco making a difference in traffic
engineering?
James: We created an opportunity for the industry to easily share
information and we offer readily available tools to collect traffic
data. We are excited about the industry benefits that sharing both
private and public sector data could achieve. We are initiating this
sharing by providing a data management system that is affordable
to any organization and offering monetary incentives to share
data. You can upload all traffic data and analysis, store, and share
information privately, or sell it to other users. Our Google-based
data management plans start as low as $25 per month.
We hope that the industry actively promotes and adopts au-
ditable data collection technologies, like Traffic Duco. Since all
of the industry’s decisions are based on this data collection, our
profession and communities need reliable information created
by this type of solution.
ITEJ:What types of partnerships are you establishing through
Traffic Duco?
James: We are actively seeking opportunities to partner with as-
sociations like ITE, who can use our technology for the good of
the industry. Our new trip and parking generation survey func-
tionality creates an opportunity for Traffic Duco users to submit
reliable and auditable surveys with a simple click of a button. We
are working on an ITE credit incentive plan to submit this trip
and parking survey information through Traffic Duco.

3. ITE JOURNAL / JULY 2013 17
ITEJ: Are there any other benefits you are providing through
your technology that are new to the industry?
James: A great initiative we have is offering our service com-
plimentary to colleges and universities for projects related to
student development and non-commissioned research projects.
Since every other student seems to have an iPhone, it creates an
opportunity to have time for more meaningful research, as the
service enables universities to focus more on data analysis since
the data processing is being done for them automatically.
We’ve also made starting, managing, and expanding a data col-
lection business easy and affordable. By using our online surveyor
training program and hiring surveyors with iPhones or iPads, you
can compete effectively in any market quickly with very little capital.
Our surveyor management functions make it easy to manage large
surveyor teams, creating a great opportunity for entrepreneurs.
James Beeksma, B.Comm., CET, is president and CEO of Traffic
Duco Inc. He is a graduate of Mohawk College’s Highway andTraffic
Engineering program and holds a bachelor of commerce degree in
management & enterprise development from Ryerson University. He
is a true entrepreneur with 20 years of experiences ranging from traffic
engineering to finance and business development. His wife and two
daughters are his pride and joy. For more information about Traffic
Duco, visit www.trafficduco.com.
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