The CScout Trends in Japan blog has a really interesting look inside the network operating center for Tokyo Traffic Control, which allows a small staff to monitor traffic conditions in Tokyo, which is the world's most-populated city with 32 million residents. The system compiles information from cameras, helicopters, police, citizen reports, and over 17,000 vehicle detectors all around the city. All that data comes together in huge displays and banks of monitors inside the Tokyo traffic NOC, allowing staff to track problems at 1,000 intersections and more than 15,000 traffic signals in the city. According to CScout, NOC staffers work 24 hour shifts. The tour doesn't include the vending machines, but I'm betting it's well stocked with Mountain Dew.
