Customer Stories

How City of Niterói, Brazil Used 56,000 Traffic Events to Improve Urban Mobility Decisions 

Author: Jose Magno

This customer story is co-authored by Patricia Avelar 

Overview 

Since 2022, the City of Niterói in Brazil has intentionally invested in using trusted data to guide public-sector decision-making. With the creation of its Data Office, the city formalized how data is used across departments to improve coordination, visibility, and accountability. 

To support this approach, Niterói defined its first government data lake, treating data as a shared asset for the city. Working with us and using Microsoft Fabric, the city built a modern data platform and started with Urban Mobility, the area with the most immediate impact on citizens’ daily lives. 

The Challenge 

The city’s main challenge was that critical data lived in many systems and was not connected. Teams could not see a complete or historical view of what was happening across the city. 

This was especially true for urban mobility. Traffic, weather, accidents, and events were visible only in real time and not stored for later analysis. 

Without history, the city could not identify recurring congestion, measure what worked, or plan preventive actions. 

Urban mobility made this challenge even more urgent. Data related to traffic, weather, accidents, flooding, and city events was mostly real-time and temporary. Once the moment passed, the data was gone. Without historical records, the city could not: 

• Identify recurring traffic issues. 

• Measure the impact of operational actions. 

• Plan preventive or long-term improvements. 

At its core, this was not just a technology issue. It was a strategic issue: how to turn large amounts of scattered, short-lived data into useful insights that could improve traffic flow, reduce congestion, and give time back to citizens. 

The Solution 

To address this challenge, Niterói built a centralized data platform using Microsoft Fabric, with support from us. 

Urban Mobility was the first focus. The platform automatically integrates near real-time data, including: 

• Traffic data from the Waze API, updated every five minutes. 

• Rainfall data. 

• Road operation data. 

The solution uses a Medallion architecture (Bronze, Silver, Gold) in OneLake. This approach allows the city to: 

• Collect raw data. 

• Clean and enrich it. 

• Combine multiple data sources. 

• Store the information for both real-time and historical analysis. 

We played a key role by designing data platform architecture, structuring the project, and accelerating the proof of concept.  

Why We Were Selected 

We have a strong proven track record helping commercial and government clients bring structure to data living in different systems. In working with the city teams, we walked through how that data can be connected, securely managed, and turned into a reliable foundation for faster, more informed decisions across teams and stakeholders. 

Our role was to help transform a large volume of dispersed data into intelligence for public management. The partnership with the City of Niterói shows how a platform designed from the start enables rapid value generation, with governance, security, and a solid foundation for future evolution. 

---

José Carlos Magno, Solution Sales, Beyondsoft 

The Result 

In just three weeks, the city turned temporary traffic data into historical insights that teams could analyze and act on. Data that once disappeared in real time could now be reviewed, compared, and used to identify patterns. The city gained a practical foundation or data-driven traffic decisions. 

The greatest benefit for citizens is time. Today, people lose lifetime hours in traffic. With the consolidation and analysis of this information, we can identify patterns that were previously invisible and support more efficient decisions in urban mobility operations. 

---

Ricardo Braz, Coordinator of the City of Niterói Data Office. 

Summary of Key Results 

• Analyzed 56,000 traffic events in three weeks, including congestion, accidents, flooding, and road incidents to improve visibility into urban mobility decision-making. 

• Created historical records for data that was previously unavailable after the moment passed. 

• Connected traffic, weather, and city events in one view. 

• Identified recurring congestion in areas without traffic agents or cameras. 

• Generated new insights within two months to support better decisions. 

Next Steps

If your company handles volumes of data and needs to redesign data platform architecture and accelerate proof of concept, we can help. Get in touch with us.