From Fragmentation to Function: Building Your City's Curb Source of Truth
In most cities, the curb is the most contested space on the street. It's where mobility meets delivery, commerce meets community, and regulation meets reality. And yet, despite its central importance, the data that governs the curb is often scattered across spreadsheets, physical city documents, GIS files, and siloed systems.
When a parking manager, administrative official, and transportation planner each open different documents to understand curbside rules on the same block, the result isn’t just confusion—it’s inefficiency, delayed implementation, and missed opportunities to serve the public better.
To move forward, cities need to establish a single, authoritative source of truth for curb data—a digital inventory of how curb space is allocated and regulated that can be shared, updated, and trusted across departments.
Why a Source of Truth Matters
A “source of truth” is a central, reliable system where data lives, changes are tracked, and all users can access the most current information. In the context of curb management, it means that everyone—across planning, enforcement, permitting, and policy—can reference the same rules and understand the same conditions for any given curb segment.
This is not a new concept. Finance departments rely on enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools. Sales teams thrive with customer relationship management (CRM) systems. It’s time for city transportation departments to have their equivalent: a centralized, dynamic platform that makes curb data work for everyone. This centralized data becomes even more powerful when shared according to open data standards, enabling external partners to easily access and leverage it.
The Hidden Cost of Fragmented Curb Data
When curb data is fragmented or outdated, cities feel the impact in very real ways:
Conflicting regulations slow down enforcement and create confusion for residents and businesses.
Redundant data entry across departments leads to wasted staff time and increased risk of errors.
Delayed policy rollouts—like new micromobility zones, delivery loading areas, or EV charging stations—miss critical timing windows because implementation teams aren’t aligned.
GIS teams are burdened with version control headaches and complex file-sharing requests that stall progress.
Operators and vendors struggle to comply with rules they can’t access programmatically.
All of this amounts to operational drag at a time when cities are expected to respond quickly to evolving mobility, environmental, and economic needs.
A Digital Curb Inventory: What It Is and Why It Works
At the core of a curb source of truth is a digital inventory—a living, map-based database that captures not only the physical layout of the curb but also the regulations that govern it. This includes:
Parking zones and rules (e.g., time limits, pricing, restrictions)
Loading zones, bike lanes, and micromobility parking areas
Temporal rules (e.g., weekday rush hour restrictions)
Policy overlays and pilot program data
Unlike a static map or PDF, a digital curb inventory is designed to evolve. When policies change or new programs are introduced, updates are reflected in real time. And with the right tools—and a commitment to open data standards like the Curb Data Specification (CDS)—these updates can be broadcast via API to other city systems, shared with commercial operators, or visualized in dashboards for strategic decision-making.
Cities across the U.S. and Europe are increasingly adopting these standards as part of broader curb modernization efforts, recognizing that interoperability is essential to building adaptive, future-ready transportation networks
Cross-Departmental Benefits: One Platform, Many Users
The power of a curb source of truth lies in how it breaks down silos and brings teams together around a shared understanding:
Transportation Planners gain the confidence to launch and monitor new programs knowing they align with current regulations.
Parking Teams can enforce rules more accurately and communicate changes clearly with the public.
GIS Teams save time and ensure data integrity by referencing one system, not six.
Mobility Managers can collaborate more effectively with micromobility operators and delivery services using structured, programmatic data.
City Leaders and Staff gain a clearer picture of how their policies play out across the urban landscape, fueling better decisions and outcomes.
When all departments speak the same curb language, cities function more cohesively and deliver better service to the communities they serve.
Helping Cities Build Their Curb Source of Truth
At Populus, we partner with cities to make this vision a reality. Our Curb Manager: Curb Regulations platform empowers public agencies to digitize, manage, and update curb regulations in a central, cloud-based environment.
In cities like Miami and New York, our platform serves as the digital backbone of their curb strategy. Some cities use Populus as the primary system of record, editing and publishing curb regulations directly. Others integrate Populus with existing asset management tools to automatically refresh and synchronize curb data nightly. In both models, city staff are empowered with intuitive tools, actionable insights, and a shared source of truth that supports both planning and operations.
Getting to the Promised Land
Managing curbs today requires more than signs and spreadsheets. It requires cities to rethink their data infrastructure—starting with the curb. By establishing a single source of truth, cities can transition from reactive problem-solving to proactive, policy-driven management.
The result? Faster coordination, smarter decision-making, and more resilient urban mobility systems.
If your city is ready to move from fragmentation to function, let's talk.