Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MobiDataLab (Labs for prototyping future Mobility Data sharing cloud solutions)
Reporting period: 2022-08-01 to 2024-01-31
New mobility services and new modes of transport lead to an increased production of mobility data, at a higher pace and in various forms. At the same time, the concern of disintermediation from customers makes relations difficult between public transport operators and digital companies seeking to exploit their real-time data to develop and sell innovative solutions. The lack of data sharing, particularly in the transport sector, is today a reality. However data sharing is a major strategic issue for the society, because it brings very important benefits for the transport stakeholders and users (increased transport user satisfaction, improved transport service performance, new business opportunities and growth perspectives, etc.) The collection and aggregation of new sources of data from various producers has therefore become a necessity, with data sharing principles at its heart.
The overall objective of MobiDataLab was to propose to the mobility stakeholders (transport organising authorities, operators, industry, innovators) a replicable methodology and sustainable tools that foster the development of a data sharing culture in Europe and beyond.
MobiDataLab was based on a continuous co-development of knowledge and of technical solutions for data sharing with high involvement of all data producers and consumers in the transport and mobility landscape. This was put in action through problem-solving oriented Labs, the collection and analysis of advice and recommendations of experts and supporting cities/regions/clusters/associations aided by the incremental construction of a cross-thematic knowledge base and of a cloud-based service platform, which federated access and usage of data sharing resources.
MobiDataLab successfully managed to:
- present mobility data providers with recommendations on the way to improve the findability, accessibility, interoperability and usability of their data;
- encourage the reuse of these data and foster users’ trust in the data, contributing to the development and promotion of open tools to the community of innovators;
- bring together mobility stakeholders (both data providers and data consumers) to find innovative solutions to concrete problems, using open data as a tool in so-called x-athons, organised in several cities in Europe.
The overall objective of MobiDataLab was to propose to the mobility stakeholders (transport organising authorities, operators, industry, innovators) a replicable methodology and sustainable tools that foster the development of a data sharing culture in Europe and beyond.
MobiDataLab was based on a continuous co-development of knowledge and of technical solutions for data sharing with high involvement of all data producers and consumers in the transport and mobility landscape. This was put in action through problem-solving oriented Labs, the collection and analysis of advice and recommendations of experts and supporting cities/regions/clusters/associations aided by the incremental construction of a cross-thematic knowledge base and of a cloud-based service platform, which federated access and usage of data sharing resources.
MobiDataLab successfully managed to:
- present mobility data providers with recommendations on the way to improve the findability, accessibility, interoperability and usability of their data;
- encourage the reuse of these data and foster users’ trust in the data, contributing to the development and promotion of open tools to the community of innovators;
- bring together mobility stakeholders (both data providers and data consumers) to find innovative solutions to concrete problems, using open data as a tool in so-called x-athons, organised in several cities in Europe.
The following results were achieved:
- Project Management (WP1): Milestones and tasks were completed on time, the deliverables were completed, with no major deviations.
- Open Knowledge Base (WP2): Requirements for data privacy and security were defined; An exhaustive panorama of the different standards is available; the different cloud solutions for transport data sharing are evaluated. European legal and regulatory mechanisms that support mobility data sharing have been compared, and data governance mechanisms that affect data transactions/contracts have been assessed. During the second period, the description of the use cases was updated to include the first challenges defined with the reference group of municipalities, i.e. the challenge providers from the hackathons.
- New Data sharing services and Business models (WP3): The project addressed in parallel the demand side of the current market and the current market supply of products and services. Based on this market analysis, the project indentified the main gaps and possible innovations that a Transport Cloud shall address in the future. The so called “Future Transport Cloud” was further analysed, regarding the main business models and legal&governance structures that will widen its adoption. Furthermore, several approaches to evaluate data sharing practices were identified and a methodology to be implemented in the MobiDataLab Living Labs was defined.
- Transport Cloud (WP4): An operational version of the Transport Cloud prototype has been designed and a dedicated cloud infrastructure has been set up, with a reference data catalogue containing 100k+ datasets. Data access and service cataloguing have been studied and have shown how to reference proven open source solutions from several service providers, for example journey planner APIs and routing services. Innovative data enrichment processors (geographical and semantic) have been developed. A series of anonymisation mechanisms to protect historical mobility data has been implemented. During the second period, this work culminated in the second version of the platform, which was successfully used by participants in the living and virtual laboratories (WP5).
- Living and Virtual Labs (WP5): The virtual laboratory has been defined, including the various functionalities that support the discussion and promotion of solutions throughout their lifecycle, from challenge to idea to prototype. In addition, the foundations were laid for the development of the detailed implementation plan for the living labs, and a Plan-Do-Check-Act approach was put in place. The second period was the culmination of WP5 activities, as the planning, execution and evaluation phases of each Living Lab iteration (Datathon, Hackathon and Codagon) were carried out.
- Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation (WP6): The MobiDataLab website is available. Newsletters were sent out. Articles and papers were published in scientific journals and transport magazines by MobiDataLab researchers. A communication and dissemination plan identified the target groups for dissemination activities. The project partners have undertaken several actions to create further synergies with other initiatives funded by the European Commission. An overview of the exploitation strategy has also been provided, as well as the key activities through which the MobiDataLab consortium will maximise the benefits and impact of the research results.
- Project Management (WP1): Milestones and tasks were completed on time, the deliverables were completed, with no major deviations.
- Open Knowledge Base (WP2): Requirements for data privacy and security were defined; An exhaustive panorama of the different standards is available; the different cloud solutions for transport data sharing are evaluated. European legal and regulatory mechanisms that support mobility data sharing have been compared, and data governance mechanisms that affect data transactions/contracts have been assessed. During the second period, the description of the use cases was updated to include the first challenges defined with the reference group of municipalities, i.e. the challenge providers from the hackathons.
- New Data sharing services and Business models (WP3): The project addressed in parallel the demand side of the current market and the current market supply of products and services. Based on this market analysis, the project indentified the main gaps and possible innovations that a Transport Cloud shall address in the future. The so called “Future Transport Cloud” was further analysed, regarding the main business models and legal&governance structures that will widen its adoption. Furthermore, several approaches to evaluate data sharing practices were identified and a methodology to be implemented in the MobiDataLab Living Labs was defined.
- Transport Cloud (WP4): An operational version of the Transport Cloud prototype has been designed and a dedicated cloud infrastructure has been set up, with a reference data catalogue containing 100k+ datasets. Data access and service cataloguing have been studied and have shown how to reference proven open source solutions from several service providers, for example journey planner APIs and routing services. Innovative data enrichment processors (geographical and semantic) have been developed. A series of anonymisation mechanisms to protect historical mobility data has been implemented. During the second period, this work culminated in the second version of the platform, which was successfully used by participants in the living and virtual laboratories (WP5).
- Living and Virtual Labs (WP5): The virtual laboratory has been defined, including the various functionalities that support the discussion and promotion of solutions throughout their lifecycle, from challenge to idea to prototype. In addition, the foundations were laid for the development of the detailed implementation plan for the living labs, and a Plan-Do-Check-Act approach was put in place. The second period was the culmination of WP5 activities, as the planning, execution and evaluation phases of each Living Lab iteration (Datathon, Hackathon and Codagon) were carried out.
- Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation (WP6): The MobiDataLab website is available. Newsletters were sent out. Articles and papers were published in scientific journals and transport magazines by MobiDataLab researchers. A communication and dissemination plan identified the target groups for dissemination activities. The project partners have undertaken several actions to create further synergies with other initiatives funded by the European Commission. An overview of the exploitation strategy has also been provided, as well as the key activities through which the MobiDataLab consortium will maximise the benefits and impact of the research results.
MobiDataLab has progressed beyond the state-of-the-art on three main levels:
- Knowledge on mobility data sharing: The project has identified new variables, requirements and standards necessary for the implementation of data sharing mechanisms in the transport sector. More specifically, it has built up a legal and regulatory knowledge base, which can be exploited for use cases but also as a regulatory source for future data sharing obligations..
- Improvement of the findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of mobility data : The transport cloud prototype that has been developed demonstrates the practical value of sharing mobility data in different local contexts. This platform integrates a state-of-the-art open data catalogue that references all transport data and metadata in a given area. The platform functions as an aggregator where any stakeholder can place its data for use in agile exchanges. The MobiDataLab transport cloud also includes processors for enriching data geographically and semantically.
- Improvement of the data sharing culture : The project has created a virtual lab to support and facilitate collaboration between transport stakeholders, organisations and individuals. The virtual lab contains various functionalities that encourage the discussion and promotion of solutions throughout their lifecycle, from challenge to idea to prototype. With the MobiDataLab virtual lab, it is now possible for mobility stakeholders to get in touch with a community of innovators, propose challenges to them, and co-create solutions to meet those challenges.
- Knowledge on mobility data sharing: The project has identified new variables, requirements and standards necessary for the implementation of data sharing mechanisms in the transport sector. More specifically, it has built up a legal and regulatory knowledge base, which can be exploited for use cases but also as a regulatory source for future data sharing obligations..
- Improvement of the findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of mobility data : The transport cloud prototype that has been developed demonstrates the practical value of sharing mobility data in different local contexts. This platform integrates a state-of-the-art open data catalogue that references all transport data and metadata in a given area. The platform functions as an aggregator where any stakeholder can place its data for use in agile exchanges. The MobiDataLab transport cloud also includes processors for enriching data geographically and semantically.
- Improvement of the data sharing culture : The project has created a virtual lab to support and facilitate collaboration between transport stakeholders, organisations and individuals. The virtual lab contains various functionalities that encourage the discussion and promotion of solutions throughout their lifecycle, from challenge to idea to prototype. With the MobiDataLab virtual lab, it is now possible for mobility stakeholders to get in touch with a community of innovators, propose challenges to them, and co-create solutions to meet those challenges.