Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MobiDataLab (Labs for prototyping future Mobility Data sharing cloud solutions)
Período documentado: 2021-02-01 hasta 2022-07-31
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 is 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 is 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 will be 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 will federate access and usage of data sharing resources. MobiDataLab leverages on the legal, technological and economic opportunities to:
- present mobility data providers with recommendations on how to improve the quality, accessibility and usability of their data - how to describe them, how to store them safely and securely, how to make them available, easy to find, and understandable;
- 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.
The overall objective of MobiDataLab is 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 is 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 will be 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 will federate access and usage of data sharing resources. MobiDataLab leverages on the legal, technological and economic opportunities to:
- present mobility data providers with recommendations on how to improve the quality, accessibility and usability of their data - how to describe them, how to store them safely and securely, how to make them available, easy to find, and understandable;
- 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 the first 18 months of the project, the following results were achieved by the MobiDataLab consortium:
- Project Management (WP1): The project is on track, Milestones and tasks were completed on time, the 24 deliverables due in the first period 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 for sharing both static and real-time data is available; the different cloud solutions/frameworks that can be used for transport data sharing are evaluated through a SWOT analysis; a first set of data sharing use cases for both operations and research is described. A second set of deliverables related to legal and governance aspects was also submitted. More specifically European legal and regulatory mechanisms that foster the sharing of mobility data were compared and data governance mechanisms that affect data transactions/contracts were assessed.
- 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): A first version of the Transport Cloud prototype was designed and a dedicated cloud infrastructure was set up. A preliminary version of the reference data catalogue was implemented. Access to data and cataloguing of services was investigated, and showed how to reference proven open source solutions from several service providers, e.g. journey planner APIs and routing services. Innovative data enrichment processors (geographical and semantic) were developed. A suite of anonymization mechanisms for the protection of historical mobility data was implemented.
- Living and Virtual Labs (WP5): The first version of the Virtual Lab was defined, including various functionalities that support discussion and promotion of solutions throughout their inception life cycle, from challenge to idea and prototype. In addition, foundations were laid for the development of the detailed execution plan of the Living Labs, and a Plan-Do-Check-Act approach elicited. Until M18 the key parameters were also listed and defined.
- 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 undertook several actions to create more synergies with other initiatives funded by the European Commission. An overview of the exploitation strategy was also 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): The project is on track, Milestones and tasks were completed on time, the 24 deliverables due in the first period 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 for sharing both static and real-time data is available; the different cloud solutions/frameworks that can be used for transport data sharing are evaluated through a SWOT analysis; a first set of data sharing use cases for both operations and research is described. A second set of deliverables related to legal and governance aspects was also submitted. More specifically European legal and regulatory mechanisms that foster the sharing of mobility data were compared and data governance mechanisms that affect data transactions/contracts were assessed.
- 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): A first version of the Transport Cloud prototype was designed and a dedicated cloud infrastructure was set up. A preliminary version of the reference data catalogue was implemented. Access to data and cataloguing of services was investigated, and showed how to reference proven open source solutions from several service providers, e.g. journey planner APIs and routing services. Innovative data enrichment processors (geographical and semantic) were developed. A suite of anonymization mechanisms for the protection of historical mobility data was implemented.
- Living and Virtual Labs (WP5): The first version of the Virtual Lab was defined, including various functionalities that support discussion and promotion of solutions throughout their inception life cycle, from challenge to idea and prototype. In addition, foundations were laid for the development of the detailed execution plan of the Living Labs, and a Plan-Do-Check-Act approach elicited. Until M18 the key parameters were also listed and defined.
- 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 undertook several actions to create more synergies with other initiatives funded by the European Commission. An overview of the exploitation strategy was also provided, as well as the key activities through which the MobiDataLab consortium will maximise the benefits and impact of the research results.
MobiDataLab will progress beyond the state-of-the-art on three main levels:
- Knowledge on mobility data sharing: the project will identify new variables, requirements and standards necessary for a successful setting up data usage and sharing mechanisms in the transport sector. More specifically it will constitute a legal and regulatory knowledge base, which can be leveraged for the use cases but also more generally as a regulatory source for future data sharing obligations.
- Improvement of the findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of mobility data : the transport cloud prototype will show the concrete value of mobility data sharing in different territorial contexts. This platform builds on synergies identified with the ongoing works on mobility data spaces. It integrates a state-of-the-art open data catalogue that references all transport data and metadata in a given area. The platform will operate as an aggregator where stakeholders can place their data to be used in agile exchanges. The MobiDataLab transport cloud will include processors for enriching the data geographically and semantically.
- Improvement of the data sharing culture : the project will create a Virtual Lab to support and facilitate the collaboration of transport stakeholders, organisations and individuals. The Virtual Lab is a digital version of a Living Lab containing various functionalities that support discussion and promotion of solutions throughout their inception life cycle, from challenge to idea to a prototype. With the MobiDataLab virtual lab it will be possible for mobility stakeholders to post challenges, for innovators to propose and build solutions answering the challenges.
- Knowledge on mobility data sharing: the project will identify new variables, requirements and standards necessary for a successful setting up data usage and sharing mechanisms in the transport sector. More specifically it will constitute a legal and regulatory knowledge base, which can be leveraged for the use cases but also more generally as a regulatory source for future data sharing obligations.
- Improvement of the findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of mobility data : the transport cloud prototype will show the concrete value of mobility data sharing in different territorial contexts. This platform builds on synergies identified with the ongoing works on mobility data spaces. It integrates a state-of-the-art open data catalogue that references all transport data and metadata in a given area. The platform will operate as an aggregator where stakeholders can place their data to be used in agile exchanges. The MobiDataLab transport cloud will include processors for enriching the data geographically and semantically.
- Improvement of the data sharing culture : the project will create a Virtual Lab to support and facilitate the collaboration of transport stakeholders, organisations and individuals. The Virtual Lab is a digital version of a Living Lab containing various functionalities that support discussion and promotion of solutions throughout their inception life cycle, from challenge to idea to a prototype. With the MobiDataLab virtual lab it will be possible for mobility stakeholders to post challenges, for innovators to propose and build solutions answering the challenges.