Ongoing pilots

On this page, you can find the ongoing pilot projects of the City of Helsinki’s innovation company Forum Virium Helsinki.

Pilots are an agile way to further develop the functionality of the city in a real environment. They help collect user feedback from different stakeholders as well as gain an understanding of the functionality and impacts of new services and technologies. Pilots provide the City of Helsinki with experiences of new solutions of the future, which facilitates planning and decision-making. In turn, businesses get to see how the solutions they provide work in real life and how these solutions should be developed further based on the needs of users.

You can find our pilots that are currently underway in Helsinki below.

Kokeilut

A place for movement and leisure: Kesäranta

At Milja ry assisted living facility in Malmi, the summer never ends. The building’s new wellness space, which opened next to the gym on the ground floor, gives the feeling of a beach holiday to everyone visiting. The space is dedicated to relaxation. It features nature sounds, a swing you can sit in, and pebbles that stimulate your feet. The gym visitors also get to walk and cycle in summer scenery indoors. 

The pilot, under the name Kesäranta (‘Summer Beach’), will run at least until the end of February. It is implemented by the partners Tuntu, Di Interior and Medeka as a part of the KauKo – Urban Environment as Innovation Platform for Wellbeing project  partially funded by the European Union. 

‘Malmin lyhty’ light installation

The interactive lantern-like light installation encourages the residents of the Malmi neighbourhood to go outside and visit Malmitalo cultural centre. The installation designed for the cultural centre shifts and creates changing spaces that are equally suitable for yoga, flower arrangements and other leisure activities. 

“At our core, we are all connected by our shared humanity. Each light element symbolises an individual, reflecting different characters and stories. Together, this interconnected diversity forms an impressive and unique light installation that embodies the spirit of Malmi,” say the architects behind the installation: Feng Ye, Gülcan Ozan and Asli Ufacik from Lundén Architecture Company. 

The light installation is a surprising addition to the Malmitalo facilities, and it gives visitors an easy topic to talk about among themselves. The pilot is a part of the KauKo – Urban Environment as Innovation Platform for Wellbeing project partially funded by the European Union. 

A gamified walk

The gamified walking tour for seniors inspires participants to exercise together and enjoy their local scenery. The guided route aims to offer experiences for everyone and build team spirit for groups. Each point along the route features knowledge or an assignment. The information points share details about the sites’ history or local events, people or nature. At the assignment points, the participants solve puzzles or do physical exercises. The physical exercises for seniors were designed together with a physiotherapist. 

Participants can adjust the length of the route by skipping some points. The walk will also include places for taking a break.

The service is being developed under guidance from Forum Virium Helsinki and in cooperation with Syystie Service Centre, volunteers and seniors who participate in the walks. The pilot is a part of the KauKo – Urban Environment as Innovation Platform for Wellbeing project  partially funded by the European Union. 

Traffic counting with the Telraam AI camera

Forum Virium Helsinki is piloting Telraam S2 AI cameras in traffic counting. The device will be used for short periods in different areas in Helsinki in 2024–2025. The cameras will also be mounted in a few locations for testing over longer periods. More detailed information on traffic volumes and the proportions of different types of vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists supports the planning of the transport system and the improvement of road safety.

The Telraam camera performs calculations inside the device; it does not record pictures or video. No information on individual residents is stored. The only information posted by the device online will be traffic volumes travelling in different directions. The device also measures approximate vehicle speeds used for calculating averages. The information is publicly available on the Telraam service map: telraam.net.

This low-cost device opens up the possibility of conducting affordable traffic counting more frequently. This method may partly replace laborious manual traffic calculations.

Thermal measurements on Mäkelänkatu

Forum Virium Helsinki will carry out thermal measurements in the Mäkelänkatu area in 2024–2025. The pilot will run at least until the end of 2025.

Thermal sensors are installed on light poles, trees and the facades of some buildings. The devices are powered by batteries and transmit thermal data every 10 minutes. The measurements are used to determine how cutting down trees for street works affects the temperatures in the area. The review will look at temperatures in summertime in 2024 and 2025. The project is commissioned by the Climate Unit of the City of Helsinki Urban Environment Division.

  • For more information, please contact Technical Specialist Jukka Alander: jukka.alander@forumvirium.fi

Traffic measurements using LiDAR

Forum Virium Helsinki is testing a mobile LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) for traffic measurement. Information on traffic volumes and the proportions of different types of vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists supports the planning of the transport system and the improvement of road safety.

  • The device will be used for short periods of time during 2024–2025 in various areas, such as Jätkäsaari and Katajanokka.

The LiDAR emits harmless light invisible to the eye to its surroundings and measures the time it takes for the light pulses to be reflected back to the device from different surfaces. This way, the device produces ten to twenty 3D views of the street space every second. Individual vehicles and their speed can be measured very accurately.

In terms of traffic counting, the LiDAR will be tested alongside existing methods, including manual traffic counting and fixed counting points, and at sites where existing methods have proven challenging. The City’s traffic researchers and planning officers will have the use of new types of data, which will be increasingly affordable to collect going forward as LiDAR devices become more mainstream.

In order to improve road safety, the data collected by the LiDAR can be used to identify possible close calls between different road users. This enables information-based planning to improve road safety for vulnerable road users. The data collected using the LiDAR is a three-dimensional point cloud. No vehicle registration numbers or individual people based on facial features, for example, can be identified from the data. Neither does the device see through the glass surfaces of buildings or vehicles.

  • For more information, please contact Technical Specialist Jukka Alander: jukka.alander@forumvirium.fi

Kaisantunneli tunnel and FlowCube traffic sensor

Effective management of city traffic depends on accurate real-time data that enables a rapid and effective response to changing traffic situations. Traditional counting methods, such as traffic radars, are unable to provide reliable data on cyclists and pedestrians. The FlowCube is a new type of traffic sensor, covering all forms of mobility, that offers more accurate data on city traffic to support better decision-making and planning.

The Kaisantunneli tunnel, opened in spring 2024, was chosen as the testing area for the pilot. The initial objective of the counter in the tunnel is to measure the number of users and speeds. The two FlowCube traffic sensors placed in the Kaisantunneli tunnel are part of a broader pilot, comprising four devices, that is aimed at studying the travel times of pedestrians and cyclists in the city centre area. The purpose of this pilot by Forum Virium is to assess the accuracy of counting and travel times, as well as the suitability of the devices for winter conditions in Helsinki.

  • The pilot will run from May 2024 to May 2025.
  • The pilot is being carried out by Forum Virium’s Mobility Lab Helsinki project and Technolution.
  • For more information, please contact Project Coordinator Jussi Knuuttila, jussi.knuuttila@forumvirium.fi

Please note! The FlowCube neither identifies individuals nor uses facial recognition. The device also does not record personal data, making it compliant with the European data protection regulations. Watch the video below to see how the FlowCube’s identification method works.

Description of the FlowCube identification method

Past pilots

Green pilots in Kalasatama area

This summer, three different pilots bring more greenery to Kalasatama and Suvilahti: a green tram stop, a temporary park built out of surplus plants and urban furniture that will bring a touch of wild nature into the city’s concrete jungle. The pilots are in place at least till the end of September 2024.

Smart bicycle parking

The joint project by Forum Virium Helsinki and Business Helsinki, Mobility Lab Helsinki, has chosen two companies for pilot projects that will study and test new solutions for secure bicycle parking and storage in an urban space as well as new methods to produce bicycle parking and usage data. The pilots will be running from June to October 2024.

  • The Norwegian Bikeloop AS is participatingin the pilot by providing a smart bicycle parking facility. The mobile and modular bicycle parking facility has eight spaces and is secure and accessible to users. Special groups have been taken into account in the design, the lights and the sound signals. You can book a bicycle parking space via the app for short or long-term parking. The modular structure also allows the parking facility’s structures to be changed in the middle of the pilot by creating extra space for cargo bikes, for example.Read more and test the parking facility!
  • The aim of MarshallAI’s pilot project is to help the City understand, maintain and assess the demand for and future needs of bicycle parking services. The pilot will make use of computer vision and automated videos to allow anonymous real-time data to be collected on the use of bicycle parking facilities. The pilot will monitor the utilisation rate of bicycle parking facilities, bicycles parked at parking facilities for an extended period of time as well as the number of bicycle thefts or attempted thefts. 
  • For more information, please contact Project Manager Jussi Knuuttila, jussi.knuuttila@forumvirium.fi

Photo: Vesa Laitinen