The primary objective of the Traffic Flow Data Space project is to support urban mobility by creating a data space in accordance with the European Union model, its technical implementation and governance model. The objective is to have the data space integrate data sources from various sectors, including transport, environment and construction data.
Objective
The Traffic Flow Data Space (TFDS) project will introduce a pilot app in Helsinki with the intention of utilising data space to update the status of roadworks affecting traffic in Helsinki. The pilot utilises a data space model created and tested in Amsterdam.
The impacts of data space and the pilot based on it include:
- Reducing traffic congestion
- Reducing transport emissions
- Improving urban air quality
- Promoting more sustainable city planning
- Improving interoperability between individual countries, national actors and divisions within organisations
- Improving the efficiency of data utilisation in decision-making
- Developing open data services and applications
Duration, partners, funding and budget
- Project duration: 1 November 2024 – 30 April 2026.
- Partners: Porto Digital (coordinator), City of Helsinki, City of Amsterdam, NDW (National Road Traffic Data Portal)
- Funding: The project’s funding comes from the Digital Europe Programme (DEP). The total budget of the project is
€1,895,679.84, of which 50% is external funding. Forum Virium Helsinki’s share of the funding is €513,511.
The role of Forum Virium Helsinki
Forum Virium Helsinki is a subcontractor to the City of Helsinki in the project. The role of Forum Virium is to build the technical execution and compile the data space governance model in cooperation with the City of Helsinki and stakeholders. Forum Virium Helsinki Forum Virium Helsinki is also supporting the City of Helsinki in project management and takes part in impact assessment and planning the utilisation of the outcomes.
Benefits for Helsinki
The TFDS project produces tools to support traffic management.. The aim is to use real-time data from traffic flows to update information on roadworks affecting traffic. This also could improve the data sources used by commercial navigation services.
Up to date information on the status of the road network improves the flow of urban traffic.This, in turn, helps in traffic planning, reduces emissions, and improves air quality. Therefore, the project also supports the objectives of sustainable mobility and resident well-being in Helsinki.
In addition, the project provides valuable experience in collaboration between different stakeholders within organizations, nationally, and internationally, creating a foundation for future innovation activities and development projects. The results of the project are open and transferable to other cities.
Sustainability
The project complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union and legislation in collection, sharing and use of the data. The real-time location data of vehicles (Floating Car Data, FCD) will be aggregated and anonymised for the purposes of the project.
The project ensures that data protection principles are complied with in the collection and processing of data. In addition, the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) principle is followed, which ensures that the project does not cause significant harm to the environment. The project aims at transparent activities and sharing of results with stakeholders.
Further information about the project
The pilots are funded from a major project to develop European data space, Data Space for Smart Communities (DS4SSCC).
The pilots also follows the Minimum Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs) standards and technical specifications created to promote interoperability between different digital systems to communicate and share data effectively in Europe.
Image: Jussi Hellsten, City of Helsinki