Mobility Data covers both data generated from transport services providers and transport infrastructure owners and operators, and data generated by services users through their smartphones, answers to surveys, external sensors, etc.
Opening data has specific benefits such as interoperability and transparency that provides value to the end-customers. For example, a customer may choose to combine a taxi ride with public transport to take the most optimal route based on his/her preference. Shared data also reinforces safety and resilience of mobility services, by providing key information to users in time.
Sharing mobility data has some drawbacks related to current lack of interoperable and quality data available, and of reliable business models and technical enablers such as cloud solutions. Drawbacks are also due to the costs of maintenance, to stakeholders’ reluctance in parallel to an absence of a data-sharing culture in Europe, and to the necessity to address privacy issues.
Several laws oblige public operators in the member states of the European Union to open their data. These regulations impose data sharing obligations but also follow-up obligations for the beneficiaries (such as obligation of due diligence with respect to the accuracy of data, obligation to further share some data with third parties or neutrality obligation with respect to multimodal travel information – or journey planners – services). Interestingly, data sharing obligations for the purpose of multimodal travel information services do not only apply to public transport service providers, but also to ‘on demand’ transport service providers (often private entities), for the sake of comprehensiveness.
Data protection laws are obviously a key legal framework when it comes to personal data. New solutions in the transport sector may involve the sharing and aggregation of data which could potentially allow for the identification of physical persons. Questions in relation to mechanisms to ensure privacy and data protection, while fostering data sharing, may be realised as well.
The best technological solutions is the most efficient, reliable, fair and inclusive solutions. This is what MobiDataLab is looking for.
