Cars have hundreds of chips and dozens of sensors on board. More and more, those are connected through the Internet of Things. Data is being used for preventive maintenance, traffic flow improvement and traffic management, defining dangerous intersections, planning police enforcement, warning other road users, controlling traffic lights, planning new neighborhoods, planning and maintaining infrastructure,...

Also public transport is generating a lot of data and recently, also bikes contain electrical components and connectivity devices. And as most road users carry smartphones, a lot of information is gathered from those as well, both through apps and the cell phone signal  connecting to cell towers. This means also the behavior of pedestrians and cyclists can be monitored to get insight in how people really move. Only if we have data from all modes and intermodal journeys, we can better plan & monitor transport policies and strategies.

What kind of data is out there? Where can we get it? What can we use it for? What are good examples? How much does it cost? What about privacy? What is the EU planning? What kind of acquisition models exist: should I always buy data? And what about crowdsourcing? Should we worry about GDPR? What will the future bring? What about open data and licensing?

Pieter Morlion, together with Suzanne Hoadley, was commissioned by the European Investment Bank to write an introduction on mobility & data for all cities across Europe, in order to get acquainted with the topic and spend tax money as efficiently as possible on gathering, processing and sharing mobility data. Pieter works on a daily basis on mobility data & innovation for a number of cities, governments and research organizations.