The ROADIDEA Data Mediation - Data Support for ITS Deployment

Abstract

Data – or information – is the main requirement for ITS. Intelligent transport services (ITS), applications and systems strongly rely on reliable data sources, which have to be given with a sufficient degree of coverage and penetration. Moreover, available data has to be well described in order i.) to allow a best possible knowledge about it, ii.) to find it in an huge data archive, and so, iii.) to utilize it in a best possible way. Finally, data has to be accessible without any borders. In an optimal environment necessary data sets are available free of charge; network access is publicly available without bureaucratic and technical restrictions. Reality tells a different story. European data availability of sources relevant for ITS purposes is very heterogeneous. In the European research project ROADIDEA given availability of data sources for the transportation sector was analysed thoroughly. The project focussed on a definition of a road map for new and radical innovation for the European transport sector valid for the next decades. Special attention was focussed on the investigation of available data sources from a European perspective. Long haul road transportation relations - for instance from South of Italy to Northern Finland – were addressed, in order to provide similar ITS services along the entire route with special respect to specific climatic conditions. It is clear, that for such an approach a best possible knowledge about data availability in a continental scale is absolutely indispensable. This paper describes the work and the results of the data related work package of the project ROADIDEA with regard to the project objectives. The major outcome of the ROADIDEA data research was the implementation of a ‘data mediation’, which targets at a combination of technologies applicable in a – from a data perspective – optimal transportation world.