Since the birth of the Internet in the mid 1990s, the transportation of data packets over connected nodes in a network has driven innovation in ways that were almost inconceivable at the time of its inception.
Over the last two decades the Internet has spawned new models of commercial, political, and social interaction. It has driven revolutions and birthed whole new currency markets. It has brought us closer together and pushed us apart. It has become the fabric of our world.
This technological revolution shows no sign of stopping on its meteoric rise; drawing more and more of the physical world into its digital domain as the fusion of new ideas and the emergence of technologies come together.
The vision of the future for cities is to leverage the opportunities that these technologies bring to provide better infrastructure, living conditions, transport services, and job opportunities to the people who live within its boundaries. This web of data allows us to gain deep insight and understanding of the physical world it helps model.
Understanding how the infrastructure of a city and its occupants interact, provides a wealth of positive benefits to the city and its citizens. However, we must remember that the source of this information is often a person at the beginning of this data chain.
As a city we have the purpose of delivering better outcomes for urban inhabitants through smart policies, smart governance, smart investment and smart technologies. We must therefore always look to give consideration to new technologies primarily from the perspective of a citizen; to what purpose does it serve the people we serve?
The generation of the City Data Standard for Mobility is to explore the needs of data exchange between business and government for the purpose of communication around transportation and its use by its citizens. We aim to look to gain the right insights through the relevant means for the desired objectives.
This blueprint serves as the beginning of a discussion document to bring together the various parties involved in the communication chain of data for transport. We look to engage businesses and governments alike to build a consensus around how we will share the data we have available.
As the cities and citizens of Europe, we together can build innovations for the connected Europe of tomorrow.