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A new partnership between the municipality of Copenhagen and Google offers the opportunity to measure air pollution inside Copenhagen, street by street. The partnership supports the city council’s focus on air quality and it also creates new opportunities for initiatives regarding emission and particle pollution.

Today the Environmental Protection Agency measure the pollution from three spots in the city of Copenhagen. Google Street View cars will drive across the city with measuring equipment attached and there by generating new knowledge on the scale of local air pollution at street level. This data delivered from Google complements the existing data and measurements of NOx and particles.

Copenhagen is the first city outside the U.S. where Google gathers this type of air measurements. The data will be available for the municipality of Copenhagen and relevant scientific institutions. The collaboration is a part of Copenhagen Solution Lab.

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How does a new 3,3 billion euro metro line affect urban life? The City of Copenhagen invites innovative companies from the Nordic region to help them collect data about transport patterns around the new metro stations opening in 2019.

The data will be used to benchmark the effects of the new metro line and to inform strategic planning of urban development and construction projects in Copenhagen.

Goal of the market consultation

The goal of the market consultation is to get an overview of the best flow data solutions on the market and to pick a partner for a pilot project among these solutions. Please note that a tender is not planned at this point.

Goal of the pilot project

The goal of the pilot project is to collect flow data in connection to the new Metro line stations opening in July 2019. The City of Copenhagen expects that flow data can give a better understanding of the effects of the metro on urban flows. Specifically, Copenhagen need data about pedestrian and cyclists’ routes to and from the metro stations. The City also need data about obstacles and barriers for these road users in order to improve accessibility and walkability. Copenhagen would like to collect data around one or two stations, selected during the pilot.

The pilot project will run from autumn 2018 to summer 2019 with an option to extend the pilot if the solution proves to be valuable to the City.

Specification of requirements for data

Must have features:

• Classify mode of transport

• Collect and handle anonymized data in compliance with Danish and EU legislation, including GDPR

• The solution should provide data aiming at a 200-400 meter distance from the metro stations.

Nice-to-have features:

• Detect routes

• Detect obstacles or barriers which cause delay for cyclists and pedestrians

• Detect multi modalt trips

• Collect data 24 hours a day and all year around

• Distinguish between indoor and outdoor activity

The replies will be assessed according to the listed two categories. Solutions not living up to the listed requirements “Must have features” are not considered. Solutions are thereafter evaluated according to each of the listed “Nice-to-have features”. Copenhagen do not have a requirement for a specific data collecting method. It is also possible to combine different solutions or mixing quantitative or qualitative methods to accommodate the most features sought.

How is data collected today?

At present, data is collected manually once a year between 07.00 and 19.00 at selected sites across the city. The City of Copenhagen also collects traffic counts at selected sites, but this method does not provide information about routes or pedestrian traffic.

Potential for scaling up

There is a large potential for implementing flow data in other use cases and scaling the solution to the rest of the city.

The municipality of Copenhagen is the country's largest with just over 600,000 inhabitants and covers an area of 86 square kilometers. In recent years the population has grown by approximately 1000 new citizens every month which causes an increased demand for mobility, public space and maintenance of parks and streets.

Potential future use cases for flow data could be:

• Urban planning: benchmarking the value of urban planning projects.

• Traffic management: More and better data about all modes of transport including bikes and pedestrians, which can reduce congestion and promote green mobility.

• Maintenance: Optimize maintenance such as snow clearing, waste collection and road maintenance.

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The accuracy within a few meters might not be important when a family uses a GPS for driving during the vacations. But for the development of the society and the applicability of new automatic systems and technologies new and accurate positioning systems are required, and the demand of those positioning system will increase during the years to come.

In the late autumn of 2018 the city of Aarhus welcomes the platform for research and innovation, TAPAS. TAPAS resists of high technological reference infrastructure which will improve and specify the quality of satellite signals in the city center. The municipality of Aarhus offers there by an open platform, available for all kinds of business.

Then TAPAS will be tested through real life cases which can guarantee applicability outside the laboratory. The open system is offered to anyone who wants to work innovatively with accurate positioning. Therefore, TAPAS is flexible, so it can adapt user-specific requirements during the test period.

TAPAS in Aarhus is a part of a study which will examine how to use the 18 new satellites of Galileo. The project is created in collaboration with the National Space Agency of Denmark, DTU Space, and it will examine the possibilities of the new technology. In the futures it can hopefully create growth in areas like transport, agriculture, environment, and urban development. For example, the technology could cause helping devices such as driverless vehicles, drones etc.

The accuracy of TAPAS comes down to a few centimeters – even for moving elements – which opens for use inside most business areas.

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Photo: Danish Agency for Data Supply and Efficiency