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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

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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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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In Kulturhuset in Stockholm is the Stockholm Room. In the room the story shown is about the growing city, Stockholm’s future and how to get there. Visitors can get an exclusive view of new residential districts, even though they are not finished yet, or not even started through 3D tables and VR headsets. By entering the virtual streets, the visitors will feel how it will look like when it is established.

Also, the exhibition shows the extension of the metro displayed through a map with the extended lines. It offers experiences for the hearing sense too by listening to Stockholm’s own podcast “Stockholm Växer” from a comfortable armchair. Physically a large model of the city of Stockholm is covered by a glass floor that you are welcome to walk on. The large model of the city is the heart of the Stockholm Room. On it you can see both current and planned developments. All houses on the model that are in color exist today and all the houses that are white are planned. The houses are 3D printed and hand-painted.

The 3D tables hold 3D maps of the entire city of Stockholm. The visitor can either fly high above the city or zoom all the way down to street level. Information about urban development projects and infrastructure is available on the map. 3D models of large projects are shown too.

The visitor can learn more about what it takes to build a city in the different exhibitions about urban development. The hosts will tell about the general City Plan, about the city planning process and about some of the current large-scale urban development sites.

Learn more and visit Stockholmsrummet.

Photo: Fredrik Persson

A project in Stockholm may result in better night sleeps without being woken up by health care staff. Also the project may reduce the number of urine leaks by half. It is one of the very first tests of smart incontinence protection  for elderly citizens. The test was a part of Stockholm’s Smart City project that digitalizes and evaluates services at an early stage, and then scale those up who create citizenship benefits. The smart incontinence project is still under development.

The smart incontinence protection contains censors that track fluid. Then the incontinence guard has a removable Bluetooth transmitter which sends the information collected by the censors to a smartphone app used by healthcare professionals.

The advantage of this type of incontinence protection is that it will be easier for the staff to change the protection by the help of the app, before the user knows their degree of fluid. Another advantage is that the staff do not have to disturb the sleep of the user to check whether the incontinence guard need to be replaced.

The incontinence protection was tested on a total of 10 users with the following results:

• Incontinence shields were more likely to be dry when replaced (95 % for smart incontinence protection, compared to 75 % for standard protection)
• The number of leaks was halved.
• Users received an average of more than two nights extra more per week without change and interruption, giving at least six hours uninterrupted sleep.
• The smart incontinence protection requires significant change in staff work routines.

The final report recommends proceeding and carry out a larger evaluation of smart incontinence protection on a larger scale.

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Jätkäsaari is a testing ground for new mobility solutions and a showcase for smart transport to the rest of the world. In the summer and autumn, Jätkäsaari is being used to test four new mobility services and solutions in a real urban environment and with real users.

Uber for Boats, smart parking for shared-use cars, bicycle tours with audio navigation, and travel via water bus are being testet in Helsinki’s Jätkäsaari. The Jätkäsaari Smart Mobility Lab coordinated by Forum Virium Helsinki brings together residents, companies and universities to develop new mobility technologies and solutions. As a result, Jätkäsaari has come to be characterised by the agile piloting and co-creation of new solutions.

“Jätkäsaari is a seaside city district being built right next to the inner city, and is also home to the busiest passenger harbour in Europe. It is an excellent place for testing new mobility services that offer concrete solutions to real transport challenges and development needs,” says Project Manager Janne Rinne from Forum Virium Helsinki.

The agile pilots conducted in the summer and autumn are part of the Last Mile project.

In the Silicon Valley of the Nordics, Kista, there was a summer camp this summer. The camp is not about football or sailing. No, here young people could learn how to create prototypes with digital technology.

The camp is organized by Inicio, an organization that wants to give young people an understanding of digitalization and future studies or career choices. Inspiration in collaboration with technology is their main interest.

The participants were 12-13 years old and came from different schools around Stockholm and were taught by students and exchange students. The mentorship is not just about sharing technical skills, but also about values regarding technology and social sustainability. Should we, for example, collect all the data we can?

The lab was managed by professor Mark Smith who wants the students to test their theory knowledge directly. His passion for digitalization creates an understanding for how it can simplify everyday life. The smart city requires smart citizens.

11 days the camp lasted. It ended with a presentation from each student with physical elements where everything needed was printed by a 3D printer.

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The municipality of Copenhagen has faced the parking problem by collection data from 30 different sources which includes parking and traffic situations, incidents, events, excavation work, etc. Those historical data and real time data are merged, and through algorithms and technological equipment it is now possible to predict where to find an empty parking spot.

During the summer of 2017 the concept was tested, and it has identified methods to predict parking patterns day to day. There by it gives the driver information on the probability of finding an empty parking spot.

Developers and providers of navigation systems, smartphone apps and others have been given free access to the data.

The goal of the Smart Parking Initiative is to minimize the searching time used to find an empty parking spot which will reduce emissions. It will also be a step towards becoming a CO₂ neutral city. But there is a demand for help to convert the data into new services, such as:

• Upgrading existing navigation platforms with information on nearest parking spot and the parking prices.
• Provide with an overview of near public parking spots.
• Guide drivers to a parking spot near certain locations like restaurants, shops etc.

Learn more.