A boost for traffic service development: Traffic and transport data now even more comprehensive
Fintraffic will now be able to provide even more comprehensive traffic and transport data to both traffic/transport-sector developers and end users in Finland. In accordance with an agreement signed with Traficom, transport information services, finap.fi, matka.fi and some Digitransit services have been transferred to Fintraffic. This will enable the provision of a globally unique set of traffic and transport data to traffic/transport-sector service developers. It also constitutes an important step in introducing new traffic/transport solutions and building a more functional traffic system.
Transport information services offer a variety of collated data, such as information about the services provided by companies that operate transport connections. The transfer of these services to Fintraffic is the natural next step in collating and making traffic data available for the benefit of the entire sector. Comprehensive traffic data will give Finland a development environment that is globally unique.
“The breakthrough of new traffic services and solutions requires a smooth flow of information between routes, vehicles, modes of transport, service providers and end users. The collation, processing and sharing of traffic and transport data in Fintraffic’s services is an important step in the development of the transport market. By increasing the level of digitalisation in traffic and creating rules for a fair data economy, Finland can become a leading traffic market in Europe – a market that will create more competitive alternatives to private cars, provide efficient logistics, and offer new business opportunities”, says Fintraffic’s CEO, Pertti Korhonen.
A one-stop shop for traffic situation information and public transport routes and timetables
Fintraffic has already been providing road condition information, road weather cameras and a situational picture of traffic via its Traffic Situation service, for which there is both a web-based and mobile app version. The company also shares a comprehensive range of traffic data with service developers via the Digitraffic service’s open interfaces. About 10 million interface calls are made to this service every day.
Fintraffic’s other digital services include Train Departures, Drone services, Port Activity (a digital platform for ports), and Traffic Customer Service. The latter is provided in cooperation with the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency and Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment.
In addition to these, the transport information services that are being transferred to Fintraffic (finap.fi and matka.fi) will create a firm foundation for developing services that combine different modes of traffic, as public transport routes and timetables will be available in the same place as information about the traffic situation for other modes of traffic.
Almost a hundred operators building the traffic system of the future
Fintraffic has already brought together a hundred operators to build a traffic ecosystem.
“Over the coming years, renewing traffic and developing well-oiled travel chains will, above all, involve making much better use of traffic data. This requires us, in cooperation with a broad range of other operators, to find ways of promoting the data economy in the development of traffic solutions. This work will be carried out in working groups that will focus on developing areas such as traffic situation data, traffic data system architecture, and logistics data and interfaces,” says Janne Lautanala, Chief Ecosystem and Technology Officer at Fintraffic.
ITS Finland, which is involved in creating the ecosystem, welcomes any proactive action to develop the quality and availability of traffic data resources.
“As a special assignment company, Fintraffic will play a unique role in promoting the data economy in traffic and logistics. In addition to its statutory tasks, it will operate in the market by building an open data ecosystem in which, in line with its strategy, it will act as an enabler and create a framework for data utilisation and the development of new market-based services. Data expertise in traffic and logistics can create a competitive advantage for the entire sector. Now is the time to get involved – to safeguard your company’s interests during the development of the ecosystem, to create a common set of rules, and to actively support industry operators in both national and international markets,” says ITS Finland’s CEO, Marko Forsblom.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SERVICES
The transport information service NAP (https://finap.fi/) is an open access point for the data submitted by transport service providers. The interfaces provided by this service enable others to use information about transport services in their own service development. For example, transport information from NAP could enable the creation of a service that indicates which taxi service providers operate in a particular area and how much their services cost.
In accordance with the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1926, this transport information service is a National Access Point (NAP) to which transport service providers must submit essential information about their services.
Digitransit (https://www.digitransit.fi/) is a co-developed and co-financed open-source solution through which operators such as HSL, LMJ and Fintraffic provide route, timetable and routing interfaces; map and geocoding services; and a user interface for journey planners. It includes HSL’s journey planner , https://opas.matka.fi/ and journey planners for a number of other cities, such as https://jyvaskyla.digitransit.fi/.
The EU Accessibility Directive is steering the development of digital consumer services in a more accessible direction. Over the coming years, particular attention will be paid to the accessibility of journey planners that are co-developed as part of Digitransit.
You can directly access all of the services operated by Fintraffic from the top menu on the fintraffic.fi home page.
Transport services encompass passenger transport services (such as road, sea and air transport); stations, ports and terminals; vehicle-hire services and commercial shared mobility services; commercial parking services, and brokering services. Essential information includes operating areas, routes, timetables, prices, service availability and accessibility; and information about tickets, reservation and sales channels, and payment methods.
Further information: Janne Lautanala, Chief Ecosystem and Technology Officer at Fintraffic, janne.lautanala(at)fintraffic.fi
