Information on urban street maintenance, slipperiness and traffic volumes would streamline traffic
A survey conducted by Fintraffic indicates that there is a great need for centralised traffic data. Fully comprehensive data on traffic in urban street networks is not available as yet – for this reason, the real-time situational picture of traffic provided by navigators and map services, for instance, is often incomplete. Now, Fintraffic invites municipalities, contractors, service providers and IT system suppliers to come on board and share data to streamline traffic for everyone.
Fintraffic offers the Digitraffic service, which makes it possible to utilise the State’s road, rail and water traffic data in the development of applications such as navigators. At present, application developers do not have access to comprehensive centralised data on matters such as urban street maintenance, slipperiness and real-time traffic volumes. The Road Traffic Situational Picture survey also indicates that data on traffic signs, restrictions and accidents would be useful in the development of increasingly comprehensive applications and services as well as in streamlining traffic.
- As traffic data does not currently include Finnish cities, navigation services such as those provided by Google, Waze or Here cannot harness this kind of data as comprehensively as possible. People driving in urban traffic do not have access to a complete overview, and application developers cannot use traffic data to develop comprehensive services, says Janne Lautanala, Chief Ecosystem and Technology Officer at Fintraffic.
Fintraffic provides a showcase for traffic data and supports both municipalities and cities in their practical work by producing model contractual clauses concerning data production for use in contract and service agreements, issuing recommendations on data models, data formats and interfaces, and providing distribution channels for navigation services and applications.
Incomplete information slows down traffic service development. Combining data from both the State and cities would enable road users to get the most out of it for safe and smooth traffic. At Fintraffic’s invitation, a wide group of traffic operators have teamed up to build a data-based traffic ecosystem that will benefit all of Finland.
Fintraffic provides up-to-date open traffic data. It is collected for use in Fintraffic’s operational activities and shared for use in accordance with open data principles. Use of this data does not require entering into an agreement with Fintraffic. However, the data user must comply with the terms and conditions of open data use. It is free of charge to join.
- In Finland, we have a bottleneck in the availability of urban traffic data; combining it with State traffic data would yield considerable benefits for citizens in the form of safe and smooth traffic. I would like to welcome all Finnish cities and municipalities to share traffic data through our Digitraffic service, adds Lautanala.
Fintraffic’s services support the mobility of citizens, the needs and logistics of the business community, the operations of the security authorities and the competitiveness and welfare of Finland. We collect, manage and open up data and create opportunities for new business emerging in the market. The company offers and develops advanced new services and facilitates the growth of traffic ecosystems.
Fintraffic conducted the Road Traffic Situational Picture survey from 30 January to 17 February 2023 in the traffic data network. There were 33 respondents.
Further information:
Fintraffic, Chief Ecosystem and Technology Officer Janne Lautanala, tel. +358 40 7725 355, janne.lautanala@fintraffic.fi
