Real-Time Urban Traffic Monitoring in Munich

Challenge:

Munich is a large city with a growing population, and its transportation infrastructure is under pressure to meet the needs of its residents and visitors. One of the significant challenges the city faces is traffic congestion, which can cause significant delays and increase travel times for commuters. This congestion not only affects people's quality of life but also impacts the local economy by reducing productivity and increasing transportation costs. 

Approach:

To gather insights, the local government has deployed a series of traffic monitoring systems and sensors in urban areas. It is provided by Mobilithek, a platform dedicated to sharing mobility-related data in Germany that is hosted by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. Mobilithek was launched in July 2022 to replace two existing systems and connects to a European system network to facilitate the national and Europe-wide exchange and collection of mobility data. It aims to enable the development of services and apps to avoid congestion on highly frequented roads, plan routes with different types of vehicles, or evaluate and improve the utilisation of public transport. Mobilithek offers a wide range of mobility-related data, including real-time traffic information, timetable data, hire vehicle locations, geodata, weather, and climate data. The data is indexed with detailed metadata, making it searchable and providing information on content, topic area, provider, regional reference, terms of use, and data model. Users can search for data by entering search terms, selecting a topic area, or using various search filters, with registration recommended for access to certain data services. Most data offerings are open and free to use, with options for direct download, regular access via subscription, and data exchange or trading. The data sets include both static data, such as transport networks and timetables, and dynamic data, like real-time bus and train delays, traffic volumes, and availability of sharing services. Mobilithek is built on a cloud-based infrastructure with a web portal, high-performance support for the exchange of real-time data, and a digital space for the development of data-based apps. Mobilithek cooperates closely with the Mobility Data Space, and exchanges data with it. This is made possible by the technology of the International Data Space (IDS), which is used by both systems.

Outcomes:

Data provided via Mobilithek is primarily of particular importance to transport policy – for example from the public transport sector or relevant to road safety. Mobilithek also offers the opportunity for data exchange with individual usage rights, thus opening an easy way for start-ups and companies looking to enter the world of data exchange to test new business models and trade data on a manageable scale. The dataset provided by the City of Munich is just one example of such a dataset. It is used to provide real-time information on traffic, including vehicle counts, traffic flow, and other mobility-related metrics. The dataset contains all traffic counting stations for vehicles in Munich. At these permanent counting points, motor vehicle traffic is automatically recorded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by means of induction loops. A measuring point consists of several measuring cross-sections (specific direction of travel), which in turn are made up of detectors. Mobilithek offers approximately 9,000 datasets, the majority of which are offered under an open licence. This data is used by city planners, traffic managers, and other mobility stakeholders in Munich to make informed decisions regarding traffic management and urban mobility.

Data sources: 

Data is gathered using traffic monitoring systems and sensors. It is provided and hosted by Mobilithek, a platform dedicated to sharing mobility-related data in Germany that is hosted by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. 

Additional Information:

• https://mobilithek.info/
• https://mobilithek.info/search-and-use-data

Point of Contact:

• OS-SD-Mobilitheko-s [dot] de (OS-SD-Mobilithek[at]o-s[dot]de)