connected people

While connected and automated vehicle technology is revolutionizing the ability of vehicles to communicate, another parallel revolution is also enabling people to communicate. This has a significant impact for people that live in cities and people who visit cities. While the needs of citizens are an especially important aspect of smart mobility, there are many cities which depend on visitors for commercial and tourism purposes. An important enabling technology in connected citizens and visitors is the availability of position data from smart phones. This enables the same techniques for connected vehicles to be applied to people, with the added benefit of not being specific to a single mode and providing a comprehensive view of the entire trip. Such data is variously referred to as movement analytics, and location intelligence. Significant progress is being made in applying this technology to marketing and other areas where information on people behavior can lead to more efficient processes and operations.

This is also true of transportation. Smart mobility that takes full advantage of location intelligence can be much more resilient and agile as demand patterns change and operating conditions vary. It is likely that location intelligence will not be a substitute for connected vehicle data, but rather that the data sources will be combined to provide an even better picture of operating conditions and the demand for transportation. Like connected vehicles, connected citizens and visitors’ services also support two-way communication with the device user, making it possible to provide a range of location specific services to the traveler. 

Here again we must be ready to develop analytics to take advantage of the new data. We need to equip ourselves to be able to merge data in large volumes from different sources, and turn it into information, insight, and action plans as effectively and efficiently as possible. 

In the past we relied on estimates and small sample sizes, as this data becomes available, we can base our transportation planning and traffic engineering approaches on highly detailed observed data and reduce our dependence on mathematical simulation modeling. This will also enable us to offer enhanced user experience and provide both citizens and visitors with a higher level of decision support throughout the entire trip. The support services can also make it easier for travelers to make modal changes and to adapt their journeys in the light of changing needs. This will also enable us to support spontaneous travel decisions in addition to those that are preplanned.