UK’s oneTransport project delivers real-time public-private transport data marketplace

A consortium of industry, academic and transport authority partners has successfully completed the two-year oneTransport integrated transport project, part-funded by Innovate UK, which was able to bring together more than 300 different datasets, coordinate 11 public and private partners’ activities, and win nine global awards.

Conceived the by the Chordant platform developer, InterDigital Europe in 2013, Buckinghamshire County Council, ARUP, Worldsensing and Traak Systems, delivered a feasibility study in 2014; this was followed by Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire County Councils, Imperial College London, Highways England (HE), and the Clearview Traffic Group in 2015 expanding the consortium to 11 partners to deliver and operate a full in-field trial.

The oneTransport project used the Chordant platform, built on the global oneM2M standard, to enable local authorities to consolidate and share real-time data feeds within a single environment, allow independent data analytics and application developers to offer value-added services and end-user applications, and allow third-party transportation sensor owners to contribute their data streams and expertise to the marketplace.

The goal was to tackle local transport issues, deliver superior travel experiences, and explore new revenues for local authorities, with in-journey travel optimization and value-added services. In 2016, the consortium conducted the first use cases that delivered on these goals, and showed tangible benefits to participants, including:

• Silverstone Formula 1 Race Weekend (below) - Integrated and displayed real-time data from multiple sources, including HE, three local authorities, and traffic and analytics companies, to give organizers movement information on 16,000 cars over the four-day event, allowing them to optimally route traffic in and out of seven on-site car parks, minimizing queues and congestion;

• Watford Football Club Match Day - Enabled real-time data from multiple road and parking systems around the town center to be combined and displayed, providing new real-time insights into traffic behavior and the impact of over 20,000 visitors on fortnightly match days, enabling modification of signal timings and dynamic information displays to reduce parking queues and congestion;

• Oxford Park and Ride (below) - Allowed data-sharing between the council, a bus operator, two analytics providers, and two app developers, to help manage traffic and congestion in the city center by showing the benefits of the park-and-ride service, reducing traffic, pollution and traveler frustration.

Stephen Hart, senior innovation lead for connected transport at InnovateUK, said, “The project has proven, in real-life situations across private and public sectors, that it can enable data to be shared in such a way that unlocks innovation, enables new intelligent mobility services for the UK, and ultimately benefits society.”