The European way of digital transformation in cities and communities
Urban Data Platform
Urban Data Platforms are at the core of the digital transformation and the basis for data-driven solutions addressing the challenges of today’s cities and communities.
The beating heart of the urban digital transformation
Urban data platforms are at the core of the digital transformation of cities and communities. It is the centrepiece for new and innovative services from a simple route-planner to complex digital twin solution. Urban Data Platforms are the beating hearts of the urban digital transformation as they connect, analyse and visualise all data from the urban fabric. From here, data can be further shared to city services or third-party providers offering seamless mobile experiences for citizens.
Cities and communities are benefitting most from Urban Data Platforms when those are ‘open’. Following the DIN definition, an open urban platform is an “urban platform that uses open standards and interfaces to guarantee compatibility and interoperability with other systems and other urban platforms.” (DIN SPEC 91357)
Open urban data platforms enable cities and communities to:
- Customise the platform according to their needs
- Avoid vendor lock-in & technology-debt
- Share data with third parties
- Connect services and data more easily, and
- Provide better digital services to their citizens at lesser costs.
The solution explained
There are as many Open Urban Data Platforms as there are cities and communities in the European Union. Using modular building blocks based on open standards, Urban Data Platforms can be customised to the specific needs of a city or community and integrated with existing IT legacy systems.
The Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs Plus) serve as minimal common building blocks enabling trusted and seamless flows of data between the platform, its data sources (both real-time and historical data) and the connected services.
In addition, so-called reference architectures can guide the implementation of open urban data platforms. These architectures are, in essence, logical digital frames containing the key technical components to set up urban data platforms.
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More solutions
European cities are working to make life easier for their residents and Europeans more broadly.
This group aims to build a community of like-minded cities, working on urban digital twins.
According to data 169 million EU citizens lack even basic digital skills. This accounts for 44% of Europeans between the ages of 16-74.
Commitments
contribute on a voluntary basis to a joint investment plan to adopt and implement common existing digital solutions on a large scale in the EU;
optimise synergies between EU, national, regional and local funds;
strengthen investment in local digital transformation from EU funds and programmes, to ensure an inclusive and sustainable Europe;
use common public procurement practices to jointly define specifications and reduce the cost of investing in successful digital platforms and related technologies.
The technical group of living-in.eu works together to develop a common list of standards and technical specifications to achieve interoperability of data, systems, and platforms among cities and communities and suppliers around the world to enable solutions such open urban platforms and digital twins.
Remove obstacles to the digitization of already existing public intersectoral and cross-border services in the Union
Enable brand new, original public intersectoral and cross-border services, which respond to new needs
Valorise the best practices, facilitating their adoption in another EU countries with ease and incentives
Empowering everyone to innovate via education and capacity building, is crucial in the concept of Lie.eu. Doing so will create a connected and digital society ready for the future.
Lead by ENoLL (European Network of Living Labs) this working group will focus on solutions for the needed skills and methods to leverage this.
This group helps develop and implement a framework, built on existing methodologies, to measure and monitor the benefits for citizens, public authorities, businesses and other stakeholders at local level.
