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 M inimal 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.

Participate?

Participate Urban Data Platform

Citizen Card

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European cities are working to make life easier for their residents and Europeans more broadly.

6 members

2 countries

6 cities

European value

Impact

Local Data Spaces

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Cities and communities are in a unique position as they can be both providers and consumers of data and services.

1 member

1 country

1 city

European value

I can, I enable, I learn, I matter, I participate, I trust

Impact

Ecolyo

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Ecolyo is a digital service that helps citizens to easily access and control their energy (electricity and gas) and water consumptio

1 member

1 country

1 city

European value

I can, I enable, I participate, I trust

Impact

4.400 citizens

Commitments

Financial

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.

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Technical

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.

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Legal

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

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Education & Capacity Building

Empowering public authorities to innovate via education and capacity building, is crucial in the concept of Living-in.EU. We equip public officers with the skills and methodologies necessary to thrive in an increasingly digital world.

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Monitoring & Measuring

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.

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Smart Communities Network

The Smart Communities Network is a EU wide community of organisations representing cities and municipalities, which can support local communities in their early stages of digital transformation.

The purpose of the Smart Communities Network is to facilitate collaboration among organisations, associations, and initiatives throughout the EU, with a shared goal of enhancing digital capabilities within local public authorities.

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