GPS data and other types of position data are a resource that creates entirely new opportunities for municipalities and businesses. For example, municipalities that want to use data to calculate how much CO2 different types of driving emit. Or they may wish to use position data to optimize the route chosen by indoor robots.
“We know that this is a challenge faced by both municipalities and businesses. Many municipalities want to push the green agenda. An obvious opportunity is to use position data to measure CO2 emissions from driving on the municipality’s roads. The goal is to build a data warehouse where various types of position data, such as from cars, can be collected, enabling a range of different analyses,” explains Professor and Project Leader Christian S. Jensen from the Department of Computer Science at Aalborg University.
To be used for calculating CO2 emissions
In the project, for example, there is a scenario where a municipality wants to use traffic data to estimate how much CO2 it emits, as part of their ambition to reduce this emission. They have acquired GPS data from Rambøll and point data from the Danish Road Directorate, which contains information about how many cars drive at various locations on the roads.
Point data comes from measuring stations that typically use coils in the road to capture traffic data at specific points where the measurement station is located.
In total, this means that there are anonymous GPS data that are complete for selected drivers and point data that are complete for selected points on the roads. The main idea is to scale up these data to provide a more complete and still accurate picture of traffic on the municipality’s roads. This data can then be analyzed in various ways.
The idea is to create a prototype of a tool that, for example, Rambøll can provide to municipalities, allowing them to input their own traffic data. Municipalities can then analyze traffic on their roads. The tool should allow municipalities to ask questions such as: What happens to CO2 emissions if we have large or small cars? Or what if we have more electric cars? Or what happens if we add an extra lane?
For Rambøll, it makes a lot of sense to combine the research-driven and data-driven approach with new innovative services, says Stig Grønning Søbjærg, Senior Consultant at Rambøll. Their involvement fits well with their ongoing work on green transition and improving the use of existing infrastructure.
“Data itself is of no value. It’s only when data can be integrated into concrete solutions that value is created. With Rambøll’s deep market knowledge, we ensure that the solutions are targeted at the growing demand for more innovative and intelligent uses of data, as well as serving as a foundation for analysis and holistic, sustainable solutions within traffic and transport planning.”
Helping to calculate robot route choices
One version of the data warehouse focuses on the route choices of indoor robots. This is one of the challenges faced by the robot manufacturer MIR when they have a fleet of mobile robots. With 10-20-30 robots sharing a building with humans, it is crucial that the robots choose the right routes so they don’t get in the way of each other or people in the building.
Therefore, MIR wants to examine where mobility problems arise and what causes them, as this will allow for considerations when planning the robots’ routes. Ideally, data processing can provide a better estimation of the robots’ route choices and optimize conditions for staff.
By monitoring traffic in the environments where the robots operate, it will be easier to develop and evaluate different mobility strategies. In this way, the robots can use various strategies to handle situations that could lead to potential collisions.
“An optimal route choice for the robot can look very different depending on the time of day. For example, there might be congestion at lunchtime, so the robot might need to choose a longer route where fewer people are. Conversely, at other times, it can take a more direct route. This is what we need to figure out with these data models,” explains Professor Norbert Krüger from the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Institute at the University of Southern Denmark.
Facts: How data can increase mobility both indoors and outdoors
Mobility is an important societal process that affects most people’s lives. Therefore, it is crucial that we as a society have roads and infrastructure that are as efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly as possible.
This is a high political priority, as it is estimated that congestion costs Denmark up to 30 billion DKK annually. Similarly, reducing CO2 emissions from traffic is also a top priority, as the transport sector is the second-largest contributor to emissions.
It is therefore expected that Danish municipalities will increasingly be interested in understanding how different forms of transport, such as electric cars, smaller vehicles, or e-bikes, can contribute to greener transportation and, at the same time, how this can reduce congestion and improve travel times.
The same applies indoors, where mobile robots compete with humans for the same space. It is therefore important to be able to make calculations regarding the robots’ route choices.
The massive amounts of data collected from GPS devices or other position sensors, or from sensors in buildings or roads, provide new opportunities to create more efficient and environmentally friendly mobility. These data allow for understanding how well a road network functions across different days.
In the project, models for data flow will be developed for both traffic and mobile robots. The idea is to create a data warehouse consisting of various types of mobility data, so that it becomes easier for municipalities to, for example, calculate CO2 emissions. Indoors, the models can be used to calculate the optimal route for robots.
The project is a collaboration between Aalborg University, Aarhus University, and the University of Southern Denmark, as well as the companies MIR and Rambøll. The project is being carried out under the DIREC initiative, a partnership between all Danish universities and the Alexandra Institute, which aims to expand capacity in research and education in digital technologies.
Read more about the project
