YEAR 2023: Cooperation and digital services in the traffic data ecosystem progress from conceptualisation to concrete development work

The traffic data ecosystem is known both in Finland and at the EU level for its ambitious work to promote the digitalisation of traffic. In 2023, significant steps were taken in work on the ecosystem and the development of Fintraffic's digital services, progressing from conceptualisation to actual implementation. The company's digital services collected a total of approximately one million visits during the year. 

In late 2023, the Fintraffic App was launched, combining the best functions from the Traffic Situation service, Train Departures and the Traffic Customer Service’s Feedback Channel in a user-friendly format. The service sends push notifications of traffic announcements and warnings in the nearby area and disruptions on favourite train routes.  Like other Fintraffic digital services, the application utilises data from the Digitraffic service, to which more than 4.7 billion interface calls were made in 2023.  

Radio Nova and other Bauer Media radio channels also utilise the data produced by Fintraffic in their programme production. Last year, Bauer Media introduced AI-enriched, real-time and local traffic announcements, which allow radio channels to provide drivers with traffic bulletins 24 hours a day. Targeted A.I.mo.n and A.I.no. traffic bulletins particularly benefit professional drivers driving at night.  

“This is a socially significant project the kind of which has not previously been implemented in Finland,” says Janne Lautanala, Fintraffic Chief Ecosystem and Technology Officer. 

Similarly, several new functions were added to the Traffic Situation service, which utilises Digitraffic data, and compilation views were created to allow the user to easily view traffic data at a glance for the area of their choice. Traffic weather warnings issued by the Finnish Meteorological Institute were also added during the year. 

Better route information and a new emissions calculator for travel chains 

Route planners for Finnish public transport could not function without the data shared by Fintraffic. In 2023, our Digitransit community, which develops route planners, significantly improved passenger information both in urban areas and at the national level. In the future, Digitransit will also offer route calculation, whose uniform travel data can be utilised, for example, Kela's application process for school transport subsidies. 
 
“We entered a new age of route planners by making a major technical update to the routing engine. This update allows us to provide faster and better routing results and the seamless integration of travel chains. At the same time, international cooperation in the development of the routing engine has deepened. We have been able to add occupancy rate data to route planners, thus allowing the passenger to see how full a bus is before departure. During the year, we also developed a travel chain emissions calculator, which enables passengers to compare different means of transport and select the option with the lowest emissions. The calculator was introduced at the beginning of 2024. In addition, Digitransit route planners and developer interfaces include capabilities for international travel chains in the future. Travellers can now plan their travel chains all the way to Estonia,” explains Jaakko Rintamäki, Service Manager, Mobility Data at Fintraffic. 

40 new actors added to the transport data ecosystem 

In 2023, approximately 40 actors joined the traffic data ecosystem, which now involves a total of some 200 organisations. The ecosystem profile was raised, and its Traffic Data Ecosystem Rulebook made Sitra’s Most Interesting Data Economy Solutions list in December.  

In 2023, the ecosystem working groups worked on several different projects.  The travel data working group promoted the definition and introduction of travel data standards together with the actors and created uniform data models for travel information.  The aim is to make it easier for, for example, public transport service providers to produce information for their own customers on travel chains consisting of the services of various actors and thus facilitate combining journeys. In the future, uniform data models will provide customers with more detailed information on travel, travel chains, travel-related services and, for example, accessibility. 

The situational picture working group maintained an active dialogue with various actors to improve the availability of road traffic data. 

The logistics working group promoted, among others, the implementation of the EU eFTI Regulation related to digitalisation of transport data. The regulation encourages the digitalisation of freight transport and logistics by reducing administrative costs, improving the authorities’ control capacities, and increasing the efficiency and sustainability of transport. 

In addition, the traffic data ecosystem deepened EU cooperation and monitored the development of data spaces.  

The end of the year also saw the launch of an export cluster, whose aim is to increase the export of digital data solutions from traffic sector companies, while strengthening Finland’s pioneering role in utilising digitalisation and promoting sustainable development.  

The aim of the ecosystem is to create new operating models for the transport sector, improve operational efficiency through sharing and utilising data, save costs through co-development, and reduce traffic emissions. We lay the foundation for developing world-class transport and logistics services. Our fuel is traffic data.

READ MORE: https://www.fintraffic.fi/en/trafficecosystem

Read more about the development of the data ecosystem and digital services in the Fintraffic annual report (2023), which is published in March. 

Watch a video on the accomplishments of the traffic data ecosystem