Release of The Data Spectrum for Transport and Mobility, June 2021
This week The Open Transport Initiative and MaaS Scotland have jointly released ‘The Data Spectrum for Transport and Mobility’. This follows a detailed piece of work to adapt the Data Spectrum from the Open Data Institute to specifically relate to transport and mobility data.
Why was this needed and why now?
The language of data can be confusing and sometimes even contradictory, with terminology and definitions differing across sectors, stakeholders, and suppliers.
The transport and mobility sector is no different from many others right now, in that it is going through a data and technology evolution. This requires significant changes in the way that data is understood and managed – whether it is accessible across an entire transport ecosystem, findable by multiple mobility service providers or securely shared & interoperable between two different transport accounts managed by a single customer.
To improve this understanding MaaS Scotland (the industry association for Scotland’s Mobility-as-a-Service community) and The Open Transport Initiative have created The Data Spectrum for Transport & Mobility.
This is significant as it is the first diagram to align transport and mobility to data terminology already used by other sectors such as banking, energy, and smart cities.
Who will benefit from the Data Spectrum?
This will be of use to any individual or organisation in the transport and mobility sector who is looking for more clarity on the emerging data ecosystem. It provides a simple and consistent way of defining the range and types of transport and mobility data and gives sector-specific examples. It is expected to help improve understanding and move the sector forward in its overall data maturity. It is therefore the initial step towards achieving wider and more standardised data interoperability between transport providers, local and national transport authorities, MaaS platforms and their solution providers.
The Data Spectrum for Transport and Mobility is published under Creative Commons “by SA” license this work is free to use and share by all.
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MaaS Scotland
MaaS Scotland is the focal point for Mobility as a Service (MaaS) activities in Scotland, establishing a formal network for the vibrant Scottish MaaS eco-system, and facilitating initiatives that will deliver the benefits of this transformational opportunity to Scotland.
A joint venture, operated by Technology Scotland and ScotlandIS, the network now consists of over 75 public and private sector organisations from across the MaaS supply chain in Scotland making it one of the largest networks of its kind in Europe.
The Open Transport Initiative
The Open Transport Initiative was set-up to create and support the adoption of Open Standards for sharing data across the transport & mobility sector.
Their role is to:
– Design, publish and manage the ONLY Application Programme Interfaces (APIs) specifications for transport account data interoperability
– Work with governments, local authorities, transport providers, Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platforms, software vendors and other organisations to support the use of Open Standards
– Further the adoption of shared (smart) data across all transport modes.