Future Roles for Public Open Data in Traffic Information and Traffic Management

Data collection for the traffic sector has undergone great progress over the past decade, with technological innovations making it easier and cheaper to collect, aggregate and implement data for information services and traffic management. Various countries are currently undergoing data warehouse projects and have to deal with the relation between the public and the private sector for the exploitation of this data. The subject is growing more important as public open data policy is being defined by the European Commission. How can public open data influence the roles of traffic information and traffic management and their roles in government policy objectives and road use? What role does public open data play in the ability of governments to use traffic information and traffic management as a method to influence traffic behavior to reach goals in environmental, congestion and health policies? Possible future scenarios and their consequences on the structure and business models of traffic data information exchange are discussed.