Data spaces are transitioning from research projects, use case Proofs of Concept (PoCs) and limited demonstrations, to deployable and operational platforms. But what are these data spaces? – “In essence a data space consists of software to provide data sharing functionalities, distributed and trustworthy platforms on which this software can run, and rules and agreements about the interactions between the participants in the data space.”[1] Other similar definitions exist but all are meant to enable trustworthy exchange of data where data sovereignty is guaranteed (essentially, data usage control mechanisms are implemented). This data infrastructure is domain-independent and provides all the necessary building blocks creating data spaces. Additional domain-dependent building blocks are typically also required.
The European Strategy for Data[2], includes data spaces as a key ingredient and through the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL)[3] funding for several EU level data spaces has been made available. These include a Green Deal Data space[4], a Data Space for Smart and Sustainable Cities and Communities[5], and many more with an overarching, domain-independent Data Spaces Support Centre[6]. The Mobility Data Space is the focus of this article – mobility data spaces have been part of an ongoing research and innovation effort, especially in Germany, the Netherlands and Finland (to name a few) and are now transitioning to deployment.
Similar to other Digital Europe data spaces projects (some of which were mentioned above), the mobility data space consisted of one 12-month project (called a Coordination and Support Action, CSA) and a separate, follow-on action for the deployment of an EU level mobility data space. The CSA, essentially a preparatory action, had the goal of establishing an inventory of existing mobility data spaces (regional and national) in Europe, identifying capability gaps and recommending building blocks for such a data space – the resulting reports (inventory and building blocks) can be found online[7]. The CSA applied to the mobility of both people and goods and the underlying technical approach was not specified as there are already multiple efforts in progress – examples of such approaches include Gaia-X[8] and the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA)[9]. In the domain of mobility, an example Gaia-X based family of projects is Gaia-X 4 Future Mobility[10] and an example IDSA based mobility data space is MDS[11].
The preparatory action (CSA) formally ended on 30.09.2023 and shortly thereafter the follow-on “Data Space for Mobility (deployment)” or deployEMDS started – in fact it was kicked off in Barcelona during the Smart City Expo of this year. The stated general objective of deployEMDS is to “Contribute to the further development of the common European mobility data space announced in the Data Strategy and the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, built and operated in full compliance with existing EU legislation in the mobility and transport sectors.” An additional objective (one of a few) is to “Support the creation and deployment through real-life implementation projects of a technical infrastructure combined with governance mechanisms that will facilitate easy access to and sharing of key data resources in this area, including across borders.” The “real-life” aspect is planned to be achieved by realising over 20 use cases across 9 cities/regions in Europe. Note that in contrast to the CSA, the deployEMDS focuses on person mobility only and specifically on Sustainable Urban Mobility and associated indicators (known as SUMI).
Figure 1:Mobility Data Space use case – an extended MaaS platform
Why is mobility a leading domain in the realization and implementation of data spaces? A few reasons come to mind: 1) A sustained effort in research and early prototypes and demos of a variety of use cases involving public transit, parking, etc. 2) The emergence of Smart Mobility that includes things like shared mobility, micro mobility, mobility on demand and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), require the sort of data exchange platforms (between multiple stakeholders and data/service providers) that a mobility data space enables. 3) Sustainable urban mobility and the related Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs)[12]. 4) The automotive sector is participating in data space-related projects such as Catena-X[13] and GAIA-X 4 AGEDA[14]. 5) The intersection with other domains such as energy (especially in connection with electro-mobility), tourism, environment, and of course smart cities, enabling cross-sectoral use cases based on networked multi-domain data spaces.
Data spaces, in general, are advancing quickly and common building blocks are being developed (e.g., in the EU SIMPL project)[15] and data spaces are no longer strictly exchanging only data. Algorithms and services can be exchanged to enable, for example, Compute-to-Data (C2D) approaches. In parallel, new mobility concepts are driving new use cases and ever-growing data sources from vehicles, infrastructure, open data portals (including national access points, NAPs[16]), and also from commercial entities are leading to new applications and innovative services. The future of mobility data spaces is bright.
Dr. Gadi Lenz, Chief Scientist at Urban Software Institute GmbH
[1] IDSA-Position-Paper-Data-Spaces-Landscape-1.pdf (internationaldataspaces.org)
[2] A European Strategy for data | Shaping Europe’s digital future (europa.eu)
[3] The Digital Europe Programme | Shaping Europe’s digital future (europa.eu)
[4] Green Deal Data Space GREAT Project The GREAT project
[6] Data Spaces Support Centre (dssc.eu)
[7] PrepDSpace4Mobility (mobilitydataspace-csa.eu)
[8] Home - Gaia-X: A Federated Secure Data Infrastructure
[9] Home - International Data Spaces
[11] Mobility Data Space - Mobility Data Space – Data Sharing Community (mobility-dataspace.eu)
[12] https://www.eltis.org/mobility-plans
[14] http://www.gaiax4ageda.de/
[15] Simpl: streamlining cloud-to-edge federations for major EU data spaces (updated October 2023) | Shaping Europe’s digital future (europa.eu)
[16] NAPCORE | National Access Point Coordination Organisation for Europe