Developing a real-time mobile network data platform for connected transport.

Citi Logik, an SME that analyzes aggregated and anonymised journey paths from the existing mobile phone network, is proposing to develop a repeatable virtual technology platform linked to an advanced telecom 3G/4G/5G sensor network. It will do this with the support of Vodafone Enterprise UK. This platform will be capable of analysing movement by vehicle, on foot or by train in real time and will help us understand peak demand, network capacity and operational efficiency through a detailed analysis of flow and mode, across the UK. The context for this project has recently been reported in the Policy Exchange insight on 'Smart Devolution', which in turn draws learnings from current best practice in New York City. These reports highlight that most cities have vast quantities of data that if accessed and used effectively could help improve public services, optimise transport routes and even prevent cycling accidents. The most significant point is that the mobile phone network is the best public asset, as yet never deployed comprehensively as a system, to analyse traffic movement in real time. The proposed service is a real time extraction of fully anonymised data from the Vodafone Network in compliance with UK Information Commisioner Officer Guidelines and EU Privacy Laws. It creates a structured and secure database environment which is then interrrogated to understand actual journey times, road capacity constraints, and journey time reliability. The capabilty was demonstrated in 2012 for improving network capacity and resilience in a very successful experiment as part of the Transport for London Co-operative Systems trials. As part of this trial Citi Logik demonstrated real time capabilities of data sets to predict journey time reliability. Citi Logik also has an emerging programme of work with UK Local Authorities, UK core cities and UK airports to use the proposed capabilities to replace traditional roadside survey techniques. We have already held discussions with a number of potential customers, including Transport for Greater Manchester and the Welsh Government, regarding the potential deployment of a real time service from April 2017. This proposal is offered by an SME (Citi Logik Ltd), based in Tech City, working in close co-operation with a UK Mobile Operator (Vodafone) for the purposes of creating public good from the mobile network. Significant communciation efforts have been completed to share and communicate these ideas with UK Privacy Groups and Vodafone UK Customers.