GeoSence - Geofencing strategies for implementation in urban traffic management and planning
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Westminster
Department Name: Sch of Architecture & Cities
Abstract
GeoSence elaborates on geofencing solutions aiming at improving traffic flow, safety and air quality. Challenges on how to obtain user acceptance and useful improvements are addressed. To tackle these challenges, the overall objective of the project is to design, trial and evaluate geofencing concepts and solutions for specific cases in cities, within the project and from other previous/ongoing geofencing initiatives, and to propose new ways of successfully deploying geofencing technologies. The starting point will be current practices, and the end point, solutions that are feasible for implementation. To obtain satisfactory solutions, user acceptance, and if needed behavioural changes, must be envisioned. Furthermore, robust evidence from potential and impact studies will be used to guide the design choices. Moreover, policies needed to allow and monitor the introduction of new and improved geofenced functionalities will be created and proposed, e.g. phased access restrictions and charges for non-zeroemission vehicles. Finally, tools for implementation, as well as approaches to scale-up and spread the innovation further in Europe will be proposed including e.g. ways of integrating geofencing functionalities in the decision making, built environment and traffic management in cities. GeoSence will provide a strategic implementation guide with recommendations for integration in planning, SUMPs and SULPs.
Organisations
- University of Westminster (Lead Research Organisation)
- Research Institutes of Sweden (Collaboration)
- Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Collaboration)
- SINTEF (Collaboration)
- Technical University of Dresden (Collaboration)
- Chalmers University of Technology (Collaboration)
- Stockholm Municipality (Collaboration)
- City of Gothenburg (Collaboration)
- Lindholmen Science Park (Collaboration)
- London Councils (Project Partner)
| Description | All findings are in line with the original proposal. Results were obtained while elaborating the Deliverables of GeoSence in the years 2021-2024: 1) Current state of the art and use case description on geofencing for traffic management (Deliverable D1.1) Report is published, available online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355681063_Current_state_of_the_art_and_use_case_description_on_geofencing_for_traffic_management 2) Definitions of KPI, data collection, scenarios, potentials and impact assessment plan (Deliverable D4.1) Report is restricted. Preparation of geofencing trials in the cities of Gothenburg, Stockholm, Munich and Bergen are under way, and the indicator set for tested solutions will enable good data collections about beneficial impacts. Main results achieved are that geofencing enables local authorities to design restricted access, speed limit or parking usage for city centre area, change dynamically and control remotely these rules. Especially the possibility to control via apps the correct parking of e-scooters in designated area could not occur without the geofencing capabilities. These functionalities would otherwise not be available with current non-digital solutions such as traffic signage. |
| Exploitation Route | Results after 39 months of the project duration show that ongoing trials delivered on their promises, as contractors were capable of meeting the expectations and conditions for successful implementation. Testing and implementation of geofencing technologies occurred at partner cities Gothenburg, Stockholm and Munich, and in Norwegian cities with the partner National Road Administration (NPRA). All trials are currently either completed or in the implementation and growth stage phase, with much emphasis on micromobility, cars, speed control, access regulations and parking management. The ongoing impact assessment demonstrated a scalability of geofencing techniques, and the design of the trials include future scalable solutions that will be made available to the whole city or to other cities. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Environment Government Democracy and Justice Transport |
| URL | https://closer.lindholmen.se/en/project/geosence |
| Description | As of end of August 2024, geofencing trials are all completed in four European cities. The objectives were met and the main beneficial impact is the demonstrated feasibility of the implementation of geofencing application in municipal transport services, aiming at regulating traffic and parking, contributing to improved direct communication with users and with transport service providers. Contracting and data collection provide good information about tangible benefits of using the solutions tested in various fields of transport applications. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Transport |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | London Councils - Low Carbon Transport Programme |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | London's 32 boroughs and the City of London are taking action to be the solution to climate change. Many boroughs have declared a climate emergency, and all will be making changes in their own local areas through climate action plans. They are also working together in our seven collaborative climate programmes to share best practices, join up activity, and grasp economies of scale. From tackling carbon emissions from motor vehicles to building local green economies, and sourcing and creating sustainable energy, local government is an essential partner in delivering the transition to net-zero. Councils have a unique understanding of their local context and strong local relationships, allowing them to deliver this work effectively. This is important work. We have already seen the growing impact of extreme weather events in London. From our annual polling, we know that Londoners across the city and in all demographic groups are motivated to tackle climate change and want to see action. The purpose of this action plan is to set a pathway to achieve the ambition set out in London Councils' Joint Statement on Climate Change. The Low Carbon Transport ambition is to halve road journeys made by petrol and diesel from 2019 to 2030 via combined measures that can restrict polluting journeys and incentivise sustainable and active travel options. The ambition provides the opportunity to deliver and quantify actions that help record performance of greenhouse gas emissions for individual boroughs' Climate Emergency Action Plans and to promote strategies, schemes and projects to this end. The action plan has been developed collaboratively by London boroughs, with support from London Councils, the London Technical Advisers Group (LOTAG), Transport for London (TfL), the London Environment Directors' Network (LEDNet), the Greater London Authority (GLA), and other key stakeholders. The Low Carbon Transport Programme (LCTP) Steering Group, led jointly by Royal Borough of Kingston Council and Westminster City Council, has adopted this plan, and progress will be reported back to London Councils' Transport and Environment Committee (TEC) on at least a six-monthly basis. This plan is designed to support all boroughs to achieve the headline ambition, whilst recognising that requirements and resourcing will vary from borough to borough. |
| URL | https://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/our-key-themes/climate-change |
| Description | Training of practitioners, Sweden |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Improved skills in conducting transportation innovation trials related to geofencing. |
| URL | https://closer.lindholmen.se/en/closer-projects/geosence |
| Description | A+C Enrica Papa PUBLIC OR STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT EVENTS |
| Amount | £340 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Westminster |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2023 |
| End | 03/2023 |
| Description | ACUTE - Accessibility and Connectivity knowledge hub for Urban Transformation in Europe |
| Amount | £50,557 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/X010651/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2022 |
| End | 11/2024 |
| Description | Enrica Papa Conference attendance travel fund |
| Amount | £800 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Westminster |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2022 |
| End | 06/2022 |
| Title | Challenges and needs of European cities in using geofencing for urban traffic management |
| Description | This report presents data, results and analysis of exploratory interviews and a questionnaire survey among transport experts and professionals in Europe dealing with geofencing in urban transport management. As part of the European collaboration project GeoSence - "Geofencing strategies for implementation in urban traffic management and planning", the report contributes to a first step of solving the problems by identifying and exploring the challenges and needs of transport authorities. Starting from the cities' biggest traffic challenges, as experienced by municipalities and cities, but also from the perspective of regional and national authorities, the report focuses on geofencing and its following unresolved implementation issues, such as lack of regulation, an issue prevalent across both experienced and less experienced users of geofencing, GNSS accuracy and infrastructure, user acceptance, costs, knowledge and various practicalities. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Coordination of municipality practices on geofencing applications. |
| URL | https://closer.lindholmen.se/en/project/geosence |
| Title | Current state of the art and use case description on geofencing for traffic management |
| Description | This report is a result of a literature review and document gathering focused on geofence use cases specific for road traffic management. It presents geofence use cases that are trialled or to be trialled, implemented use cases, as well as conceptual and potential future use cases, showing for which type of transport they are used and how geofence zones are applied or to be applied. The report was conducted in the project GeoSence - Geofencing strategies for implementation in urban traffic management and planning. It is a Joint programme initiative (JPI) Urban Europe project funded by European Union´s Horizon 2020, under ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity and gather project partners from Germany, Norway, Sweden and UK. The goal is to present the current state of art, and describe use cases, based on the working definition of geofencing in the project, where geofence is defined as a virtual geographically located boundary, statically or dynamically defined. The study shows that for implemented and real-traffic trial use case, geofencing has been applied within private car transport, shared micro-mobility, freight and logistics, public bus transportation and ridesourcing. For the future use cases, geofencing has been tested or conceptually developed also for automated vehicles and shared automated mobility, among others. The report summarises main use cases and find them to answering to especially four challenges in traffic management: safety, environment, efficiency, and tracking and data collection. Some of the use cases however answer to several of these challenges, such as differentiated road charging, and the use cases in micro-mobility. Further, the system and functionality of the trialled and/or implemented use cases, show different types of regulation geofence use cases can be used for, from informing, assisting, full enforcement, incentivising and penalisation. Guidelines and recommendations so far form national authorities show that the existence of joint regulation or guidelines for the use of geofencing for different use cases is low - with some exceptions. Digital representation of traffic regulation will be crucial for enabling geofencing. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Available information for cities and businesses. |
| URL | https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355681063_Current_state_of_the_art_and_use_case_description... |
| Description | GeoSence project leader CLOSER Lindholmen, Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Organisation | Lindholmen Science Park |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | GeoSence project is a European ENUAC ERA-NET funded project led by a research unit at Lindholmen Science Park, called CLOSER. https://closer.lindholmen.se/en/closer-projects/geosence |
| Collaborator Contribution | Project leader, coordinator. |
| Impact | Economics, transport planning, transport engineering, psychology, transport policy |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | GeoSence project partner CHALMERS, Sweden |
| Organisation | Chalmers University of Technology |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Research partner |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research partner |
| Impact | Economics, transport policy, transport engineering, transport planning, psychology |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | GeoSence project partner City of Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Organisation | City of Gothenburg |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Research partner |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research partner |
| Impact | Economics, transport policy, transport engineering, transport planning, psychology |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | GeoSence project partner City of Stockholm, Sweden |
| Organisation | Stockholm Municipality |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Research partner |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research partner |
| Impact | Economics, transport policy, transport engineering, transport planning, psychology |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | GeoSence project partner NPRA, Norway |
| Organisation | Norwegian Public Roads Administration |
| Country | Norway |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Research partner |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research partner |
| Impact | Economics, transport policy, transport engineering, transport planning, psychology |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | GeoSence project partner RISE, Sweden |
| Organisation | Research Institutes of Sweden |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Research partner |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research partner |
| Impact | Economics, transport policy, transport engineering, transport planning, psychology |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | GeoSence project partner SINTEF, Norway |
| Organisation | SINTEF |
| Country | Norway |
| Sector | Multiple |
| PI Contribution | Research partner |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research partner |
| Impact | Economics, transport policy, transport engineering, transport planning, psychology |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | GeoSence project partner TU Dresden, Germany |
| Organisation | Technical University of Dresden |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Research partner |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research partner |
| Impact | Economics, transport policy, transport engineering, transport planning, psychology |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Title | Geofencing |
| Description | Geofencing for traffic management and planning is defined as: "Creation of a geofence for monitoring, informing, and controlling traffic (mobile objects/vehicles) located within, entering or exiting the geofence, using electronic communication technologies or pre-defined geofences embedded into the mobile objects/vehicles", where a geofence is defined as: "a virtual geographically located boundary, statically or dynamically defined". Geofencing can offer several objectives in traffic management, including: 1. Traffic analysis: Geofencing can be used to monitor traffic flow and congestion levels in specific areas. This can help traffic managers identify problem areas and optimize traffic flow. 2. Parking management: Geofencing can be used to manage parking areas, including monitoring occupancy levels and enforcing parking regulations. This can improve parking efficiency and reduce traffic congestion. |
| Type Of Technology | New/Improved Technique/Technology |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | Speed control Parking behaviour improvements Micro-mobility growth Governance improvements |
| URL | https://closer.lindholmen.se/en/geosence |
| Description | Brighton College Prep Kensington School Talk Enrica Papa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Enrica Papa gave a talk on sustainable mobility and transport planning to the students of Brighton College Prep Kensington School. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Deliberative Workshop 'Urban transport in the context of climate change' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dr Enrica Papa gave a public talk in the context of the Climate Change workshop organised by Sense about Science, an independent charity that promotes the public interest in sound science and evidence. The deliberative workshop is part of a wider project looking at interactions between the public and experts around climate change. The workshop was held in collaboration with King's College London for members of the public to learn about climate change and local transport. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://peritia-trust.eu/first-of-deliberative-workshop-series-held-in-london/ |
| Description | Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport, invited talk September 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Dr Enrica Papa was a speaker at the Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport in September 2023. This Congress has brought together more than 500 experts in the field of Self-driving technology to enhance and accelerate the adoption of Self-Driving Technology globally and contribute to the realization of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make 25% of all trips in Dubai smart and driverless by 2030. RTA is organizing Dubai World Congress for Self Driving Transport Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, which is a global platform in the field of self-driving mobility, that brings together top experts, policymakers, technology developers, researchers and academia, Global leaders of technology and innovation will exchange ideas and proposals about connected autonomous vehicles. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://sdcongress.com/ |
| Description | GeoSence Results Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | All the key results of our Research project GeoSence were presented live online to a professional audience of about 45 participants The full record of the Result Conference is available online https://closer.lindholmen.se/en/geosence |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://closer.lindholmen.se/en/geosence |
| Description | JPI-ENUAC dissemination and networking event in Paris, 6-7 Feb 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 40 experts from EU countries representing all ENUAC-JPI projects discussed the main outcomes and the future prospects in thematic Working Groups |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/ |
| Description | Lectures and teaching |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of research findings and proposed further research needs, trials and possible impacts scenarios |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022,2023,2024 |
| URL | https://www.westminster.ac.uk/transport-and-logistics-courses |
| Description | Local Transport Summit 2023 Sheffield October 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Enrica Papa participated at The Local Transport Summit 2023. The event is a 24-hour residential 'Chatham House Rules' discussion in a relaxed environment which brings together in a unique way senior people involved in UK local transport from a range of perspectives including political leaders and decision-makers, those responsible for strategy, system design and delivery within transport authorities, and others with a connection to the future of our local transport system as providers, advisors, researchers and activists. The event has the active and support and engagement of the Department for Transport, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and other significant professional bodies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.transportxtra.com/tx-events/2694/local-transport-summit-2023 |
| Description | Urban Age Debate - Localising Transport Post debate film |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Enrica Papa took part in one of the Urban Age Debate - Localising Transport Post-debate films, available on YouTube, sponsored and organised by the London School of Economics. Debate on 'Localising Transport' brings together experts in the mobility field to discuss the future of urban transportation and accessibility over the next decade. This post-debate film follows the third Urban Age Debate on 'Localising Transport', which took place on 20 May 2021 and asked the question 'towards the 15-minute city or the one-hour metropolis?' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgVNlbBQtMc |