The road to a future-proof traffic data platform

Project description

Our main research question is: "How can the city of Eindhoven implement an open and secure sensor data storing and sharing solution?"

The City of Eindhoven is looking for a new sensor data storing and sharing solution to implement after their current provider decided to discontinue their previous platform. We as IDS looked at the different possibilities and advised on a new shoring and sharing solution. For this solution, IDS also made an implementation plan.

Context

In the next two decades, Eindhoven aims to become the central hub of Brainport. However, rapid population growth brings urban challenges like traffic congestion, environmental degradation, and inadequate infrastructure. To tackle these issues, Eindhoven launched the INZICHT VERLICHT project. It aims to use camera sensor data to understand intersection traffic conditions, identify bottlenecks, and propose improvements. However, the city faces an issue with its urban data platform, which stores collected data. Business misalignments and the relocation of the platform supplier to France have created a gap between the IT departments and the municipality, and have necessitated the City of Eindhoven's search for a new data storage and sharing solution.

Results

The outcome is 3 final products: a business advice, an implementation plan, and a proof of concept.

As a final conclusion, it is recommended that the City of Eindhoven should implement Azure, a cloud data storage as it meets all business requirements of high accessibility, scalability, and security regarding data management and analytics. Compared to the previous data platform, Azure also offers a range of additional functional capabilities that were lacking in the last system such as management processes, backup data, etc.

We also looked into the laws & regulations and the IT governance & strategical alignment to make sure that the new data-sharing solution is ethically accepted and secured while also aligning with the visions of the City of Eindhoven.

About the project group

Our group consists of 9 members, of which 4 are focused on this project. Those students all have an ICT & Business background; some specialized in AI and others in Cyber security. In the last 12 weeks, we worked in an Agile environment following the ICT research methods in making the final products for the client.