24.4.2024

Open traffic data fuels advanced analytics

Rekka ajaa peltomaiseman halki ilta-auringossa

Digitraffic provides a comprehensive and open data interface for information on various modes of transportation in Finland. Nodeon leverages this data in its traffic analytics, integrates it with client-specific information, and delivers powerful tools for real-time traffic monitoring and historical data analysis of Finland’s main road network.

Sharing public sector data with private businesses is part of an EU-wide trend aimed at fostering new business opportunities through data. The potential is significant, as public administration holds valuable and intriguing datasets.

This approach can also be seen as a way of providing benefits back to the taxpayers who funded it. After all, public systems and data repositories are financed by the taxes of citizens and businesses.

Digitraffic has a long history in Finland. Its development began in the early 2000s as part of a project by VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) and TKK (Helsinki University of Technology), with the aim of creating more advanced traffic telematics services.

After many stages of development, the interface now includes a substantial amount of traffic and environmental condition data related to road, maritime, and rail transportation. The data production is managed by state-owned Traffic Management Finland Oy, the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, and the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom).

Datapisteitä kartalla — *Determine the increase in heavy traffic with just a few clicks at any monitoring point.*

Leverage open public sector traffic data

Open data interfaces provide free access to a significant amount of information. However, businesses should keep in mind that while the data itself is free, collecting, storing, and refining it may require substantial investments.

This is also the case at Nodeon. The time spent collecting and refining Digitraffic data can no longer be counted in the hundreds of hours.

The opportunities for leveraging open data are nonetheless substantial. Now that all Digitraffic data, even dating back to the 1990s, is stored and accessible through Nodeon’s traffic data analysis tools, users can obtain a nationwide traffic situational awareness with a single click.

Beyond real-time insights, historical data analysis offers significant potential. With Nodeon’s solutions, users can, for example, determine the exact numerical and relative growth of heavy traffic at any monitoring point during the 2010s with just a couple of clicks.

Nodeon continues to refine open data, aiming for increasingly valuable analyses. We already integrate data from Traficom, the Population Information System, and Digitraffic into our analyses.

This development brings significant benefits to our customers. We incorporate data collected from open data sources into customized systems, enabling cities to not only monitor traffic within the city but also track the status and trends of surrounding main routes.

Nodeon Asgard Analysis – one traffic data

Nodeon Asgard Analysis provides a single environment for managing traffic data. It enables the integration of traffic data from multiple sources, directly from measurement devices or cloud systems by various manufacturers.

With comprehensive, ready-made analyses, data is immediately accessible and shareable via open APIs. The customer always retains ownership of the data.

Learn more