Sensing City Traffic
Sensing City Traffic
传感城市交通
Ubiquitous and proactive value creation
无处不在的和积极的价值创造
In cooperation with Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Automation, Beijing, China
and experts from Guangzhou Municipality, University of Helsinki, Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Moduco, Ajeco, and Nokia Solutions and Networks
Please see the link: SBL and Intelligent Transport Systems Gongress
Summary
This joint research project is a part of the Tekes’ vital and safe living environment research theme area and has a specific focus on smart transportation systems. The project aims, in general, to deepen the research collaboration between China and Finland and, more specifically, to (1) help Finnish SMEs and Nokia to build capabilities for capitalizing on smart transportation systems in China and (2) contribute to an improved understanding of smart transportation systems and their applications in Finland and the European Union.
The project has four major topics each representing one work package. These are 1) Sensing city traffic value network model, 2) System setup pilot and test environment, 3) Location-based service initiatives and 4) revised Utilisation plan. The dissemination and exploitation of the outcomes will have both academic and industry dimensions. This work will be completed jointly with Aalto University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Municipality of Guangzhou, Nokia, Ajeco, Moduco and other partners.
After this project there will be vital cooperation with mutual interest in several areas of a) research, b) business and c) cultural exchange. We are aiming at activating visiting professor chairs; numerous visiting researchers and undergraduate students; international company cooperation in several forms from export/import to potential M&As (Mergers and Acquisitions); commercial activities in the area of intangible assets (IPRs); and to enhanced understanding of the future value network for creating and capturing value for the benefit of both Finnish and Chinese economies.
The project is funded by Tekes and the industry partners. It has started on 1.7.2013 and it will end on 31.10.2015.
Project director: Timo.Nyberg (at) Aalto.fi
Research manager: Hannu.Tuomisaari (at) Aalto.fi
Project definition
Sensing City Traffic | Ubiquitous and proactive value creation
传感城市交通 | 无处不在的和积极的价值创造
Introduction
Background and motivation of partners
There have been several years of cooperation between Aalto University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ research groups in the area of automation and Intelligent Traffic Systems. There are several joint publications. During the past years there have been seminars and meetings in Finland and China on the topics of Intelligent Traffic and Cloud Computing. This proposed joint research project will greatly deepen the cooperation engaging several researchers and businesses to the cooperation network.
In Finland there are several companies in the location-based services business or companies that are using location-based services as part of their offering. Some of these companies already have experience of doing in business in China. However, the fast-growing economy in China and the changing business environment requires better understanding of the rapidly developing value networks in China. On the other hand, the Chinese companies are developing their technologies and they are looking for business opportunities outside China. Chinese companies may use Finland and Finnish companies as their partners in entering the large EU markets.
Nokia continues to be the flagship of Finnish mobile industry; both in devices and in services. Nokia has invested heavily in maps and location based services. Recently Nokia started stressing the advent of “computational mapping” that would allow users to generate a wide range of maps and location based services from the cloud-based Here.com services. Mapping and navigation solutions for the automotive environment have emerged as a critical application in the emerging mobile computing and economy. Nokia’s mapping services are seen as a strong point for the company.
The Finnish small and medium sized enterprises are interested in the opportunities that a big leader company opens in the export markets. Ajeco offers secure multi-channel data communication networks which are used in several countries. Moduco provides manufacturing execution systems and has several installations in Asia. Both companies may also integrate location based services to their offering. There are many other companies e.g. in the gaming and education sectors that could be interested later.
Guangzhou City and its metropolitan region have over 40 million people. It is a hub of sea, land and air transportation and as well as a logistics center in Southern China. It has large harbors, airports and a railway system with complete functions and services. Port of Guangzhou ranks among world top ports with the largest handling capacity. Guangzhou is the main hub of highways and railways and the transportation systems keep growing fast. The average daily public transportation volume is 5.4 million trips per day. Guangzhou International Airport is designed, constructed and operated according to the “Hub Idea” and is the most modern airport in China.
Information transportation is Guangzhou’s future transportation development strategy. The Communication Commission of Guangzhou Municipality is the main partner for piloting and test environment together with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Objectives and research questions
The objectives of this research project are as follows:
- To deepen high quality research collaboration between China and Finland
- To help Nokia and Finnish SMEs build capabilities for capitalizing on smart transportation systems in China
- To contribute to an improved understanding of smart transportation systems and their applications globally and in Finland.
Research questions
The overall research question or the research horizon in other words, driving the proposed research agenda, is as follows:
How can Finnish companies build sustainable businesses offering location-based services in China, and how can these norms be utilized in Finland for the benefit of the Finnish economy.
This overall research question is further refined into the actual research questions:
RQ 1: Who are the critical stakeholders and decision-makers in the industry value network? (this RQ relates to the Work Package #1)
RQ 1.1: How does the industry value network look like today and what are the development trends?
RQ 1.2: Who controls the source data (smart traffic data, for example)?
RQ 1.3: How should the source data be acquired (license terms, for example)?
RQ 1.4: How should the intellectual property rights (IPRs) be divided among the research and industry partners to, on one hand, motivate the conducting of the research and, on the other hand, to enable the birth of sustainable and profitable subsequent businesses?
RQ 2: How should the pilot be implemented in Guangzhou, China? (this RQ relates to the Work Package #2)
RQ 2.1: How should the servers be implemented and deployed?
RQ 2.2: How should the system be integrated with the source data and other critical stakeholders?
RQ 2.3: How should the pilot be run to test the system?
RQ 2.4: How to manage the test environment to offer an optimal place for application development and testing?
RQ 3: How should Nokia and Finnish SMEs build sustainable location based service businesses in China? (this RQ relates to the Work Package #3)
RQ 3.1: How should Nokia and Finnish SMEs position their businesses in the Chinese industry value networks?
RQ 3.2: How does Nokia capture the created value with location-based services in China?
RQ 3.3: How do Finnish SMEs capture value with location-based services in China?
RQ 3.4: How do other parties, such as Chinese, make money or benefit otherwise?
RQ 4: How could the best practices and other findings of this project be utilized in Finland to benefit the Finnish society? (this RQ relates to the Work Package #4)
These research questions are of tentative nature as they will be further refined in the course of the study.
Work Packages
General
This project results in:
(1) a sensing city traffic value network model,
(2) a system pilot and test environment,
(3) location-based service initiatives, and
(4) a revised utilization plan.
Sensing city traffic value network model – Work Package #1
Sensing city traffic value network model illustrates how the industry value network works currently in Guangzhou, China, pinpointing the relevant stakeholders and decision-makers, and their interrelationships, laying the foundations for the fertile, subsequent business development.
A foresight method approach is proposed to be used starting with a PEST study. Then optional scenarios are developed and used for establishing a vision and finally a roadmap for the business operations. The pilot and test environment (WP#2) are used for validating the under laying vision and executable roadmaps.
Responsibilities: The building of the value network model is driven by the researchers at Aalto University. The majority of the essential stakeholder data is, however, gathered by the researchers of CAS (much of the raw data is in Chinese).
System setup pilot and test environment – Work Package #2
The infrastructure needed to implement and operate location-based services in Guangzhou, China, will be set up, mainly by building upon the Nokia’s Here.com services to servers present in Guangzhou or China. Having a local physical presence in China prevents many unfavourable consequences, as there is no need to transfer Chinese data across borders.
The actual pilot is the management of the setup process itself. The hardware and software are relatively standard commodities, but the integration of the Chinese data i.e. maps, timetables, real time traffic information etc. is the challenge. There are also several commercial (incl. IPRs) and political (incl. security) issues to be managed. The pilot will produce guidelines of for the setup process. The results of the setup pilot are used to validate and update the findings of WP#1. This validation and updating is a repeating task with intervals of 3 months throughout the whole project.
Responsibilities: The documentation of the setup process is the responsibility of Aalto University researchers. Majority of the practical work is done by the researchers and industry experts in China.
Location-based service initiatives – Work Package #3
Based on the sensing city value network model (WP#1) and experiences from the systems pilot and test environment (WP#2), location-based service initiatives are crafted. These blueprints will describe lucrative business opportunities for Nokia and Finnish SMEs in China. In the initial discussions, the following applications have been named as examples: B2C BikeMetro (optimized routing for bicyclists using metro), B2C IntrestGuide (Crowdsourcing-based tourist guide), B2B HubIdea (airport hub), B2B eHarbor (location service for harbours).
Responsibility: The decision to implement and the implementation itself is left for the Finnish companies – the project researches make analyses and recommendations based on the project findings.
Utilization plan – Work Package #4
Based on the findings of this project, the utilization plan will highlight the added value of the findings for the Finnish economy and suggest a roadmap for applying the findings in Finland.
After the technical implementation and pilot in Guangzhou, using Nokia’s Here.com local servers, we will invite the Chinese scientists (or Gang Xiong, FiDiPro professor) to Finland to disseminate the latest knowledge on smart transportation systems. Specifically, we will set up a workshop in which the experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Finnish Transportation Agency will meet and relevant findings can be passed from Chinese scientists to Finnish transportation experts and researchers. After this, a utilization plan is crafted, pinpointing concrete ways how the findings could be applied for the benefit of Finnish transportation systems and the society at large.
This plan will be an elaborated version of the utilization plan provided along with the original research project application.
Responsibilities: The crafting of the plan is driven by researchers at Aalto University and the actual crafting is done mainly by the experts of the Finnish Transportation Agency.
Impact, IPRs, and added value for Finland
See the utilization plan (Appendix of the project plan) and the Intellectual Property Rights issues document (Appendix of the project plan) - requests to be sent to:
Project director: Timo.Nyberg (at) Aalto.fi
Research manager: Hannu.Tuomisaari (at) Aalto.fi