UrbanZen
URBANZEN
When centralising geographical information helps optimise journey times for heavy goods vehicles in towns and cities
OBJECTIVES To offer a centralised, collaborative solution for traffic plans to distribute freight in an urban environment
KEY DETAILS Budget: 2,575,160 € Subsidies: 1,526,871 € Project duration: September 2012 – February 2015
PROJECT PARTNERS - NSI IT Software & Services (leader) - Smolinfo - M3 Systems - Multitel research center - Belgian Road Research Center - Fernand Michel Transport - Fockedey Transport
When it comes to transporting goods by road, the last few miles travelled in urban areas are the most expensive and the most difficult. The density of the traffic, congestion, size restrictions, the implementation of municipal mobility plans and the rise in local regulations (sometimes variable and not paying much attention to freight) are all obstacles to the smooth running of deliveries in urban centres. ‘‘UrbanZen offers a centralised, collaborative solution to help free up the urban traffic of heavy goods vehicles”, explains Sylvain Detrembleur, the project manager for NSI IT Software & Services. “It is based on centralising geographical information coming from the drivers themselves and the municipal authorities”. This solution is designed to establish the existence of congestion hotspots for carriers and incorporate them into mobility policies implemented by
municipal authorities. Information is passed on to the drivers via GPS so they can automatically change their route by calculating an alternative itinerary to suit the restrictions communicated by municipal administrators. The system uses telematics already available in vehicles (without any extra hardware), or just a Smartphone. The IT platform will first be established for Belgium, then rolled out to the rest of Europe. It is based on open road information telecommunication standards (TPEG protocol, currently developed by an international association, TISA) and an OpenGIS geographical web solution (open standard common around the world). As well as this, it fits in perfectly with Belgian and European policies (the BestUFS, Civitas and Sugar programmes), by consolidating public/private collaboration to resolve mobility problems in urban environments.
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