Data are unavailable or unsuitable for use cases → Common standards should be created, and customer needs should be made transparent

Challenge: Data are unavailable or unsuitable for use cases

• Access to data is limited. Data are unevenly divided between the information systems of different companies and organisations. Rather than being a transparent system, demand and supply for mobility needs have been siloed into various mobility service solutions. Companies are not willing to share critical data with competitors. The value of mobility data and demand and supply data is difficult to determine. The ownership of data also remains unclear (e.g. real-time vehicle data). Reaching a joint agreement on interfaces and other data-sharing practices requires resources.
• Data quality is not suitable for use cases. The quality and type of data should be suitable for the use cases under development. Open general data are rarely beneficial right away. The data have been collected within the framework of existing operators’ information systems. The quality of the data varies, and there are no criteria for evaluating their quality. Those using data must be familiar with many different operators’ interfaces and the premises for their data systems. The operators are not committed to sharing and using data based on a common agreement (e.g. public transport route data in several different formats).

Recommendation: Common standards should be created, and customer needs should be made transparent

• Jointly agreed standards should be created to support data sharing. Parties working together in the mobility sector (such as Fintraffic, ITS Finland) should promote reaching an agreement on the standards and practices for sharing data, data ownership and the safe use of data (e.g. agreement models, compatibility, data types, interfaces, data security). The Ministry of Transport and Communications is needed to promote regulatory development which ensures that individuals own the mobility and vehicle data concerning them (e.g. MyData; Gaia-x). At the European level, fair and reciprocal regulation is needed on sharing data (e.g. COM/2020/767; Gaia-x; model interfaces; transparency of data) to ensure that different operators can participate in the development and production of platform services in the European mobility market (e.g. ISO15118 standard; the consumer’s freedom of choice is preserved).
• Demand and supply should be made transparent throughout the ecosystem. The rules and collaboration practices for data sharing should be developed with the principle of reciprocity in mind. We recommend that various operators aim to share demand and supply data related to mobility needs with the entire ecosystem across their service interfaces and data systems to support the development and growth of new services in the mobility sector. Public innovation funding (such as funding by Business Finland) should be based on openness and data use on the basis of a joint agreement. We also recommend ensuring the establishment of market-based data sharing operators (such as data brokers) in the long term to solve the challenges of data quality and access to data.