Members of the LOD-RoadTran18 project have published in the scientific journal Information the article “Semantic Modelling Approach for Safety-Related Traffic Information Using DATEX II”. Following their research on Linked Open Data (LOD), they point out that the dtx_srti ontology is a current model based on DATEX II V3.2 and SRTI profile aligned with the ITS directive and that it improves the basic service of access to open traffic data provided by the traffic National Traffic Access Point, the Spanish Open Data Portal and the European Data Portal.
In this sense, the DATEX II standard is the information model for road traffic and travel information in Europe. The ontology based on it facilitates data visualization and downloading, in addition to improving the extraction of meaning from the data, thus enabling other services that are only possible using LOD.
The importance of having a LOD dataset for traffic information lies in the inclusion of data and the incorporation of links to other thematic datasets available on the web. This allows for federated queries, which enable interoperability across platforms, countries and sectors, covering datasets from fields such as transport, geospatial, environmental or meteorological. Companies, researchers, national operators, administrators and citizens in general can benefit from having open dynamic traffic data connected to heterogeneous data sets from all without being limited to traffic data alone.
In addition, the incorporation of external data from various sources can add value to the tools and provide potential advantages for various applications, the published article points out. The research, framed within the development of the LOD-RoadTran18 project, has enabled the deployment of traffic information data with associated metadata, and has been made publicly available through open data systems, as well as being "harvested" by the respective national data catalogs and the European Data Portal.
Storing historical data, known as situation records, in the SPARQL endpoint service (http://nap.dgt.es/sparql) will help researchers perform time- and location-based searches, which will significantly improve the usability of the LOD-SRTI resource, the research highlights. However, this will significantly increase the amount of data managed and, consequently, the storage size required, so it will require administration in the future.
The paper notes that the possibilities of applying impact measurement can be summarized as measuring the impact of each dataset by making them visible through likes or downloads, among other options, or measuring usage through connections to a given system. The availability of tools that allow to know the behavior of users and the level of use of the data is necessary to demonstrate the success of the project, to compare the results with other systems, and potentially establish policies in the field of transportation, the document points out.
Understanding user demands beyond compliance with the 2019 PSI Directive enables the establishment of policies to create high-value data and thematic data ecosystems, the researchers say. They also recommend sharing data between the public and private sectors, while respecting intellectual property and privacy.
LOD-RoadTran18 supported the reuse of dynamic road traffic data in the Czech Republic and Spain by making the published data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) through both the national open data portals and the European data portal and, in turn, allowing its connection with any other data of the same sector, or of a different nature, through LOD. The project therefore contributed to the deployment of both the Single European Transport Area and the Digital Services Infrastructure (DSI).
Access the publication here: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/15/1/3
