GIS

GIS + Design = Marco Polo Funding

The European Union invites proposals for funding to the Marco Polo Program. The program aims to fight road congestion and make freight transport greener across Europe. These are two key transport objectives in Europe.

So – let’s work with this. How would you go about working on this and applying for some funding? Here are some thoughts.

• to begin you will need to know just how congested the traffic is. Go for toll data, find out who has it and how you can get it. Also find out passenger vehicle traffic – both of these are needed at local, regional and trans-boundary level.  You will need a baseline against which to judge amount of traffic down the road.
• find out how much fuel is being pumped into vehicles across Europe. Types of vehicles and fuel options being used. This will help to provide an indication of how much energy is being used and will later provide statistics about cost per kilometer for a number of things.
• find out where roads are being repaired, new ones being built and the costs involved. This is a sign of traffic needs.
• Using network analysis – start looking at traffic flows. What would happen if you shifted to rail – even partially?  Are there benefits to handling logistics differently?
• What happens if you close roads or open them to certain traffic at different times of day? Increase – decrease speed limits?
• What kinds of products depend on roads the most? What incentives can you provide to situate those closer to markets?
• Are there benefits in creating better communications programs about road use? Multi-lingual programs? Do products get tracked?
• How can you make road surfaces more intelligent?
• How can you link meteorology to the road network?
• What topography elated issues are involved and how can you design to include them spatially into the traffic system?
• What role can satellite play in monitoring traffic – and road surfaces? Do UAV’s have a role in traffic congestion?
• Are robotic systems part of the wider road system answer? Where? How?

There is a large amount of transport related spatial data available. Quite a bit of that can begin to help to answer the questions above.  The European Union itself would likely make more data available if linked to these kinds of proposals.  Add more questions – apply for some funding.  The solutions lie in the realm of design and GIS related tools.

Remember, your goal is not necessarily to solve Europe’s whole problem. If you can design a methodology or approach that is marketable, then that might be your future – and ultimately others.

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