In order to benefit future urban planning and climate-smart passenger transport, it is useful to acquire as much knowledge as possible about what today's society looks like — such as how travellers choose to travel. IN The Flow Project Collaborating with multiple actors to provide new insights using data collected with sensors. In the innovation project, new technologies or technologies are tested in new combinations. The Lund tramway line leads from Clemenstorget, past the hospital area, LTH, Ideon area and Brunnshög on to the research facilities MAX IV and ESS. Along the entire tramway, Future by Lund and Lund Municipality have now deployed sensors from the company MeltSpot.

- The purpose is to measure flows of travelers and their movements in connection with the tram, says Alexander Bucur at MeltSpot. We expect to be able to see at which stations you turn on and off and how the flows look throughout the day. In this way, we can gain an understanding of typical tram journeys and create different profiles of travellers — are they travellers commuting to work or people going down to town for other purposes? In addition to movement patterns, we will present the number of passengers, how long people wait on average for a tram at each stop and the proportion of repeat travellers.

MeltSpot uses sensors that can detect the presence of mobile phones without collecting any personal data.

- We create an ID number on the phone in a way that ensures that many people get the same number, continues Alexander Bucur. Thus, we can never know who is in the place or owns the phones, but we get enough information to be able to follow the phones for a period of time. One of MeltSpot's core values is to protect personal privacy and we are a data analytics company that works with anonymous material to help our customers understand their visitors.

At the moment, sensors are available at all stops along the tram line. There are also plans for an expansion.

- We also hope to supplement with sensors at Lund railway station. In this way, we would be able to see how many people take the tram after arriving at Lund C,” says Jonas Nilsson at MeltSpot. In FLOW, we are also trying to set up measuring equipment in connection with the new kind of lamppost available at a bus stop in Veberöd, and therefore we will also be able to see if travellers from Veberöd choose to continue with the tram.

For Lund Municipality, measurements of this kind are part of the future development work.

- Within the development of the municipality's infrastructure, we are now creating the conditions for technological development, says Johan Gomér, Street Manager at the Technical Administration. Part of this is to be able to digitally control lighting on municipal streets and also connect sensors of various kinds. Now being able to measure flows and movements in the infrastructure system gives us valuable data that improves our planning bases and increases the accuracy of future development work.

In the survey, the parties are working on fine-tuning so that only passengers on the tram are included in the material, such as clearing data on cyclists riding along the tramway. Therefore, Trivector Traffic, together with MeltSpot, will test how the different parameters should be set to capture the tram passengers and not others.

- It is interesting to test how new technology works in practice and how it can provide us with information about how to travel in a simpler and better way, says Emeli Adell, Trivector Traffic. Today, for example, statistics are collected so that we know how many people get on and off at different stops, but we do not know between which stations they travel. Knowing this is of great importance for understanding between which places one wants to go at different times of the day. Our task in the project is precisely this — to use the technology in practice and understand how it can help us understand travel and thus create better opportunities for easy everyday travel.

For MeltSpot, participation in the project also becomes an opportunity for product development. The sensors are designed to pick up signals within a radius of 30 meters, but how that turns out in reality depends on what the surrounding environment looks like. To be able to see how good the installation has been, MeltSpot has therefore developed a tool that measures the range, and this will also be tested in the project.

What benefit does MeltSpot have from being part of an innovation project like FLOW?

- We get to showcase our technology and analysis platform, we get the opportunity for product development, we get to network and exchange experiences with like-minded companies and meet tech-savvy expertise. We can also create synergies with others who make measurements within flows,” says Alexander Bucur.

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The Flow Project funded by IoT Sweden. AXIS Communications, Lund Municipality, Sensative, Mobile Heights, MiThings, Future by Lund, Smart Villages, MeltSpot and Acconeer are participating in the project. The Project FLOW is done in close cooperation with the project Lund Open Sensing City, LOSC, which is funded by Vinnova. In LOSC, Axis Communications, AFRY, Kraftringen, Lund Municipality, Lund University, Mobile Heights, Sensative, Sony, Telia, Smart Villages and Trivector Traffic are enrolled project partners.

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This is MeltSpot

MeltSpot is an innovation company that, through its measurements and analytics, helps customers gain data-driven insights into visitor movements and behaviors. The analytics visualized in a Business Intelligence tool provide companies with insights that allow them to optimize operations based on real-world data. This may be of interest, for example, to those involved in making changes to infrastructure such as roads, escalators and walkways, both inside larger properties and outdoors.

MeltSpot usually works with smart cities, i.e. municipalities/cities and their administrations such as urban construction offices and those involved in security, business and tourism.

MeltSpot also works with larger properties such as shopping malls, airports and railway stations but also for example theme parks and amusement parks. MeltSpot started with the current business concept in 2017 and in 2023 there will be four employees in the company.

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This is Trivector Traffic

Trivecteur Trafic helps customers develop transport and mobility solutions for a sustainable future with the aim of creating a more efficient, sustainable and safer transport system in all its parts. Trivector Traffic does so primarily through consulting efforts, digital products, education and research. Services and solutions are based on scientific methods and research results.

The roots go back to 1987, when Trivector was founded by three researchers from the Department of Traffic Engineering at Lund University of Technology. The aim was to bring scientific results out and put them into practical use. Today, they work as consultants and researchers, with the goal of creating efficient and sustainable traffic systems based on all three sustainability aspects. Sustainable transport and community planning is the key word for Trivector Traffic's operations and mission. In the role of traffic consultants, the company is one of the leaders in Sweden with a wide range of expertise and work in all stages of the planning process: from investigations and analyses to implementation strategies, process management, as well as support in the implementation and evaluation of measures.

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