The project Lund Open Sensing City is testing how sensors can be used to measure city flows and connect them on a platform to create benefits for the city. During the autumn, image sensors have been deployed in various places on cycle tracks in both Lund and Södra Sandby to be able to count passers-by. The data collected can show, among other things, which pedestrian and cycle paths are used the most. Now a sub-project is being started where this data will be combined with other data to give a better picture of which paths need to be prioritised when it comes time for anti-slip. In order to combine different data sources, an integration platform will be used.

Although Lund is not a city where it is constantly slippery in winter, there are still large costs associated with anti-slip. It is important to be able to manage resources to optimize the use of personnel, vehicles and salt. Good anti-skid control is of course also crucial for road users.

It is the Technical Administration that takes care of the anti-skid on the roads, while the Service Administration ensures that it is carried out. Currently, two emergency managers at the Service Administration are responsible for following and acting on the information provided by SMHI.

“We often work preventively and it can be difficult to make the right decisions because the information we have comes from only three stations, which is a pretty rough instrument,” says Rickard Rönnerling, head of the Preparedness, Projects and Calculations Unit, Service Administration Land Contracting. Now that we can get more information from different sources, we can have a more pointed tool. It can give us better indications of where it is slippery so we can target where anti-slip is best needed. With better data, we can also avoid “boom runs” (driving unnecessarily) and thus save money.

The data collected on road users on pedestrian and cycle paths will be integrated with climate data (such as temperatures and humidity from local weather stations), weather forecasts from SMHI, geographical data on road sections and accident statistics (Strada).

− We add the puzzle pieces, one after the other, by adding different data sources. The result will be visible quickly, says Mats Alexandersson, digitalization expert at AFRY.

Combining the different layers will in future provide faster decision support for when to combat slipping, but also where to fight slippage first — for example, depending on where there are the most road users or depending on whether a particular area is more prone to slipping than another.

“The information has never been in one place before and we have never been able to make decisions based on the composite picture,” says Magnus Sjöström, digitalisation expert, AFRY. The more factors we can bring in, the better the system will be.

An interesting detail of the project is that it is working to integrate data from connected systems of certain car brands into the platform. In modern cars, the smart systems detect, for example, whether ice or water on the roadway can cause problems. If the cars can deliver this data to the platform, this could provide real-time indications about conditions on the roads.

“If this can be implemented, it could be very important for us,” says Rickard Rönnerling. In the future, we may be able to work more dynamically and only work with the slippery parts. This could be a model for more economic slippage in the future.

Gradually, an increasingly better picture of the pedestrian and bicycle paths in Lund Municipality will emerge. Over time, more data sources can be added to the platform and the information can be combined in new ways to provide other decision-making support — for example, about garbage disposal.

“This is a good example of how Lund could use a smart city platform to create more benefits for citizens while saving public resources,” says project manager Anders Trana. This shows how, by using IoT solutions and smart data platforms, we can work climate-smart with increased sustainability as a result.

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Subproject in LOSC

Financier: Vinnova

Project Time: May 2020 - December 2023

Project Manager: Anders Trana, Future City of Lund

Project partners: Axis Communications, AFRY, The power ring, Lund Municipality, Lund University, Mobile Heights, California, Sensative, Sony, Telia, Smart Villages and Trivecteur

What was the result? ONGOING

How is the project taken forward? ONGOING

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