Best Datathon Project Award

Most European cities are facing the issue of the reduction in the use of private cars and apply incentives that favour public transport, car­sharing and bicycles, along with restrictive measures on the use of private cars in their town centres. This approach is fully in line with the EU commitments regarding the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and European legislation on air quality. Cycling may not yet have become one of the habits of most citizens, but it is nevertheless a mode of transport which promises to play a significant role in mobility management. Besides, bicycles can contribute to making public transport more appealing by guaranteeing better accessibility. On the basis of an unaltered journey time of 10 minutes, if customers likely to carry out the first part of their trip by bike are taken into account, this increases the catchment area of a public transport bus stop 15­fold. Cycling in urban areas generally takes place along protected and dedicated bike lanes which reduce bike­related intersection injuries by about 75 percent compared to comparable crossings without infrastructure. The Datathon Cycling the city has been an experiment based on the combination of VGI data with other information sources in order to show how VGI data can contribute to the detection of the relevant features of cycling in the city, from infrastructure (cycling paths) to usage (paths recorded by cyclists), which should be taken into account for a more human­centered approach in route planning or service management.