Intelligent Transport

As part of the first steps in making Birmingham the UK's first Intelligent City, a demonstrator of how digital technology could be employed to make it easier to get round Birmingham has been developed and launched by the Birmingham Science City. Involving a consortium of partners, including the council's Digital Birmingham partnership, Coventry University Enterprises, Microsoft and Virtual Earth developer Shoothill, it focuses on bringing together two of the region's strengths - digital media and transport technologies. It combines a range of data including traffic congestion, car parking availability and bus scheduling to provide real time location-specific tracking information through one platform. The concept would present the commuter and visitor with information specific to where they are at the point of enquiry.

For example, a would-be traveller located at Birmingham International Airport would be able to find the quickest and most fuel-efficient route to the Hagley Road, avoiding traffic jams and bottlenecks, and discover which is the nearest car park with available spaces. As people travel around the city the information would be constantly updated, linking public service travel information to in-car systems, allowing the driver to respond accordingly.

It would be equally applicable for pedestrians and public transport users, who could use their mobile phones in the same way as a driver would use a sat nav. GPS links would show the walking route to the bus stop and the time of the next bus, or advise an alternative route if the bus is delayed. This is the first application to use available data intuitively to put real power in the hands of individuals to make and refine their travel plans. By linking with many separate information sources so that they can continuously react to an individual's changing circumstances it has the potential to transform people's travelling experiences within Birmingham."

Discussions are at an advanced stage to develop a demonstrator project along one of Birmingham's busiest commuter roads - the A38 - to showcase the role this project can play in easing traffic flow and reducing both congestion and carbon emissions.

Intelligent Cities

The Proof of Concept is being facilitated and supported by Microsoft to properly articulate the shared vision and enable a full solution to be pursued within the full programme. The intention is to build an interoperable Intelligent technology platform within the 3 week PoC and focus on one area, Intelligent Transport, to build out a demonstrator application layer.

Objectives for the Proof of Concept include:

• Articulate and demonstrate a slice of the shared Intelligent Cities vision for Birmingham
• Demonstrate an interoperable service layer platform integrated with existing data / services
• Demonstrate compelling user experiences cross-device - manage a journey tracking and hopping across devices and modes of transport
• Demonstrate empowering individuals to make more informed, smarter choices
• Describe the impact of the applications on travel patterns, and economic and environmental issues