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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GoF4R (Governance of the Interoperability Framework for Rail and Intermodal Mobility)

Teaser

The GoF4R project addressed aspects contributing to the successful European deployment of the ‘web of transportation’ such as user demand and expectations and potential links and relationship with other standardisation and semantic solutions. GoF4R addressed the main...

Summary

The GoF4R project addressed aspects contributing to the successful European deployment of the ‘web of transportation’ such as user demand and expectations and potential links and relationship with other standardisation and semantic solutions. GoF4R addressed the main challenges that impede the development of a robust multimodal travel information market by fostering a large acceptance of the ‘semantic web of transportation’. The establishment of good governance will secure the confidence of mobility stakeholders to use the Interoperability Framework (IF) semantic technologies that will be established under the fourth Innovation Programme (IP4) of Shift2Rail on ‘IT Solutions for Attractive Railway Services’. The objective of GoF4R was therefore to analyse and suggest a governance and management structure for the IF that will:

1. Create the right conditions to introduce seamless mobility services for European travellers;
2. Foster the development of multimodal travel services and market uptake by mobility service providers;
3. Remain relevant for the future evolution of the Single European Transport Area.

The governance model, processes and workflow proposed in GoF4R should facilitate new business opportunities for stakeholders to develop innovative travel-related services and improve the incorporation of new stakeholders in European transport services by removing inappropriate technological, administrative and economic barriers.

Work performed

The report covers the last 12 months of the project, for which the detailed achievements during this period are described in the explanation of the work carried out in each WP.

What can be highlighted though, is that GoF4R has achieved its main objective of defining a set of recommendations for a sustainable governance for the IF, by performing a full analysis of the market (at all stages in the value chain) and users’ needs and behaviour, related regulation, voluntary initiatives and exploitation of market forces. This analysis was done based on both qualitative and quantitative evidence generated in the project and supported by appropriate surveys, interviews and others. This analysis allowed the project partners to suggest governance models that could ensure wide acceptance and adoption of IF by transport stakeholders by specifically addressing the following:

- structure and dynamics of the market for multi-modal mobility services analysed from both the passenger and the market actors’ perspectives;
- regulatory framework and voluntary cooperation for mobility services and related technology standards at the European, National and Local administrations level – it includes initiatives, e.g. the STA (Smart Ticketing Alliance);
- market and maturity of semantic web technologies, including related professional services;
- discovery and definition of processes, procedures, policies and guidelines for a large IF acceptance also based on an analysis of best practices and lessons learned;
- a set of KPIs to monitor the status and evolution of the IF acceptance.

The above allowed GoF4R to define a credible set of recommendations for a sustainable, low-barrier governance structure that can secure confidence in the industry for the use of the IF and promote large-scale adoption.

Final results

GoF4R hopes to induce a snow-ball effect of market uptake for the IF components, as retailers and transport undertakings realise that “membership” will allow unlocking and exploitation of a much larger consumer demand than was previously possible.

By supporting full semantic interoperability of interchangeable and loosely coupled tools, data and services within a distributed “web of transportation”, multiple concurrent implementations can be developed independently by specialist suppliers and co-exist competitively.

Thanks to the connection between the preferences and the geo-localisation of the person, many innovative IT solutions can be developed covering all aspects of social life (culture, merchandising, etc.).

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is perhaps the most successful model for governance that has radically improved the way people around the world develop new web technologies and innovation.

Drawing upon this model, GoF4R embraces such important principles such as neutrality, multi-stakeholder and balanced participation, open and due process, and consensus-based decisions that will eventually unlock the value of demand-side flexibility by ensuring that consumers and market participants have the necessary information and tools to effectively engage in the market.

By applying similar governance principles, GoF4R defined a set of recommendations to instil confidence amongst vendors and users of the IF components, thereby encouraging voluntarily adoption and market uptake.

The market of transport services (shopping, ticketing but also services related to guidance) will be opened thanks to the IF. The heterogeneity of the transport market will be masked by the IF technology, decreasing the investment costs for advanced IT solutions, and opening up a new competitive market of both mobility services and specialist technology providers.

The main benefits of the IF components that will encourage market uptake are:

• Enabling a complete transformation of the European transport system into a global services and data market place;
• Freeing stakeholders from technological barriers, so new actors and business models will be able to emerge and prosper for the benefit of European travellers;
• Promoting the development of a large, competitive market of independent and autonomous suppliers of business services, applications, devices and systems to the travel and transport industry by dramatically reducing the overhead, business and financial costs associated with making such services and applications interoperable;
• Promoting the development of a large, competitive market of independent and autonomous suppliers of interoperability products and services to developers of travel and transportation devices, applications and systems, thus submitting the cost of interoperability to downwards market pressure.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.gof4r.eu/.