- 6/27/2025
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LearningTranscript
00:00Hi there, my name is Michael Malkuin and I represent Open and Agile Smart Cities and
00:08Communities and I'm going to be taking you through two short training segments. The first one as you
00:15can see is relating to implementing open data platforms, data spaces and local digital twins
00:21and then when we've completed that we're going to talk about open architectures and minimal
00:26interoperability mechanisms it's going to be exciting. Of course with so many topics to cover
00:31in such a short time it means that I won't be able to cover anything in any great detail
00:37but hopefully it will be enough to give you a good sense of what this topic is about, why it's
00:41important and we'll be able to point you to some useful training resources where you can dig into
00:45these things in more detail. So let's get into the first training segment. What we're going to be
00:52looking at as we see here is the roles of open data platforms, data spaces and local digital twins
00:59and their value to a local community or city. What are the steps to implementing each of these
01:06and how we can use the Data Space Support Centre to find the information resources needed.
01:12So let's get on with it. Now open and shareable data are two really important topics related to
01:19how we can use all the data that's been gathered in the city. Open data is something that's very
01:25familiar to us in cities and communities because for many years we've been sharing the kind of data
01:32that anyone can access use and share widely on our websites and in other ways for the benefit of our
01:38citizens and our businesses. So open data is data that is not in any way sensitive it's data that is
01:45valuable to anybody and anybody can use and share them as they want. However, shareable data is something
01:53different. It's not data that's just open. It's data that I carefully choose to share with specific people
02:00and organisations and for specific purposes. It's data that's restricted to certain organisations and roles within
02:09those organisations and therefore has to be managed much more carefully than open data. Now many cities
02:18and communities are already providing useful open data to citizens and businesses and this is the next
02:24step. How we can make use of all the valuable data that's been gathered by the city administration
02:30and by many partners within the city to be able to be used to help make sure the city as a whole works
02:37really well. Now let's start with open data platforms because this is something we know a lot about,
02:43we're experts on and we know that these data is being shared, open data is being shared widely
02:50for a number of very good reasons. The first of course is about accountability. Local administrations
02:56are elected by their citizens, they tax the citizens and the businesses and use that money to provide
03:03services. So it is only right that citizens and businesses are able to see who is making the
03:09decisions, why they're making them and how the money that is being collected through local taxation is being
03:16used to benefit local people. So accountability is a key reason, it's being open and transparent with
03:23how the city administration works. But equally valid is the way that open data is often really valuable in
03:30saving staff time. Citizens and businesses have many questions of local authorities, things like when is my rubbish
03:39going to be collected or how can I find out which schools my children are able to go to. So there are many
03:47questions that citizens and businesses need to ask of local authorities and rather than having to phone up and
03:54taking lots of staff time or maybe visit the offices, if that information is available in an easily searchable
04:02way online, this not only saves the citizen time, but it actually means that local staff in the city
04:09administration are not wasting a lot of time on calls and on talking to people face to face. So it saves staff
04:16time. Thirdly, and obviously that's implied by what we said just now, that when the right information is made
04:24easily available to citizens, then this is a service. It makes things much easier for citizens if they're
04:29not having to try and find out what's the right phone number to call or try and get the bus to the
04:34local offices of their city council. If they could just go online on their phone or on their computer
04:39and get that information quickly and easily, that's a really important and valuable service for the
04:44citizen. And then of course, finally, often central government itself is mandating the use of open data
04:51for all of these reasons to make sure that that the citizen is able to get the information that it
04:56needs from every level of administration. So that's what's happening. And that's been happening for a
05:01long time. And many cities are not just content with making their own data more openly available for
05:07the citizen and business. But they work with their partners to provide a common open data platform so
05:12that there's once a one stop shop where citizens who are interested in finding out useful information about
05:18what's happening in their city can go to one website and see there all of this information in one place
05:24that enables them to get that information easily and quickly. So what about shareable data? Well,
05:30shareable data is needed because a city is managed with different systems and different domains,
05:38mobility, utility use, shopping and commerce, health, housing. So there are many different agencies
05:45that manage different aspects of the city. And all of these agencies are collecting lots and lots of
05:50data increasingly to be able to do to manage their aspect of the city well. But of course,
05:58each of these different systems interact with each other. And therefore, it's important that the data
06:05from each of these different systems that's relevant to helping the other systems to be able to do a good
06:11job. But that data needs to be easily available, so that the different other systems in the city can
06:17use it to help make better decisions about how they're doing their work. For instance, it's very
06:24useful if there's a big sports event happening in the city for public transport and other agencies to be
06:32aware of that so they can make proper preparations to make sure that people can travel and all the other
06:37things that need to be done. And so it's very important that there's really easy ways for relevant
06:44information to be shared between the different systems that are managing the different aspects of
06:50the city. And that's why the European Interoperability Framework for Smart Cities and Communities
06:56has been set up to provide guidance to cities and communities as to how they can do that. There's lots of
07:02really good information that you can see where there's a link on this page to find out more details about the
07:09many practical advice and information that's provided to help make this work. But one of the
07:17recommendations is about setting up and consolidating interoperable local data platforms that's able to
07:24integrate and reuse data in cities and communities. That's what we're talking about. And that's something that the
07:29European Commission has seen as a really important way that cities can help develop and provide the
07:36information that people need. And so that's what we're talking about today. This is something that's really
07:43useful and it's something that's mandated by the European Commission that's aiming at helping the flow of
07:50information around local areas and around the European Union as a whole. And so we need to think how to do it.
08:00Now, initially, we used to think about data being stored in data warehouses. But some years ago, this was
08:09opened up to talking about data lakes, where you'd often find, for instance, a city administration
08:15would host a data lake and would get data from its many partners, and put all of that data in whatever
08:21format it was, and so on, within that one place, so that whenever anyone needed any of that data, it
08:28could be comparatively easily retrieved and used. However, that centralised way of storing data is
08:35gradually being replaced by a more decentralised way of doing it, which is oftenly called data spaces.
08:42And in data spaces, what you're looking at is where there's a data ecosystem where a particular sector
08:49or application bringing together a number of different agencies that are working to deliver
08:54some aspect of, for instance, city life, like transport or energy or whatever. So all the different
09:02agencies that are aiming to deliver that aspect of city life are able to share data, not by putting it
09:09into a central repository, but by opening up by enabling other people to take data from them, from them,
09:16and use it under proper terms and conditions. So what's happening is the data is held by the organisation
09:25that generated it and owns it. But that that organisation has agreed to make that data available
09:33for certain purposes by other agencies within the within that ecosystem. So as an example, if you can
09:40imagine, there's an area of the city where a lot of construction is going to be taking place planned,
09:47you know, maybe new housing, a retail office space or whatever. And there's a real focus on making sure
09:54that that that new area of development is low carbon that that what you're doing is making sure that
10:02in the design and build and then in the ongoing management of that area, that energy use and the
10:08carbon footprint are minimised as far as possible. Well, in order to make sure that you've got an overall
10:16understanding of how to reduce the carbon footprint of that area, there are many stakeholders that need to be
10:23brought on board, each of whom have different viewpoints, different aspects of the data that
10:28need to be made available so that the whole of that construction area can be managed properly to
10:35deliver what's needed. And a data space allows that to happen. It allows all the different stakeholders
10:41that are involved in designing and building and implementing and managing that new area of the city
10:47are able to share the information that helps them, each of them individually, to make the
10:52right decisions to get that carbon footprint as large as it can be. And that's just one example of
10:57many of where different data ecosystems within the city that are aiming to deliver something important
11:03are able to share data together to all do a better job in making that work. So the benefits of data
11:10spaces are that you're not trying to force people to share data who see no reason for doing it,
11:18or make the case or justify why that should happen. A data space starts with an existing group of
11:26of stakeholders, organizations that all are working together already to deliver on a common aim. And so
11:34they can see much more easily the value of sharing data among themselves. And the other great benefit is
11:40that they're not losing control, if you like, of their data by providing it in some other place,
11:45a central repository, but they continue to maintain control of their data and only allow it to be
11:52shared with others when it makes sense for them. So it puts them much more in control of all this
11:58valuable data that they're gathering. The challenges, of course, are that that's great, but you still need to
12:04work hard at technical interoperability, because all of these agencies may be collecting and managing
12:10and holding that data using different formats and different approaches. And the other thing is,
12:15it's very important to put in place very strong governance rules to make sure that people can,
12:21when they take that data from another partner, can be sure that it's reliable, that it hasn't been
12:27changed in any way. And if they build any applications on top of it, that they can have
12:32the confidence that that data will continue to be provided at the same level of quantity and quality
12:38that's needed. So a number of benefits, number of challenges, we just need to make it happen.
12:44And in doing that, if if you want to make sure that you are really able to benefit from the best
12:50experience around, the place to go is the Data Space Support Centre, which provides all kinds of support
12:56and help from documentation, interactive websites, communities, and specific advice for particular
13:05issues that you might be interested in. And it's really worthwhile going and looking to see all of
13:11the resources that are there available in the Data Space Support Centre to help you to do what you need to
13:16do in building the local data spaces that you need to put in place. So that's Data Spaces. The next step
13:23in Data Sharing is Local Digital Twins. And that's where you're not simply collecting data and sharing
13:31data among yourselves, but you're bringing together data about the city in a way that really anchors
13:38that data to particular parts of the city, to geographic locations, and enables you to understand
13:44what's happening in all the different parts of the city, and how all of those things link up together.
13:50It enables you to have effectively a digital replica of the physical city so that you can
13:58see what's happening in the real city by using that digital replica to do it, and so that you can
14:05model different options and all the rest of it to help you make sure that you're making the best and
14:12the most effective decisions for managing the physical city. It's really about three different
14:17aspects of the city. First of all, obviously, it's about places and physical assets. It's about being
14:23able to describe these things in digitally, and link them up with IoT devices, and video cameras,
14:32all kinds of things like that, that are providing real-time or near real-time information about what's
14:36happening in all of these different places, and therefore gain a really good sense of what's going on
14:42all the different areas of the city. But an effective local digital twin doesn't stop there,
14:48it will also be able to take on board the different processes that are going on, what
14:52organisations are doing what, how they're delivering on the different services that are needed, and it
14:59will also look at the different kinds of people that live and work in the city. What are their different
15:03needs? What are they doing at different times of the day or night? Where are they? And so really getting an
15:09understanding of all the things that are going on, both the physical, the processes, and also the people
15:15of that city, to make sure that all of these things can be managed comprehensively and together.
15:21So a digital twin, it could be a digital twin of the whole city. And here's a very good example that
15:27I was able to see in China a few years back, where you can see depicted the whole city, all the different
15:34aspects of the city, and get a real sense of, you know, what's happening in different places,
15:40so that you've got an overall picture of any problems that might be developing, and what kind of
15:46things might need to be done to solve them. And that means, as you can see, that there's some pictures
15:50there of where you've been able to drill down into actual video of particular areas of what's happening.
15:56And you can obviously, there's many options for you to use that overall digital twin of city to drill down
16:03into seeing what's happening in very specific places. And you can even drill down even further,
16:08for instance, to actually, here's a traffic light that's not working. And you can find out that
16:13particular traffic light, what are all the components in that traffic light, what components are not
16:18working, so that when you found out that traffic light isn't working, it's very easy to know precisely
16:24what sort of parts are needed, and what kind of repairs might be required to get that traffic light
16:29working back up again as quickly as possible. So this is the idea of a digital twin, being able to
16:35see the whole picture, but also being able to drill down and find out how you can solve any problem that
16:42you see in the city as a whole, to be able to solve that problem in the particular place where it's
16:47happening. So, as we can see, digital twins can have huge advantages for a city, it can help planning,
16:55by helping to look at what different options you might have before you build them, and then when
16:59things have been built, what might happen to that city, what might the impacts be, and what could you
17:06do about it. So this is a great way of putting in place plans, not just for building and construction,
17:13but how you can react if there's a disaster or some other issue happens. But it also helps you,
17:18not just in looking forward, but actually helps you in the day-to-day management of the city,
17:23because when it's linked to sensors, actuators, video cameras and so on, you can get a very good
17:30sense of what's happening, where anything might be going wrong at any particular time,
17:35what might be going wrong, what might the impact of that thing be if it's not dealt with, what are
17:40the kind of things that could be done to mitigate those problems, and what could be done to quickly
17:46solve that problem in the first place. And so it's a great way to help you manage the city better.
17:51So imagine a flood, for instance, something that's very, very much still in our minds at the moment.
17:57So the additional twin of the environment will help you to understand, ah, there's a flood happening,
18:03so how quickly are the waters likely to rise? Which roads and transport links are going to be covered
18:10first and will become impassable? Which parts of the city are likely to be safe havens for people to
18:16go to? And which are ones that people need to evacuate quickly? Ah, where might power outages
18:22happen? And where might be good places to store equipment and so on that would help with dealing
18:27with the impact of flooding? So that's a really useful aspect of a flood. But not just that, if you've
18:33got a digital twin that's really focused on dealing with these kinds of disasters, you could also map
18:40which organisations are best placed to provide help? What help could they provide? Who manages key
18:45buildings that could provide shelter? And how can you make sure they're opened up in time? What
18:49information is needed by different agencies and so on? And where are agencies that may have staff
18:56in key positions that could really help to manage any natural disaster as it's occurring? So that's a very
19:04important aspect. And then, of course, when you're looking at people, it's very useful to know which
19:11people are most vulnerable when any disaster, any problem happens. What's the best way to communicate
19:17with the different kinds of people in the city? Where might they be at any particular time? Are they
19:21at work? Are they shopping? Are they likely to be at home? So that you can make sure you can manage the
19:27safety of the different sorts of people in your city, should there be any flood or something like that.
19:33So that's just one example of how a digital twin can provide you with really comprehensive and
19:38effective solutions for any challenges or natural disasters that might happen in your city.
19:45So we've been talking about four stages. The open data platform that many city councils will already be
19:52very experienced with. How you can open that up so that it's not just holding data that's generated and
19:58managed by the city administration, but also can provide a one-stop shop for useful information
20:04locally, but where data is gathered from many different partners in that one place. The next stage
20:10is being able to share sensitive data between partners using a local data space, well-managed data
20:17sharing ecosystem. And then the next stage on the line is once you're able to unlock and unleash the
20:26data that's being held by these many different agencies, how can you use all of that rich data
20:31to help build a local digital twin that can provide the information that managers need to be able to
20:37manage that city and community better. So this is the issue really, it's about thinking about these
20:42different stages, if you like, of opening up the data that's been gathered in the city and thinking
20:49about where is my city, where is my community and where do I need to go to next to be able to be
20:55able to use that data even more effectively.
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