Flanders and The Netherlands invest in big data on cycling

By

31 Aug, 2015

During the European Mobility Week, taking place in many cities in September 2015, several ECF members (Fietsberaad Vlaanderen, Fietsersbond VL & Fietsersbond NL) will carry out an extensive research project: they aim to count the cyclists and kilometers cycled in Flanders and the Netherlands with two free apps.

In Flanders, almost half of all municipalities (136 out of a total of 308 municipalities), the 5 Flemish regions and the Flemish government participate in the counting and there are more than 400 fixed and mobile counting points on strategically chosen locations. In most cases, the counting will happen in collaboration with local cyclists’ organisations (Fietsersbond), Stef Leroy, project officer at Fietsersbond Vlaanderen says: “It is an important initiative and we are calling out to all our members and volunteer cyclists to participate in the Fietstelweek.” In the Netherlands more than 11.000 people already downloaded the app, with still 2 weeks to go. Jaap Kamminga, program coordinator at Fietsersbond Netherlands explains why they participate in this project “We track the rides of cyclists through the app. Our aim is to get more knowledge of the route-choice of cyclists in order to give better advice to city councils on their network. We believe this data will be very important to improve cycling conditions in the Netherlands.” The data of both the Flemish and the Dutch Fietstelweek will be collected in an open data platform, developed with the support of Ghent University and NHTV, available on simple demand (according to the EU rules on governments’ data collections). Wout Baert, coordinator of Fietsberaad Vlaanderen, explains: “A general summary of the results will follow soon after the week of counting, but more detailed results and recommendations will be ready by the end of the year. Even after the official Counting Week, participating cities and regions can add new cycling data they collect. What’s more, the cities will also be able to benefit from workshops, early 2016, to learn how to interpret the data and how to use the data to improve cycling policies.” The aim is to annually repeat the FietsTelweek, so that developments in cycling policy become visible. ECF is following this research project closely and is determined to check if in the years to come, this kind of big data collection on cycling can be organised on a European scale to collect all information from the numerous city cycling apps! http://fietstelweek.be (16-22 September) http://fietstelweek.nl (14-20 September)