THE ISSUE Warsaw Conference
Between 3rd and 5th July 2013 in Warsaw the IV Conference of THE ISSUE (Transport, Health, Environment. Intelligent Solutions for Sustaining Urban Economies) project took place. The conference was divided into two parts: opened and business (for the project partners only). The public part of the conference was held on the 3rd of July, the theme was ITS as a Tool for the Development of Sustainable Transport Systems” the subject of the whole conference was „Joint Action Plan and Business Plan Review”.
The meeting organized by the partners of Mazovia cluster (The Institute of Geodesy and Cartography, the Marschal Office of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship and Intergraph Poland Ltd.) was attended by the representatives of the European Regions representing scientific, business and administrative partners. The guests were welcomed by the Director of the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography dr hab. Marek Baranowski and on behalf of the Local Authorities of Mazovia by the Director of the Geodesy and Cartography Department of the Marshal Office of Mazovia Krzysztof Mączewski. Next the project Coordinator Steve Dibnah briefly presented THE ISSUE project, its objectives and results and also introduced the subject of the action plan and possibilities it offers for the future.
In the public part of the conference guests listened to the presentations prepared by the representatives of science, business and administration, implementing and coordinating the projects in Warsaw and beyond. It was a good moment to present the achievements to the Polish audience but also for the foreign partners to get to know the actions performed in our region. Following topics were presented:
Road Information Systems – implementing experiences from Mazovia and Warsaw (Sławomir Heller, Heller Consult sp. z o.o. and HELLER Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH Darmstadt);
ITS and the Environment in Warsaw Transport Strategy (Mieczysław Reksnis, Head of Roads and Public Transportation Department);
Innovative Solutions in the field of ITS in Public Transport in Warsaw (Tamas Dombi, Public Transport Authority of Warsaw; Coordinator of INVOLVE EU Program);
Traffic-related Air Pollutants as a Risk Factor of Respiratory Diseases – Warsaw Study Results (Artur Badyda, Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology).
The key moment of the conference open session were the two-stage workshops.
The first stage was available for all interested guests at the conference room and online. The main topic was: “Location-Based Intelligence and Open Data: Faciliating Smart City Citizen-Centred Intelligent Transport Systems”
The Webinar presented by prof. Mike Jackson and co-authored with dr Suchith Anand, both from the Nottingham Geospatial Institute, University of Nottingham, was on the topic of Location Intelligence and Open Data. The presentation is an introduction to the topics of open data, open source software and open standards and why they are so important for providing efficient and sustainable location-based services (especially intelligent transportation) in the digitally connected Smart City. The presentation covered, in brief, the following:
some background on current societal and technological change in the context of intelligent transportation systems + the digitally connected Smart City;
how location-based intelligence provides a spatial framework for the Smart City’s operation;
why this drives he need for open data, open software and open standards;
an outline of some of the current progress + political initiatives in Europe;
identification of some of the remaining challenges, and
a summary and suggested reading.
Webinar online was the first of the planned cycle of meetings in frames of Master Exchange Programme, a part of THE ISSUE project.
The second stage of workshops was conducted in five Splinter Groups. Each group was engaged in the challenge of THE ISSUE project. These are:
Intelligent traffic management systems to address traffic congestion, overloading of urban and regional transport infrastructure and impacts on air quality and urban and regional environments;
Monitoring and forecasting to manage urban air quality and greenhouse gas emissions;
Urban and regional road networks – utilization, planning and optimization;
Urban transport, mobility, intermodality and interoperability;
Improving safety, security and health for urban communities.
The groups conducted the discussion on how the Open Source Data solutions can be included in particular challenge.
The open part of the conference was ended by dr hab. Marek Baranowski.