Smart city insights and predictive analytics company Citi Logik has successfully deployed its advanced CitiAnalytics tool in Kingston upon Hull, providing a detailed mobile network analysis of road and transportation use in the UK city.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK population could reach 70 million by 2029, with additional government research suggesting that the majority of people and economic growth will be concentrated in cities.
Understanding how people move around cities today will help with future infrastructure planning and development for vehicles, walking, cycling and public transportation. The CitiAnalytics tool works by using the mobile cell phone network along with other big data sets to gather anonymized, census-quality information on the movement of people.
Following successful trials with the authorities in Hull, Citi Logik is now analyzing the city’s urban transportation systems to spot patterns, record trends and predict future use. This information can replace traditional roadside surveys, GPS and wi-fi data to allow local authorities to more accurately track and predict demands on public infrastructure.
Using the insight CitiAnalytics provides, local authorities will be able to better identify issues and work on solutions. This includes encouraging active travel, which requires the individual to exercise while moving from one destination to another.
Citi Logik has received funding from Innovate UK for multiple development projects, including small-scale grants from the agency and Transportation for London in 2011, which led to high-profile contracts to analyze traffic flows around Heathrow and Gatwick airports. In 2017, a further grant allowed the company to build its CitiAnalytics platform and test it with customers in a real-world environment. This is where it first worked with Hull, with successful trials seeing the system integrated into the day-to-day workings of the city.
The company has now secured a loan from Innovate UK’s pilot funding program, allowing Citi Logik to look at how it can scale up and roll out its platform to other cities. The forthcoming introduction of 5G mobile broadband technology should offer many additional capabilities and benefits to UK cities, such as the arrival of connected and autonomous vehicles.
For Citi Logik, the arrival of 5G means data will be more accurate and sharper, making its tool even more appealing for city planners to effectively shape their urban environments based on the real-time movement of those within it.
“We’ve worked on a wide range of projects over the last two years, including analysis of car parking and movement of people through railway stations,” explained Stephen Leece (above), managing director of Citi Logik.
“What’s very apparent is the way people are moving around urban spaces is changing dramatically. People aren’t commuting in a linear way anymore; they don’t go back in forth in one direction and they avoid commuting at rush hour. One thing we’ve found is that in many urban areas the speed of motorized movement is lower than the speed of cycling. If people are encouraged to use active travel, we can ease pollution and congestion.”
