Cooperative Urban
Mobility Portal
Explore Connected and Cooperative Mobility
Cooperative
Urban Mobility Portal
Explore Connected and Cooperative Mobility
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Thessaloniki
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City settings and mobility challenges
Thessaloniki, located in northern Greece, is the second largest city in Greece with over 1 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area (Region of Central Macedonia). The city consists of highly densely populated areas and a complex urban and interurban road network, while the total number of vehicles exceeds 777.544, including private cars, heavy vehicles and motorcycles.
The main mobility challenges relate to traffic congestion, road safety and accidents, parking management, as well as environmental pollution. Thessaloniki has been engaged in various initiatives and projects related to connected and cooperative mobility in an attempt to address mobility problems and provide smart solutions and services to citizens. More information is available online at https://cmobile.imet.gr/.
C-ITS services
The C-ITS services which have been implemented in Thessaloniki focus on safety and traffic efficiency, as drivers are provided with notifications aiming to improve attentiveness, inform about network conditions, and promote eco-friendly driving.
The services Road Works Warning, Road Hazard Warning, Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA), Flexible Infrastructure, In-Vehicle Signage, Mode and Trip Time Advice, and Probe Vehicle Data are implemented in large-scale, covering areas of the Central Business District of the city, the Peripheral Ring Road, as well as the eastern and western entrance to the city.
C-ITS services which are implemented in limited scale or as proof of concept are Emergency Vehicle Warning, Signal Violation Warning, Warning System for Pedestrian, Green Priority, and Cooperative Traffic Light for Pedestrian.
All services operations are currently supported by cellular communication technologies (LTE) with future extensions targeting to integrate wireless short-range communications (ITS-G5).
C-ITS infrastructure
The necessary data for C-ITS services operation in Thessaloniki rely on fusion of multisource data collected from the road network. Equipment installations include loop detectors, closed-circuit television cameras, and Variable Message Signs (VMS), while data are collected also from vehicles (that is Probe Vehicle Data or Floating Car Data).
Regarding back-end systems, a GeoMessaging Platform developed by CERTH-HIT is used to broadcast C-ITS messages taking into account the location of service’ end-users. In addition, the CTMaaS tool developed by CERTH-HIT is provided to the Traffic Management Centre of the city with the purpose to integrate the C-ITS services in daily traffic management.
C-ITS App
The app providing cellular communication-based C-ITS services to end-users is developed by CERTH-HIT, and is one single free app giving access to all the C-ITS services implemented in the road network of Thessaloniki. The app combines a user-friendly interface and intelligence features, in order to improve driving comfort. Moreover, the app provides interoperability as users can experience common C-ITS services in other cities where these services are applicable. The App is available in Google Play Store.
End-users engagement
The end-users of C-ITS services in Thessaloniki comprise of regular and professional drivers. Regular drivers include employees from CERTH and the Region of Central Macedonia (RCM) as well as staff and students of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH). Individual citizens (private drivers) can also download and use the free App. Regarding professional drivers, around 1000 taxi drivers from the company Taxiway are provided with the App.
Local partnerships
Local partners included public and private organisations, namely:
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The Region of Central Macedonia (RCM) is the regional governmental authority that is responsible for traffic management and the purchase and operation of all related equipment, such as field and back-end systems, controllers, VMSs.
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Taxiway is a private company and taxi fleet operator, which provides taxi services to citizens. Traffic Technique is a contractor and commercial company, specializing in the design, supply, installation and technical-support of road-traffic management and control systems, including intersection traffic control, traffic detection and counting, ITS solutions, and parking management systems.
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Swarco Hellas is a company providing innovative Infomobility Services and Intelligent Transportation System Solutions. The company develops and offers Content & Information services for the traffic and transport sector, and it also integrates and implements a wide range of ITS applications, including urban traffic control and traffic monitoring systems.
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Other stakeholders supporting deployment efforts are the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks (YME) and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).
Barcelona
Bilbao
Bordeaux
Copenhagen
Newcastle
North Brabant
Thessaloniki
Vigo
This website has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme
under Grant Agreement number 723311.