PoliVisu Press Release

1. PRESS RELEASE
Putting Cities on the Map: Innovative Geospatial Initiative
Win’s Europe’s Digital Government Award
OpenTransportNet is awarded Digital Government Excellence status at the 18th
European Conference on
eGovernment, providing momentum for Daughter initiative, PoliVisu, to continue its innovative legacy.
26 October 2018. A project
to tackle complex urban
mobility challenges in
innovative ways across
Europe has been honoured at
the 18th
annual Digital
Government Conference
Awards, held at the University
of Santiago de Compostela,
Spain. OpenTransportNet
(OTN), a multi-partner, multi-
country initiative, led by
Informatie Vlaanderen,
received an award for outstanding digital transformation work in the smart cities of Antwerp, Belgium,
Issy-les-Moulineaux, France and the Region of Liberec in the Czech Republic.
OpenTransportNet was chosen by the European Commission in 2013 to receive funding to help cities
turn their open, location-based data into insights through easy-to-read, visually appealing maps. The
resulting Open Data Hubs helped cities and businesses solve transport related challenges by visualising
their problems, enabling them to co-create solutions together with developers, data providers and
community representatives.
One solution generated by OpenTransportNet, used today by the Flemish Police, is a Traffic Accidents
App for Flanders. The analytical tool allows users to discover hotspots of traffic accidents such as those
in certain hours of the day or ones with certain severity, or in specific locations, nearby schools for
example. These insights help to identify where to apply specific traffic management or security
measures.
Whilst the ground-breaking project ended last year, one of the OTN Coordinators, Mr. Geert Mareels,
from Informatie Vlaanderen, said: “I am thrilled with this win. OpenTransportNet has been a great
example of pan-European partnership working, advancing the use of disruptive technology to solve
complex challenges in the Public Sector”. Mareel’s colleague, Lieven Raes, who project managed the
initiative continued, “It is testament to the commitment, talent and skills of the whole team that we are
able to continue our innovative research and innovation with OTN’s daughter project, PoliVisu”.
The new PoliVisu initiative builds upon the results of OTN by making it even easier for Cities to benefit
from data-driven decision-making and low-cost policy experimentation by embedding big data directly
into traditional policy making processes. “Equipping decision makers with the skills and tools, from open
geospatial data processing to more advanced visualisations, helps them make better, more sustainable

2. PRESS RELEASE
policy decisions and manage operations more effectively” said Mr. Lieven Raes, PoliVisu Coordinator,
from Informatie Vlaanderen.
PoliVisu Communications Manager, Susie Ruston McAleer from 21c, commented “Thanks to ground
breaking initiatives like OTN, the demand for acquiring intelligent insights conveniently has never been
greater. The benefits of geospatial data and advanced analytics are now firmly on the agenda of cities
across Europe.”
-ends-
Notes to editors
 The 18th European Conference on Digital Government is an annual event dedicated to
promoting and sharing excellence in eGovernment innovation https://www.academic-
conferences.org/conferences/ecdg/
 OpenTransportNet was a 3-year project co-funded by the European Union’s Competitiveness
and Innovation Framework Programme under grant agreement No 620533 Led by Informatie
Vlaandere
 PoliVisu is a 3-year project co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and
Innovation programme under grant agreement No 769608. Consortium members are Vlaams
Gewest / Informatie Vlaandere (project coordinator), IS-Practice, EDIP, SEM ISSY Media, Help
Service Remote Sensing, Geosparc, InnoConnect, City Zen Data, 21c Consultancy, Athens
Technology Center, Sprava Informacnich Technologii, MACQ, Plan4all, Politecnico di Milano and
Stad Gent. Follow the developments of PoliVisu Online, on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
For further information please contact:
Susie Ruston McAleer, susie@21cConsultancy.com Laura Gavrilut, laura@21cConsultancy.com