Turning Urban mobility Data into Real-Time Decision Power: Policy Lessons from EMERALDS

Turning Urban Mobility Data into Real-Time Decision Power: Policy Lesson from EMERALDS Executive Summary European cities are confronting mounting challenges in managing mobility systems: rapidly growing data volumes, stringent privacy regulations, constrained municipal budgets, and increasing citizen expectations for efficient and sustainable transport. The EMERALDS project has demonstrated that cities can overcome these obstacles with practical, affordable, and privacy-preserving real-time mobility analytics Through deployments in The Hague, Rotterdam, Riga, and early demonstrations in York, EMERALDS has shown that cities can achieve real-time crowd forecasting, traffic monitoring, and public transport optimisation without major infrastructure overhauls or specialist technical expertise. This brief summarises key project outcomes and presents actionable policy pathways for European cities aiming to operationalise evidence-based mobility management. This project has received funding from the Horizon Europe R&I programme under the GA No. 101093051. Urban Mobility Challenges in European Cities "Factshee 2040 EU climate target by the European Commission This project has received funding from the Horizon Europe R&I programme under the GA No. 101093051. Growing Complexit Climate Commitment Economic Constraints Data–Privacy Tension With 75% of Europeans projected to live in cities by 2030, mobility patterns are becoming increasingly complex. Traditional, reactive management approaches fail to keep pace with dynamic, data-rich environments The European Green Deal requires a 90% reduction in transport-related greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Achieving this demands data-driven optimisation of sustainable transport services and reduced reliance on private cars Municipalities face budget limitations even as expectations for reliable, efficient transport services grow. Cities must identify solutions that maximise impact using existing infrastructure Cities collect vast amounts of mobility data, yet struggle to transform it into timely operational insights. Conventional analytics often require centralising sensitive data, creating GDPR and NIS2 compliance burdens and raising public trust concerns. EMERALDS developed real-time mobility analytics that transform fragmented data streams into actionable intelligence-enabling cities to predict crowding, manage multimodal transport networks, and optimise public transport performance while maintaining strong privacy guarantees Across three pilot cities, the project delivered proven, replicable solutions that demonstrate measurable improvement in operational efficiency, safety, and resource allocation. The EMERALDS SOLUTION This project has received funding from the Horizon Europe R&I programme under the GA No. 101093051. Improved mobility across major European Citie The Hague: Predictive Crowd Management for Coastal Safet Created short-term (8-hour) and mid-term (10-day) AI forecasting models that predict how busy Scheveningen Beach will be in the next few hours and days Combined information like events, parking numbers, weather, and live crowd counts into one realtime system Built a system that warns the city about crowding risks using simple colours (green, yellow, orange, red) integrated into the city’s digital twin (see infographic “Druktescenario’s Scheveningen” on the next page) Impac Shown that reliable crowd forecasts can help the city plan ahead instead of reacting last-minute, improving coordination between services and reducing costs by using staff and resources more efficiently Rotterdam: Multimodal Traffic Operations Optimisatio Built a smarter way to detect traffic queues without costly equipment; Q-net, an AI fusion method combining floating car data and induction loops to replace expensive radar-based queue detection Created an easy-to-use dashboard to monitor travel conditions; a multimodal traffic performance dashboard with 15-minute indicators for strategic and tactical monitoring Developed a highway forecasting system using gradient boosting and spatial–temporal sensor data, to predict highway traffic Impac Created a smarter system that estimates queues more accurately, automates daily traffic monitoring, and improves predictions of travel times and traffic slowdowns, helping the city manage roads more efficiently and at lower cost Riga: Public Transport Reliability and Accessibility Analytic Developed a data analytics framework for Public Transport network optimisation despite integration and data quality constraints Assessed accessibility to key services via Origin-Destination matrices and trip-chaining algorithms, to analyse real travel patterns Conducted segment-level delay analysis by comparing live and scheduled travel times Impac Helped the city identify where public transport needs improvement, in line with Riga’s sustainability goals, reinforcing findings from local surveys on user satisfaction and modal shift drivers, and showed how better reliability can bring real economic and social benefits for Riga. Three pilot and one early demonstrator cities - The Hague, Rotterdam, Riga, and York - have proven that affordable, privacy-preserving real-time mobility analytics can be deployed on existing infrastructure to improve crowd forecasting, traffic management, and public transport performance. Key Achievements This project has received funding from the Horizon Europe R&I programme under the GA No. 101093051. The EMERALDS solutions are privacy preserving, smart urban management systems which have the potential to transform mobility management leading to real-time, evidence-based decision making for transport planners and city authorities. This reduces costs, enhances efficiency and makes cities more livable for citizens across Europe while protecting their privacy. Who benefits from EMERALDS Solutions This project has received funding from the Horizon Europe R&I programme under the GA No. 101093051. Transport planners Advanced analytics without programming; faster bottleneck identification York: Real-time monitoring plus historical trend analysis for short and long-term planning City Authorities Improved event management; proactive rather than reactive operations Scheveningen, The Hague: 15minute dashboard updates with 10day forecasting horizons Privacy Advocates Data processing at source; no centralised personal information repositories Riga: Edge pipeline keeps identifiable traces local while enabling analytics Budget Officers Reduced infrastructure and maintenance costs; uses existing systems Bus-based monitoring: Zero new sensor deployment required IT Departments Automated deployment; standardsbased integration; built-in security MAaaS: (Mobility Analytics as a Service) Minutes to deploy; automatic scaling; NIS2-compliant security backbone Citizens Better public transport; reduced congestion; transparent AI decisions Rotterdam: Q ueue estimation matching radar performance improves traffic flow Researchers Proven deployment pathway; sustained tool evolution beyond project end Trajectools software: integration into external platforms Stakeholder Group Primary Benefits Supporting evidence Funding Priorities: Dedicate Horizon Europe Digital Europe successor program me resources to scaling proven deployment-ready solutions rather than purely research-focused projects. EMERALDS demonstrates that real-time, privacy-preserving mobility analytics are not a future aspiration - they are an operational reality. With the right policy frameworks and investment pathways, European cities can accelerate the transition to safer, cleaner, more efficient urban mobility systems. This project has received funding from the Horizon Europe R&I programme under the GA No. 101093051. These recommendations translate EMERALDS results into concrete actions that policy-makers at all levels can implement immediately - ensuring that the project’s validated analytics tools become standard components of Europe’s mobility management systems To ensure that the innovations and insights generated by EMERALDS continue to benefit European cities, we recommend the following: Actionable Policy Recommendations: Clear steps for Decision Makers Municipal Transport Authoritie Use real-time insights in daily operations so traffic, public transport, and event teams can anticipate issues and adjust services earlier Create a small citywide mobility data team to manage data, keep tools up to date, and help staff understand insights without needing technical skills Start with quick, high-impact projects - like crowd and congestion monitoring - and reinvest the savings to expand future improvements, while keeping strong privacy protections in place Ensure privacy-by-design by processing data in ways that protect individual identities and require all new data partnerships to support privacy-friendly analytics. National Transport Governanc Make it easier for cities to share mobility data by setting common standards and providing simple, privacy-safe agreement templates Support cities with funding and shared pilot projects so they can adopt real-time, predictive traffic and crowd tools - especially smaller municipalities Require the use of predictive analytics for major events and critical locations and include these tools in national emergency and resilience plans Provide national training and certification so public-sector teams can confidently use data and real-time mobility tools in daily operations. EU Transport an d D i g ital P olic  Increase EU funding for modern mobility technology, focusing on realtime analytics and projects that protect people’s privacy Provide clear EU guidelines and tools to help cities safely use mobility data and ensure systems work across borders Scale up successful solutions across Europe by using EU platforms and dedicated programmes that support real-time analytics and digital twins Support cross-border innovation tests so neighbouring cities can try new mobility data methods together in safe, temporary “sandbox” environments. This project has received funding from the H ori z on Europe R &I programme under the G A N o . 101093051. Ensuring Continuity Beyond Project End (January 2026 The EMERALDS solutions are engineered for long-term viability and continued impact To ensure sustained adoption and further development, the mechanisms are following the points below 1 - Technical Integration into Operational Platforms Core EMERALDS components - forecasting models, dashboards, data pipelines—are being integrated into existing municipal platforms and commercial products Action: Cities should plan for integration into their own digital twins, traffic-control systems, or public transport operations platforms using EMERALDS-ready APIs and modular components. 2 - Open-Source Foundation for Ongoing Innovatio Tools such as Trajectools for QGIS, built on MovingPandas and other open-source libraries, remain freely available with active community maintenance and integration in SaaS platforms is ongoing Action: Municipal IT teams and research partners should adopt these tools for mobility data analytics and extend them to address local use cases 3 - Embedded in the European Mobility Ecosyste EMERALDS outputs are aligned with broader EU initiatives (Mission Cities, Data Spaces, CIVITAS), ensuring long-term visibility, collaboration, and knowledge exchange Action: Cities should engage with these initiatives to access shared resources, training, and technical support 4 - Full Alignment with European Data and IT Standard FAIR metadata principles and open, modular architectures ensure interoperability with evolving municipal IT systems Action: Municipalities should map their existing data environments against EMERALDS’ standards to enable seamless integration and future-proof investments.Cities aiming to replicate EMERALDS successes can follow this step-by-step roadmap. Sustainability and Next Steps This project has received funding from the Horizon Europe R&I programme under the GA No. 101093051.