The Jena Smart City project has set itself the task of creating an urban data space in which the full potential of urban data can be utilised. To this end, the city of Jena has created a centralised digital infrastructure that has been further developed together with Fraunhofer FOKUS on the basis of the open source software piveau. “The data infrastructure is designed in a comprehensive and far-sighted manner so that a wide range of data can be easily integrated and made available. This makes it possible for additional data sets to be added to the platform as use cases at a later point in time,” explains Dorothea Prell, overall project manager for Smart City Jena.

One step closer to a future-orientated digital city

Benjamin Koppe, Head of Finance, Security and Citizen Services at the City of Jena, emphasised the importance of this measure: “The introduction of the Urban Data Platform marks a significant step towards a smart and future-oriented city. We are confident that this platform will not only deepen our understanding of urban processes, but also strengthen our ability to respond quickly to the needs of our citizens.”

The measure is located in field of action 1 “Digitale Infrastruktur und Datenpolitik”. The sub-project manager and treasurer of the city of Jena, Martin Berger: “In line with the vision of the project ‘Jena digitalisiert, lernt und teilt. Unsere Stadt schafft und nutzt WISSEN’, this project is all about knowledge transfer. Urban data offers great opportunities for the city association to improve its own work and make public space and its infrastructure more usable for the people of Jena.”

Focus on data security

With regard to the publication of data, the City of Jena works with various experts such as Fraunhofer IDMT to ensure data protection and data security at all times.

Citizens' personal data in particular is subject to strict data protection rules, which are also implemented in the urban data context. Data sets containing personal information may only be made available if they are sufficiently aggregated and anonymised. Extensive professional, content-related and technical precautions will be taken in the Smart City project for this purpose.

The data platform will initially be launched with data from environmental sensors, population trends, trees in public spaces. All information from the existing open data portal.It can be accessed at wissensallmende.jena.de.

In the future, further use cases, for example on public transport, events, air quality or urban budget and controlling data, will be available on the urban data platform.