Open Transport Data (TN0039)

Standardize identifiers and nomenclatures of the land transport stations and disseminate the relevant public data in an open format
Beginning of October 2018 – End of August 2020
Lead implementing agency/actor
Ministry of Transport in cooperation with relevant institutions and companies under supervision
Commitment description
This commitment aims to promote the opening up and reuse of public data and informing travelers in the land transport field through designing and establishing a unified database for land transport stations at the national level as well as its dissemination in an open format "National Repository of Stations". In fact, establishing this database will enable the unifying of identifiers and nomenclatures and the collection of all data on geographical coordinates and other information. In addition, data will be disseminated in an open format to facilitate its reuse in order to develop services for travelers (via web or smartphones...). In this context, the following actions will be completed:
- Undertaking an inventory of stations on regular transport means (buses, metro, trains,...) and irregular trans port means (individual or collective taxis, rural transport means,...) at the national level and the collection of all data related to stations such as type, characteristics, equipment, lighting, methods of access especially for people with special needs, geographical coordinates, administrative reference, owner of the station, entity in charge of the station exploitation, and photos of the concerned station;
- Unifying identifiers and nomenclatures especially for the stations shared between different transport companies;
- Designing and establishing a unified database on land transport stations at the national level;
- Publishing a database in an open format to facilitate its reuse in order to develop passenger-oriented services.
Problem/Background
Lack of unified and up-to-date information about land transport at the national level. This can be considered as a constraint for the efficient and simple access to information by citizens. In addition, the absence of such information could hinder the development of mobile applications and electronic services on the transport sector.
Identification of commitment objectives/expected results
Providing accurate information in the land transportation field and opening up and dissemination of the public data on transport system in order to create applications and e-services related to this sector.
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?
- Easy access to the transport information by citizens;
- Promoting the development of services and applications by the reuse
of data that will be opened and published following establishing this database
Relevance with OGP values
- Transparency and openness: this commitment will enable more information dissemination and improve the quality of the access to information process, in addition to the possibility of the re-use of this data to create new added value.
Source of funding/
Relation with other programs and policies
Source of funding: Budget of the Ministry of Transport/ international cooperation / The French Development Agency (AFD), Steps and execution agenda
Beginning of October 2018
End of October 2018
Contact Information
Name of the responsible person from implementing agency
Mr. Ridha Arjoun
Title and Department
Director of the Unit of Smart Transport Systems and E-Government at the General Directorate of Administrative development, information systems and Smart Transport at the Ministry of Transport
E-mail address
ridha.arjoun@mt.gov.tn

Other Actors involved
State actors involved
CSOs, private sector, multilaterals, working groups
- Cartographie Citoyenne
- Tunisian Association of Local
Governance
- Tunisian Association of Public Auditors

4. Standardize identifiers and nomenclatures of the land transport stations and disseminate the relevant public data in an open format

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

"This commitment aims to promote the opening up and reuse of public data and informing travelers in the land transport field through designing and establishing a unified database for land transport stations at the national level as well as its dissemination in an open format "National Repository of Stations". In fact, establishing this database will enable the unifying of identifiers and nomenclatures and the collection of all data on geographical coordinates and other information. In addition, data will be disseminated in an open format to facilitate its reuse in order to develop services for travelers (via web or smartphones…)."

Milestones:

• Undertaking an inventory of stations on regular transport means (buses, metro, trains,…) and irregular transport means (individual or collective taxis, rural transport means,...) at the national level and the collection of all data related to stations such as type, characteristics, equipment, lighting, methods of access especially for people with special needs, geographical coordinates, administrative reference, owner of the station, entity in charge of the station exploitation, and photos of the concerned station;
• Unifying identifiers and nomenclatures especially for the stations shared between different transport companies;
• Designing and establishing a unified database on land transport stations at the national level;
• Publishing a database in an open format to facilitate its reuse in order to develop passenger-oriented services.

Responsible institution: Ministry of Transport

Supporting institution(s): Cartographie Citoyenne, Tunisian Association of Local Governance, Tunisian Association of Public Auditors

Start date: October 2018                               End date: August 2020

Editorial Note: This is a partial version of the commitment text. For the full commitment text from the Tunisia national action plan, see here.

Context and Objectives

This commitment aims to enhance transparency in the land transport sector, building on Commitment 7 of the previous action plan. Under the previous action plan, in August 2018, the Ministry of Transport launched a website with datasets ^[19] on 27 enterprises under the Ministry of Transport. The published information included details on the fleet inventory of national enterprises including marine, air, and ground transportation. Schedules, prices, and timetables were only available for five of the enterprises. As the need for access to information on the transport sector remains pressing, the current action plan narrows its focus to land transport.

The four milestones under this commitment intend to prepare an inventory of the stations, unify identifiers, and nomenclatures; develop a database; and publish the database in an open format for public use. All the milestones are specific enough to be verifiable. This commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information, as an open format database is one of its key deliverables. This database would be available through a website, which makes the commitment relevant to the OGP value of technology and innovation as well. 

This commitment could offer significant progress on improving accessibility of usable land transport data. According to Mr. Escander Nagazi, a knowledge management expert, “this commitment would allow the use of advanced apps and other technologies to calculate cost/effectiveness that could inform on budgeting and cost savings. In addition, this would allow the use of the mapping to facilitate the transit for locals and tourists.” ^[20] However, the mere publication of information does not guarantee its utilization. This commitment’s potential impact is limited to some degree by lack of measures to encourage uptake of newly available information.

Next steps
In future action plans, the IRM recommends that commitments focused on increasing access to transport data incorporate milestones focused on enabling widespread uptake of newly available information. Involving CSO and private sector representatives that work on customer defense issues during the design of this type of commitment may increase uptake and usability of data. Additionally, opportunities like data hackathons could motivate the use of newly published data to develop solutions that address issues in the transportation sector.

4. Standardize identifiers and nomenclatures of the land transport stations and disseminate the relevant public data in an open format

Substantial:

According to a government official, [33] an inventory of regular and irregular transport stations was created, identifiers and nomenclatures of land transport stations were unified in a common nomenclature, and a database of land transport stations was established. The database was published on the Ministry of Transport open data portal in April 2021, after the end of the 2018–2020 action plan cycle. [34]