Data management and data sharing in field operational tests

Book chapter, 2016

In this chapter it will be discussed how data from Field Operational Tests of Intelligent Transport Systems can be managed and shared. The Field Operational Tests, where hundreds of users get to experience the latest systems, aim to assess the impacts that would result from a wide-scale implementation. Evaluation principles of Field Operational Tests will be explained, and a closer look will be taken at the data that is collected for carrying out the assessments. The widely used FESTA methodology for designing and conducting Field Operational Tests and Naturalistic Driving Studies already provides several recommendations for managing data. This methodology will be discussed and illustrated by examples of its use in European projects. As field test projects set out to collect a huge set of data, the projects themselves do not usually have the scope or the resources to analyze the data from every perspective. Therefore re-use of the collected data also by other projects with different research questions has the potential to generate a wealth of new knowledge about what is happening in the interactions between drivers, vehicles and the infrastructure. Data sharing is the focus of a European support action, FOT-Net Data. The support action is working, with international collaboration, to form a data sharing framework, a data catalogue, and provide detailed recommendations for sharing and re-use. Outcomes from this activity will be discussed. Ways of sharing different types of data will be described, including the necessary steps to be taken to open up the data.