The Alan Turing Institute has been commissioned by Active Travel England to create new software and data science techniques to support local authorities in offering walking, wheeling and cycling schemes, as announced by the Department for Transport.
The collaboration will run for two years and provide evidence for Active Travel to develop schemes that will offer the most benefits for residents. It will help councils to map out proposed schemes and see the impact they could have locally.
Researchers on the project will enable the development of new tools which will be paired with existing data sources such as OpenStreetMap, to create innovative solutions that will help build the evidence needed to meet national government’s objectives on active travel, including for 50% of short trips in urban areas to be made by walking, wheeling and cycling by 2030.
To launch this new collaboration, Active Travel Minister Jesse Norman recently attended an event at The Alan Turing Institute where he tested the technology that Active Travel England’s head of data Dr Robin Lovelace and Alan Turing Institute developer Dustin Carlino have been working on.
Active Travel Minister, Jesse Norman, said: “I hugely welcome this new partnership, which will enable local councils to draw on the latest technology and maximise the environmental, economic and health benefits of active travel.”
Active Travel England’s CEO, Danny Williams, said: “This exciting new collaboration will help to accelerate progress towards our vision of making walking, wheeling and cycling the natural choice for short trips nationwide.”
“The Active Travel Infrastructure Platform is going to save councils’ time, improve local decision-making and enable evidence-based decisions to be made that will have maximum impact.”
The Alan Turing Institute’s Chief Scientist, Professor Mark Girolami, said: “We are excited to be partnering with Active Travel England to develop new data science tools and software that will support the shared mission to make active travel more accessible and enjoyable for everyone."
