Web conference notes, 2025.01.16 (MDS Working Group)
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Defining the Right of Way
Existing data standards – including the Curb Data Specification and Mobility Data Specification – are paving the way for smarter cities. From more effective curb management to adopting new mobility services, public agencies use these tools to create more dynamic, data-driven policies. Yet, many seek to more fully digitize the right-of-way to meet critical goals around safety, sustainability, equity, and accessibility. We’ll identify shared priorities and craft recommendations to advance cross-sector collaboration and refine data standards for the digital public realm.
- Intro and announcements (10 min)
- Defining the Right of Way (20 mins)
- Overview
- INRIX
- DDOT
- Philadelphia
- Discussion (20 mins)
WGSC Meeting Organizers
- Host: Pierre Bouffort, Blue Systems
- Facilitator: Michael Schnuerle, OMF
- Preparation: Michael Schnuerle, OMF
- Outreach: Michael Schnuerle, OMF
- Note taker: TBD
- Leave your thoughts now and in the future on OMF Right of Way discussion #925.
- 51 Attendees
- OMF Slides
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Recording - Password
WP0=1*Y!
OMF WG Meeting Jan 16 Right of Way
Annoucements
- OMF Technology Council Election open now
- MDS WGSC nominations coming soon
- OMF Conferences
- CoMotion - Miami - April
- Curbivore - LA - April
- NACTO - DC - May
- POLIS Leadership Summit - Rome - May
- IPMI - Louisville - June - Urban Bourbon Trail, Mike King from OMF Board, OMF SMART Collab member cities and companies, Louisville DOT, Louisville Parking Authority
- OMF All member meetings Feb 5
Right of Way
- Existing data standards – including the Curb Data Specification and Mobility Data Specification – are paving the way for smarter cities.
- From more effective curb management to adopting new mobility services, public agencies use these tools to create more dynamic, data-driven policies.
- Many seek to more fully digitize the right-of-way to meet critical goals around safety, sustainability, equity, and accessibility.
- Today we will identify shared priorities and craft recommendations to advance cross-sector collaboration and refine data standards for the digital public realm.
INRIX
- Micromobility and MDS used for GPS location of vehicles and policy in the ROW and beyond
- CDS rules are asset based, not GPS based per se
- Some edge cases where MDS and CDS don’t work 100%
- You want to designate a slow street, but allow scooters to cross full speed at intersections
- bollards that allow some to enter the street, but not others
- Open or closed for parts of segments, one way, one direction, or one lane
- Working on digitizing the full right of way with Philadelphia, construction, road closures
- operators: who will consume the data and how? AVs, freight, mapping companies,
DC DDOT
- Been on linear referencing for a long time as a state and city, plus centerlines
- Digitizing assets like signs, road design (like Road Rules), every lane and config (Remix)
- How to keep a workflow to feed external changes back into city LR system
- 2D sidewalk assets are needed, straight lines now, need polygons
- Special events: every Nationals game day, send to providers as PDF, planned events
- Includes no turn movements (can’t do with MDS)
- Needs to be real time: longer or shifted or cancelled (can use MDS Policy)
- Emergent events like Seattle and 911 CAD and MDS Policy, vs twitter account from police. Protests
Philadelphia
- Need more granular data for a lot: user experience, supply and demand, traffic safety, policy decisions, new technology needed (like MDS/CDS, etc)
- Smart loading zones pilot outcomes - poly granular curb assets and activity and curb space digitally. Pivot to curb space management
- Pivots from smart loading zones:
- From loading zone user, to right of way user
- Compliance must be ubiquitous (full ROW) and incentives, enforcements, automation of enforcement
- CDS and MDS must be expanded to cover whole ROW
- Integrations:
- Digital ROW Inventory and Management -> [MDS/CDS/xDS]
- [MDS/CDS/xDS] -> streets planning and ops like esri, city works
- [MDS/CDS/xDS] -> Open apis, google, Apple Maps
- [MDS/CDS/xDS] -> digital signage
- Partners like oMF, Arcadis, CurbIQ, INRIX, LYT
- Spacial granularity - dynamic pricing, space and time data
- Currently at center line, large polygon areas in the ROW
- But people want space level and curb access level
- Arcadis helping to institutionalize all this, future work timeline:
- ROW Existing Conditions and Analysis Report
- Collection & Digitization for Missing ROW Data Topology
- Defining a Comprehensive ROW Data Topology
- Population of Data Topology with all ROW Data
- ROW Data Processes: Existing Conditions and Recommendations Analysis and Report
- INRIX helping to institutionalize all this, future work timeline:
- Curb Analytics Access for City and [CDS/MDS?] API Deployment
- Right of Way Manager (Road Rules)
- Integration of ROW assets (read: the stuff besides the curb) into Right of Way Manager
- Delivery of Comprehensive Pilot Data and Report
MDS 2.1 Release plan
- Things that affect the ROW: AVs, real time policy, unplanned stopping, crash and incidents, car share, Alignment with Specs like CDS and MDS across specs
MDS and CDS current discussions
MDS (tracks vehicles in full ROW) and CDS (rules and activity at a location).
- MDS connection open Issue #731 - connect Trips/Stops to CDS Zones
- CDS connection open Issue #17 - connect Zones to MDS Trips/Stops
- Related open issues:
- Additional parking facilities (on street, off street, lots, garages, underground, sidewalk) #818
- Crash, stopping, incidents in ROW #613
- Travel lanes and blocked lanes CDS #149
- Curb objects in and around curbs and on sidewalks, EV Charging, CDS #123
- New modes like fixed route transit, urban air, drones, fleets, all delivery
- Future ideas like intersections, street lane definitions, sidewalks, etc
Discussion Questions
- What digital policies do cities want to implement in the public right-of-way? (Andrew)
- Stephanie in DDOT: Special events and discussion around sidewalk networks and development and routing decisions around trucks and movement and pedestrian environment.
- How people move through an area, a pedestrian network
- Vlad and LADOT: AVs/robots and collisions, knowing where they happen, planning for future of sidewalks and roads to account for new tech, maybe need to design streets differently.
- Different types of mapping, centerline vs LR. Design for humans, but need to design for robots now too.
- Turning things from 1D to 2D and 3D in the air too
- What do digital policy consumers (i.e. mobility service providers, curb users, etc.) need to leverage this information? (Aylene)
- Liza, Eve Air Mobility: trust in new tech by residents. Digital policy can help with that trust. To enter and scale operations
- Micromobility industry benefited from MDS to get trust from cities and then residents
- Both public and private sector struggle with gaining trust
- What are the technical solutions used to address city use cases and what limitations are there? (Michael)
- Waymo: useful to have real time info in MDS and CDS to know what's happening in the ROW
- LA: Keeping up with this is a challenge for companies/operators. LA could have published real time MDS data and geofencing, but operators, media, social media, not ready to consume this yet. Could be like the National Weather Service where they publish it out and others interpret and consume it.
- Blue Systems: CDS built for commercial loading zones, but could be use for more. CDS could define more of the ROW
- Turning things digital is a big deal, need operator incentives or help, like LADOT with allowing taxi companies to recoup MDS dev costs with user feeds per trip. Spreading burden of cost to users of the system instead of city and company only.
- How can OMF align public and private sector priorities to ensure equitable outcomes? (Mitch)
- Michael from INRIX - Innovation to operationalize, repeatable, justifying the time. Scalable across cities.
- AV will need to understand things from their reality, plus data from public sector and accurate, reliable. Permits for a month is not helpful when it's only going to close a road for 2 days.
- Jurisdictions may not have authority, so need a value proposition for operators. Saving time, money, useful for them. Making the public safer, for example.
- Discussion around freight vehicles, defining freight routes, underpass height restrictions.
- Armand in Seattle: quantify value for cities as well. Is it cost effective, engagement with industry, investment for both.
