1. Winter Road Management & Weather Data – recent developments in Finland
Meeting of the WMO expert team on meteorological services for land transportation
Geneva, March 2019
Pekka Leviäkangas (PhD, Econ; PhD, Eng.)
& Toni Lusikka (MSc, Eng.)
08/06/2019
VTT – beyond the obvious

2. Presentation points
Where’s the weather data in the administrational context?
The winter road management ecosystem
The present vs. the future – costs, service level, ecosystem complexity
Implications and expectations
08/06/2019
VTT – beyond the obvious

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VTT – beyond the obvious

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VTT – beyond the obvious

5. Open data
Open data
08/06/2019
VTT – beyond the obvious

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VTT – beyond the obvious

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VTT – beyond the obvious

8. How is winter road maintenance traditionally conducted in Finland?
Meteorology and observation device manufacturer
Fixed RWIS hardware provider
Ministry of Transport and Communications
Maintenance quality measurement provider
Current winter maintenance ecosystem offerings 7.
15.
14.
3. Weather data & forecasts
5. Safe road conditions & reliable road network
6. Winter road maintenance equipment
7. Technology solutions
8. Meteorology and observation devices
9. Emergency & road weather information services
10. Road maintenance services
11. Motor liability insurance
12. Full insurance
13. Fixed RWIS data
14. Quality supervision services 8. 3.
Road authorities – OPEN DATA BANK
Weather service providers
5. & 15.
Road users
13.
Private, commercial & other professionals 3.
15.
10.
11. & 12.
Telecommunications service providers
Winter road maintenance operators
&
Maintenance tracking data provider
Insurance companies 3. 9. 9.
DSS provider
Device maintenance service provider
Finnish Motor Insurers Centre 6. 7.
Maintenance equipment manufacturer
Vehicle location, measurement and tracking solutions provider
15. Open road condition data
(retell Leviäkangas et al. 2014)
08/06/2019
VTT – beyond the obvious

9. Salience of actors is described largely by the number of arrows = those who provide and receive the data and are in the nexus
Meteorology and observation device manufacturer
Fixed RWIS hardware provider
Ministry of Transport and Communications
Maintenance quality measurement provider
Current winter maintenance ecosystem offerings 7.
15.
14.
3. Weather data & forecasts
5. Safe road conditions & reliable road network
6. Winter road maintenance equipment
7. Technology solutions
8. Meteorology and observation devices
9. Emergency & road weather information services
10. Road maintenance services
11. Motor liability insurance
12. Full insurance
13. Fixed RWIS data
14. Quality supervision services 8.
Road authorities – OPEN DATA BANK 3.
Weather service providers
5. & 15.
Road users
13.
Private, commercial & other professionals 3.
15.
10.
11. & 12.
Telecommunications service providers
Winter road maintenance operators & Maintenance tracking data provider
Insurance companies 3. 9. 9.
DSS provider
Device maintenance service provider
Finnish Motor Insurers Centre 6. 7.
Maintenance equipment manufacturer
Vehicle location, measurement and tracking solutions provider
15. Open road condition data
(retell Leviäkangas et al. 2014)
08/06/2019
VTT – beyond the obvious

10. 08/06/2019
VTT – beyond the obvious

11. WiRMa pilot ecosystem Platform owner
Winter road maintenance contractors
Ministry of Transport and Communications
Hardware providers
Fleet providers
Sensor manufacturers & other hardware providers 1.
Vehicles as platforms for technology devices
WRM procurement €
Legislation, funding 2.
5. (Test Applications) €
Quality € €
5. (Test Applications)
Platform owner
Road authorities
Data management & analysing in-house €
Open data (currently fixed RWIS and road weather forecasts) € 2. 3. € € 3.
Weather service providers
Possible customers & data end-users 3.
Road authorities, Cities, Municipalities, WRM contractors, Maintenance quality measurement providers, Weather services, DSS providers, Logistics companies, Insurance companies, Road users, Car manufacturers, Authorities, etc.
1. Sensors & other hardware
2. Observed data
3. Weather data & forecasts
4. Analysed & combined data
5. APIs, Interface, data (Road weather information, road condition information)
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VTT – beyond the obvious

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VTT – beyond the obvious

13. Societal Benefits
In Finland weather and road condition information reduces external costs of traffic accidents 4,6-9,2 M€ per year, and external costs of slips 2,4-3,6 M€ per year
With advanced road condition information additional savings can be 2-4 % of external costs of traffic accidents
Requires exact, targeted road condition information and automatic warning to the drivers
Increased traffic safety
VTT – beyond the obvious

14. Benefits for winter road maintenance contractors
With more accurate road condition information, road maintenance can be optimized and decision-making improved
Aiming of treatments
Cost savings
Vehicular RWIS could possibly reduce 5-15 % or with dynamic methods at least 15 % of machine hours and use of materials
E.g. in Finland ~ tons of salt (5-15 %)
Environmental benefits of reduced pollution and minimized use of salt
Winter road maintenance service savings can reduce the total costs of winter road maintenance
VTT – beyond the obvious

15. Note the change of scale
2 x Current Density
2 M€ = ~215 Stations
2 M€ = ~700 Sensors
Note the change of scale
08/06/2019
VTT – beyond the obvious

16. Implications & expectations
Technology drives changes to governance and administration of weather data used in transport management
Societal benefits increase if more users get better data, or if - ceteris paribus - observation and distribution costs can be lowered
The Finnish experiments show that different value network constellations are possible
E.g. either public-driven or commercially driven ecosystem
The role of public met-organisations?
08/06/2019
VTT – beyond the obvious

17. Contact information
Toni Lusikka Pekka Leviäkangas
08/06/2019
VTT – beyond the obvious

18. Weather-related services Climate change
Resilience
Sustainability
08/06/2019
VTT – beyond the obvious