The Aix-Marseille Metropolis makes data available to all

Opening up our data enables us to create digital services, share deeper information about the region and to manage public services with full transparency.

Having decided to create a data sharing portal we launched the MData platform internally in 2021 and then externally in 2022 through a citizen-facing open data portal.

Some of the Metropolis’ 92 municipalities had already begun the process of opening their data. The goal of the MData platform was therefore to accelerate and promote the centralization of data, while improving accessibility and sharing to encourage the creation of new uses for data.

Aimed at businesses, organizations, and citizens keen to see transparent government, the MData platform goes far beyond the simple publication of data. Instead, it allows the visualization, mapping and cross-referencing of all available information within the metropolitan area.

By logging onto MData, users can access a wide range of datasets about the region: including information on mobility, development, environment, culture, sports, subsidies and markets. These datasets include the Metropolis’ own data as well as information from service providers and partners.

Our data teams are taking a systematic approach to the use of data, ensuring that compelling data visualizations are available for each dataset, such as through maps and graphs.

To further enhance sharing and reuse the platform is used to support the development of apps and websites aimed at citizens, partners, and employees.

Sharing data internally and encouraging its reuse

We are convinced that data is only valuable when it is used and reused, so wefirst opened the MData portal for internal use by employees and councilors.

The platform makes it possible to store all data in a single location. Employees from across the organization can therefore easily access official datasets published and maintained by different business units. Making data available to all employees allows different departments to work together and enables datasets to be combined and cross-referenced to improve services to users and to create new offerings.

Making data available internally has created multiple business uses:

• It enables the creation of new datasets that can be published as open data or which can be useful to employees in their daily work, such as around the location of petrol stations and low emission zones.

• It allows the organization to optimize how employees work, including through maps of buildings with energy consumption information, and a geolocation system for employee badge points.

Employees have embraced the platform very quickly. Through the portal our employees and elected officials can now access reliable data which allows them to make better-informed decisions.

Creating new uses through a unified open data platform

Using our data, we have developed developed Metropolis in My Pocket, a mobile application for citizens, which provides information around areas such as culture, leisure facilities, and mobility. Through the app users can also access visualizations that give in-depth insight into our activities, such as managing fiber optic deployments, understanding energy consumption, and monitoring the quality of both drinking and swimming water, as well as being able to access the region’s calendar of events.

Working with external partners the MData platform also hosts larger scale projects, including:

• Measuring air quality using AI as part of the pan-European DIAMS project.

• Optimizing the installation of new electricity infrastructure to future-proof the network through a collaboration between the Metropolis, Aix Marseille University and network operator Enedis.

Promoting innovation in the Metropolis’ partner ecosystem

The MData platform is regularly used for large innovation projects that bring together the Metropolis and its partners, as well as for hosting hackathons. The use of visualizations that all stakeholders can easily understand has revolutionized the way we communicate and collaborate with our partners.

An example of this is the Smart Port project, which was created to improve collaboration between the various stakeholders of the port of Marseille. This portal, which is only accessible to partners, brings together more than a hundred datasets to optimize field operations, such as by modeling the impact of passenger flows on the planning of container ship sailings.

Some companies involved in Smart Port were competitors, and were not accustomed to sharing their data. The implementation of a clear non-disclosure agreement helped to reassure stakeholders, who then saw how quickly they could benefit from sharing their data, especially when it came to better decision-making.

Before the portal launched, our employees weren’t aware of the benefits of sharing data as it was outside their normal working experience. Often they were suspicious of how ‘their’ data would be used when it was shared.

To demonstrate the value of data sharing, our data teams therefore launched a number of initiatives that involved business departments in the process and promoted a vibrant internal data culture:

• Setting up a data committee to coordinate actions across the organization, including defining our data governance strategy.

• Hosting seminars, roadshow meetings and training to demonstrate the benefits of data sharing for each business department.

• Creating an intranet page to explain how the platform worked and providing simplified access to it – with Open ID, any employee who clicks on a link from the intranet is automatically logged in.

• Offering tutorial videos that explain how everyone can capture and reuse data with the Huwise platform.

To launch our open data project, we were looking for a technology partner that would allow it to collect, centralize and share data in a simple and efficient way. Because individual business departments were not data specialists, it needed a solution that was easy to use and manage without the need for specialist technical skills.

The deployment of the MData platform has been a real success for the Metropolis, and we are already seeing the benefits of the project:

• For employees: the deployment of the portal internally has enabled teams to centralize and share data effectively. Employees have taken ownership of the platform, which has become a reference tool for everyone, allowing better management of public policies and transparent communication with citizens.

• For partners: new data-based services provided to partners in the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis ecosystem make it possible to create innovative new use cases that create value for all.

• For citizens: the sharing of information as open data by the Metropolis, and particularly its reuse via the app, allows everyone to easily find information on a wide range of topics and to access services more easily.