Would you have wanted to avoid pollution on your daily commute? Reduce carbon footprint of a night out? How about add some exercise to your visit to the bank?
As part of the conceptual development of the Citizen Data Exchange (CDX), we devised a potential project to showcase the value and benefits of the platform to different stakeholders.
We envisaged a “Healthy Route App” as a travel planner through the city – modelled on Edinburgh but easily franchised elsewhere.
It combines three critical elements:
Users can download the app to their phone and use it just link other route planners, though by selecting additional parameters for the time they have for the journey and level of exercise desired, the results they get are tailored not to the fastest/most convenient route but to the healthiest for the user and the environment!
Inside the app, users can also access tickets for public transport, bike rentals as well as taxi service (for when in a rush).
And at the same time users can earn credits by anonymously sharing their search and travel data with the CDX. The analysis of the data enables city planners and transport providers to manage the infrastructure, resources and services of the city more efficiently. In addition, researchers can gain insight into travel behaviour and the intersection of the critical challenges of urban life – mobility, environment and wellbeing.
So – this app could help busy city commuters as well as tourists make the most of their time in the healthiest way possible and help along the green transition towards net-zero.
We are making it all about the journey!
