We showcase Velopark.be at Velo-city Gent

Velopark.be is thé bike parking data platform for Belgium in cooperation with Fietsberaad.

The competition to present a session at the Velo-city conference is very high. Therefore, we were very pleased to be invited to present our work on Velopark.

You can find us at the conference during the session "10.6 Beyond the rack: The latest bicycle parking innovations".

Open and reusable bike parking data are essential for a future-proof multimodal bike policy, something we will further achieve in the Shift Your Mobility program of the Belgian Federal Public Service Mobility.

In bike parking management, we see nowadays the same evolution as once happened in car parking management. Public space is scarce, expensive bikes need better facilities, bike parkings at multimodal hubs (train stations, bus stops) are crucial for connecting and accessibility,… A good management of and policy-making for these bike parkings is essential for cities, municipalities and public transport organisations, to move forward in a sustainable bicycle culture, but also to empower multimodal transport, like commuter traffic. 

The availability of qualitative data is key, mapping the bike parkings’ location and characteristics in a standard way. Velopark.be developed a Linked Open Data standard and vocabulary (https://data.velopark.be/openvelopark/vocabulary) to do so. Linked means the data is structured in such a way, it can be read by computers, linked to existing online definitions and easily combined with other data. Open means all useful information is gathered in a catalog and an interactive map at one central location: www.velopark.be. The information is published online and always up to date, any time, anywhere. Immediately re-usable for websites (public transport, municipalities, …) and online applications (apps, digital maps, journey planners, ...). 

Velopark also created a data management tool (https://admin.velopark.be) where operators and municipalities can easily enter and edit information about their bike parkings. A simple click automatically structures and (centrally) stores the data in accordance with Velopark’s Linked Open Data standard.

A bike parking counting application allows bicycle parking managers to monitor and analyse the use of a bicycle parking facility and to support policy decisions on, for example, the need for expansion or maintenance. They can create counting campaigns and select which bicycle parking facilities they want to monitor. An online counting form is then generated to be shared with the counters. The results are subsequently made available on an analysis platform with data visualization dashboard.

At the moment already more than 3000 bikeparkings are available into the open catalog (https://data.velopark.be/data/catalog) of Velopark as linked open data for the whole of Belgium. Bike parkings of the NMBS, De Lijn and also for a lot of cities are registered and managed. Besides the catalog, anyone can look up the closest bike parking and consult the details on an interactive map (e.g. for Ghent https://www.velopark.be/en/area/44021). A data management tool and counting application is offered to operators and municipalities to maintain there data and follow up the use of the bike parkings. 

If you are interested in our experience in data insights, data services and mapping interfaces for Mobility applications and especially cycling data. Please find us at the conference during the session "10.6 Beyond the rack: The latest bicycle parking innovations". Or contact us via our contact page on the website.