The City of Tampere is developing its services with the help of the data it collects. Data is defined as digitally stored, machine-readable information consisting of characters and symbols. To support the development work, Tampere has created its first data strategy.
– Data is already being utilised in different parts of the city organization. Now it is felt that the development should have common targets. At the same time, the aim was to specify what benefits the city was seeking. These include a smoother everyday life for the residents, the success of the region’s businesses and a more efficient allocation of city resources, says Maria Nikkilä, Director of Information Management.
With the help of data, the City of Tampere aims to make the following changes:
Tampere wants to be the best city in Finland at providing proactive and automated services to its citizens. If a resident consents for the city to use their data, the city will be able to offer its services in a tailored and proactive manner. For example, the Data-Driven City for Citizens development programme is exploring whether data could be used to automatically and individually provide new Tampere immigrants with the services that best support their integration and employment.
Tampere will contribute to the development of a data economy in Pirkanmaa. Tampere is an active partner of companies, for example in international, EU-funded projects where companies and the public sector work together to develop new products or solutions based on data. The city also supports business activities by providing data sets as a basis for business and research.
Tampere aims to create new services from data for businesses in the region. A recent example of a data-based service is the Tampereen Pulssi service, which predicts visitor flows in the centre of Tampere. The service collects data from city centre traffic cameras and weather forecasts, and also takes into account, among other things, the days of the week, public holidays as well as events at the Nokia Arena. The collected data is used to create an AI-based forecast of visitor flows for months ahead. This information helps companies to prepare for increased demand, sufficient labour and opening hours during events, for example.
Real time data helps to make smarter decisions and target city services where they are most needed. Through data analytics, the city also seeks to improve its ability to anticipate and prevent problems. For example, the Data-Driven City for Citizens programme aims to identify key information on the school pathways for children and young people so that this information would enable the city to respond proactively to challenging life situations for families with children and for young people.
– The data strategy may sound solemn, but it is a practical tool to make clear what we will be focusing on in the coming years. To understand the strategy, you do not need to be a data scientist and it is deliberately technology-neutral, says Nikkilä, Director of Information Management.
– Tampere has already made long-term efforts to make use of data, and we will continue to stay at the forefront of developments, continues Nikkilä.
The City Council of Tampere approved the data strategy at its meeting on 26 June 2023. The data strategy includes an implementation plan for 2023–2025, the fulfilment of which will be reported to the City Board together with the Data-Driven City for Citizens development programme.
