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BeOpen is revolutionizing the use of open data in cities by improving data accessibility, usability, and interoperability. Through AI-powered tools and geospatial analytics, it transforms fragmented datasets into actionable insights, enabling cities to tackle urban challenges like climate adaptation, mobility, and sustainability.
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In cities across Europe, data is being generated at an unprecedented scale. Every day, local governments and public institutions collect vast amounts of information on mobility, climate, infrastructure, and environmental conditions. Yet, despite its potential to drive smarter decision-making, much of this data remains fragmented, difficult to access, and underutilized. City planners struggle to integrate datasets, researchers face inconsistencies in formats, and AI-driven models are often limited by the lack of structured, high-quality input.
This is where BeOpen steps in. Instead of treating open data as a passive resource, BeOpen is actively transforming how it is structured, shared, and applied to real-world urban challenges. The project is setting a new standard for data accessibility and usability, ensuring that public-sector information is not only open but also truly actionable.
The project follows a clear methodological workflow—as illustrated in the figure—that begins with identifying the needs and challenges in pilot cities and continues through the improvement of High-Value Datasets (HVDs), the development of tailored digital services, and the evaluation of their impact. Each phase builds on the previous one, ensuring that open data is not only improved in quality and interoperability but also translated into practical tools that serve the public. BeOpen is setting a new standard for data accessibility and usability, ensuring that public-sector information is not only open but also truly actionable.
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Governments have made significant strides in publishing open datasets, but availability does not always translate into usability. Many datasets—whether related to climate, mobility, or land use—are difficult to integrate due to inconsistent formats, limited machine readability, and a lack of standardized metadata. In many cases, valuable information sits in silos, inaccessible to AI models and digital services that could make sense of it.
BeOpen is tackling these challenges head-on by developing a structured data management framework that enhances the entire lifecycle of open data—from collection and curation to harmonization and publication. By ensuring that datasets adhere to FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles, BeOpen is making it easier for cities, researchers, and businesses to access, combine, and analyze information. This shift is essential for applications ranging from climate adaptation and smart mobility to infrastructure planning and public health.
Smarter Cities Require Smarter Data
To truly unlock the potential of open data, automation is key. Manually processing datasets from multiple sources is slow, costly, and inefficient. BeOpen introduces AI-powered tools for semantic annotation, quality control, and standardization, allowing diverse datasets to be transformed into machine-readable formats. This makes it possible for different systems to “speak the same language,” facilitating better collaboration between cities, researchers, and private-sector stakeholders.
A critical aspect of the project is ensuring legal interoperability, meaning that open data aligns with European regulations and can be seamlessly integrated into future data spaces dedicated to sustainable urban development. This legal framework ensures that public institutions can share data with confidence, knowing it meets both ethical and regulatory standards.
Latitudo 40: Turning Raw Data into Actionable Intelligence
At the heart of BeOpen’s geospatial efforts is Latitudo 40, bringing advanced AI-driven geospatial analytics to the project. Many urban challenges—from monitoring air pollution to optimizing transport networks—rely on Earth observation and remote sensing data. However, the sheer complexity of raw satellite imagery often makes it inaccessible to urban planners and policymakers.
Latitudo 40 bridges this gap by processing, refining, and standardizing satellite-derived data, making it interactive, AI-ready, and actionable. As part of the BeOpen pilots, several city-level analyses were carried out, including a comprehensive study for the city of Naples. In this context, two key datasets produced via the Spotted platform—the Heat Exposure Index and the Urban Green Index—were employed to evaluate urban climate conditions and support the planning of relief hubs across the city.
Both layers are produced at 10-meter spatial resolution, enabling the discovery of fine-scale urban patterns that are often invisible in coarser datasets. This level of detail is crucial for accurately identifying heat-vulnerable areas and mapping vegetation distribution within complex urban fabrics.
The Heat Exposure Index quantifies the accumulation of heat in the urban environment, using Land Surface Temperature (LST) derived from satellite sources, such as Sentinel-2, and Landsat 8-9, . It involves a comparative analysis between urban and rural LST, with an automated algorithm identifying rural reference zones based on land cover and tree canopy density. The result is a normalized index (0 to 1) reflecting levels of heat exposure, validated using high-resolution thermal airborne imagery and ground-based temperature sensors.
The Urban Green Index, derived from Sentinel-2 NDVI data, assesses the presence and distribution of vegetation as a proxy for urban resilience to heat. The data is processed into a Green Cover Index and aggregated over six-month intervals to account for seasonal dynamics. To improve spatial accuracy, Digital Elevation Models (DEM) are integrated, and ground surveys are used for validation.
By applying machine learning models, Latitudo 40 enables:
- Automatic feature extraction to identify land-use patterns and environmental changes
- Land-use classification to track spatial evolution
- Real-time environmental change detection, such as urban sprawl and vegetation loss
These enhanced datasets are fully integrated into the BeOpen framework, providing cities with the geospatial intelligence needed for proactive and data-driven urban planning. Whether it’s mapping heat islands, quantifying vegetation cover, or guiding infrastructure decisions, Latitudo 40 ensures that satellite data becomes a strategic tool for building smarter, more resilient cities.
The Future of Open Data is Here
As cities face growing challenges related to sustainability, mobility, and climate resilience, the demand for structured, high-quality open data has never been greater. BeOpen is proving that open data isn’t just about transparency—it’s about usability. With the right tools and methodologies, open data can power AI-driven applications that optimize resource allocation, enhance environmental monitoring, and improve overall urban well-being.
By participating in BeOpen, Latitudo 40 is actively shaping the future of urban data accessibility, ensuring that high-value datasets are no longer just a collection of numbers but a strategic tool for building smarter, more resilient, and more sustainable cities.
Learn more about BeOpen and its mission at beopen-dep.eu.
