What are crucial data types?
“Crucial data types” are specific categories of transport and traffic data that the European Commission considers essential for digital mobility and ITS services.
The revised Directive (EU) 2023/2661 amending the ITS Directive (EU) 2010/40 states that if these data types are not yet available in a digital format (as defined in art. 6a), organisations responsible for these data types must ensure that the data is digitized and made accessible through the National Access Points (NAPs).
Examples of crucial data types include traffic regulations, road closures, parking availability, and safety-related traffic events.
The full list of crucial data types is provided in Annex III of the Directive and covers several ITS domains, including:
- multimodal travel information services (MMTIS),
- real-time traffic information (RTTI),
- safety-related traffic information (SRTI),
- and safe and secure parking information (SSTP).
For each crucial data type, Annex III of the revised Directive (EU) 2023/2661 defines two deadlines:
- a first deadline from which all newly created or updated crucial data must be made available.
- a second deadline by which all crucial data must be available.
The objective is to improve the availability and quality of mobility data across Europe and support better digital transport services for users.