Abstract

The ongoing, sweeping digitalization of societal processes yields massive volumes of data that capture underlying processes in unprecedented detail, in turn enabling us to better understand and improve those processes. When harnessed properly, data can enable value creation throughout society. 
For specificity, this talk considers vehicular transportation: While we all depend on it for mobility, transportation has adverse effects on our productivity due to lack of predictability and congestion, on the climate due to greenhouse gas emissions, and our health and safety due to air and noise pollution and accidents. It thus makes sense to enable use of trajectory data improving transportation. The talk provides a glimpse into recent advances and argues that the traditional routing paradigm is inadequate. It then outlines new paradigms that thrive on massive trajectory data. The talk concludes with more general reflections on research opportunities or needs.