Spatial data: from observation to the management of metropolitan areas

Local authorities have invested heavily in data. The real challenge is no longer to collect more of it... It is to turn it into a decision-making tool

Over the past ten years, local authorities have set up monitoring centres, rolled out open data platforms, fitted sensors in public spaces and developed dashboards. This foundation has enabled a better understanding of the local area, and it is precisely because it exists that the next stage is now within reach.

Observing helps us to understand. Orchestrating enables us to take action.

This shift from descriptive data to action-oriented data has become a strategic priority for French cities. The question is no longer whether local authorities should use their data, but how to make it work together to coordinate services, make decisions more objective and accelerate the transformation of an existing city.

Observation leads to understanding. Coordination leads to action. It is this shift that becomes strategic.

From fragmented data to coordinated data

The paradox of major cities is well known: they have abundant data, but this data often remains confined to its original departments. Transport does not communicate with urban planning. Road maintenance does not liaise with public facilities. Operational data is fed up the chain without ever being cross-referenced.

This compartmentalisation is not a lack of will: it is the logical consequence of ten years of sector-specific investment, carried out department by department, system by system.

Driving transformation involves, precisely, breaking away from this way of thinking: linking disparate data points, objectively assessing trade-offs between public policies, coordinating services that still make decisions in silos, and anticipating the impact of a decision before it is taken. Data then becomes a management infrastructure rather than merely a reporting tool.

This is the key lesson from the Grand Ouest Urban Projects Forum: local authorities must now work with a city that has already been built. Their work focuses on transforming what already exists: redeveloping town entrances, bringing vacant offices back into use, and rethinking mobility within land-constrained areas. The intentions have been set out, and the assessments shared. What remains is the crucial step: moving from planning to implementation – and this is where data makes all the difference.

The regions have learnt to observe. The task now ahead is that of steering the process

Orchestration systems: what exactly are we talking about?

For major cities, the next step is to build foundations that enable data, services and stakeholders to interact. A few concrete examples help to illustrate what this means in practice.

The regional data lake: centralising data to improve decision-making

A regional data lake brings together previously disparate sources within a shared space: data from urban sensors, administrative records, mobility flows, citizen feedback and open data. It is not a static data warehouse, but a dynamic infrastructure that supports real-time decision-making.

Without appropriate governance, there is a real risk: an unstructured data lake becomes a ‘data swamp’, where information accumulates without ever being put to use. This is why the value of such a system is measured by its ability to inform concrete decisions, rather than by the sheer volume of data it contains.

Decision-making data visualisation: making trade-offs clear

A well-designed regional dashboard enables different types of users to view the same region from different perspectives. Line managers use it to report statuses and alerts. Operational departments use it to gather the information they need to decide whether to take action. Decision-makers use it to identify trends and anticipate the effects of a policy.

Where a monitoring centre or CCTV control room already exists, the platform can connect to it to move from siloed monitoring to coordinated management of urban spaces.

The digital twin: test before deployment

Two European examples perfectly illustrate what data can achieve at the level of a major city.

Helsinki has created a digital twin of the city to test the impact of its urban policies in real time before rolling them out. Barcelona has developed a digital twin to measure the accessibility of its public facilities and assess whether the city meets the ‘15-minute city’ model. In both cases, data is no longer merely a tool for recording observations; it has become an instrument for simulation and decision-making.

In France, the national JUNN (National Digital Twin) programme, with a budget of 40 million euros, aims to roll out this technology across all local authorities. The message is clear: the digital coordination of local areas is no longer a pioneering experiment.

What BeTomorrow is building in partnership with local communities

Turning a regional ambition into a concrete digital solution requires bringing together elements that are all too often kept separate: regional strategy, staff’s actual working practices, business constraints, data, product design and technical architecture.

In partnership with Keolis Bordeaux Métropole Mobilités, BeTomorrow has rolled out a digital solution that combines mobility data and AI to simplify access to passenger information across the entire TBM network, benefiting several hundred thousand users. This is a concrete example of what it means to make data useful: not simply accumulating it, but presenting it in a form that can be acted upon at the right time, for the right user.

It is no coincidence that, since 2025, Bordeaux Métropole has chaired the Eurocities Digital Forum – the network of major European cities – alongside Helsinki. It is within this ecosystem, rooted in the local context yet with a European outlook, that the next stages of regional coordination will unfold.

Technology is valuable for the actions it enables, and this is what makes it, on a metropolitan scale, a genuine common good.

Orchestrating for acceleration: what’s at stake now

Local authorities know what they need to do: redevelop, adapt, decarbonise and improve the flow of transport. They have the will and the assessments to do so. What is at stake now is their ability to deliver, to prioritise the right projects, to manage them over the long term, to coordinate stakeholders, to keep residents informed, to measure the impact and to make continuous adjustments.

It is these very practical questions that digital technology must address.

Building systems that enable urban transformation to be steered… This is what will distinguish those regions that successfully navigate their transition from those that launch project after project without ever assessing their impact. Regional data is not an end in itself. It is the prerequisite for public action that is swifter, better coordinated and more transparent for elected representatives, officials and residents.

This is what BeTomorrow’s Cities Division is building, project by project: solutions that stand the test of day-to-day operation, not just in a demonstration setting.

Are you leading the digital transformation of a region?

BeTomorrow’s Cities Division supports local authorities and mobility operators, from data strategy through to roll-out. → Click here to find out more about our mobility solutions.