Co-operating with Municipal Partners on Indicator Identification and Data Acquisition

Data acquisition is a significant part of the simulation modeling process. It can be a challenge, especially in larger projects with many participants and stake-holders from different professions: They all bring their individual understanding of data, its availability, formats, and quality, with their respective points of view strongly dependent on their own professional backgrounds. This paper presents a modular process for indicator identification and data acquisition in the context of modeling projects, specifically aimed at researchers or practitioners working with municipal partners, i.e. representatives from city councils, urban planners and administrations, or infrastructure providers. The process consists of five steps: indicator selection, suitability check, data gathering, data quality check, and data management. To further facilitate a clearer understanding of the endeavor, the process defines necessary input and to be expected output artifacts. In addition to presenting the process, the paper describes its examplary execution with partners from the City of Bilbao, Spain, and offers a selection of discovered challenges and lessons learned.