How the Dutch use Big Data and real-time analytics to manage water resources

With more than 27% of the country below sea level, the Netherlands boasts one of the most sophisticated and advanced water management networks in the world. More than 5,000 kilometers of waterways run across the country, connected by an intricate network of bridges, dikes and locks. The country now has more waterways than highways, which are used to transport about 35% of the country's goods.

Rijkswaterstaat, the department tasked with managing and maintaining this massive system, was founded in the late 1700s and relies on thousands of employees to keep the Dutch waterways running smoothly. While inspection and maintenance in the past took up a large percentage of employees' work time, more and more monitoring activities are carried out remotely, sometimes using innovative new technology - and sometimes There are clever solutions.

Control of bridges from the 13th century

And according to Thery van der Burgt, solutions architect at Rijkswaterstaat, one of the tricky things in the Netherlands is the fact that bridges and locks are sometimes tendered for and responsible for by provinces or municipalities.

“There is no universal approach to extracting data from public infrastructure, so we had to come up with a standardized way to tell if a bridge is open,” he said.

And what they did was attach internet-connected sensors to the roadblocks on those old bridges.

"These sensors are completely independent of the bridge's system, but they tell us when the barriers are closed, meaning the bridge is open," he said.

However, there are times when other, more complex solutions are needed, especially when it is necessary to try to predict whether maintenance might be needed before an object sees if it actually breaks. And with the bridges, Rijkswaterstaat installed current meters to continuously monitor electricity usage and send that data back to the system.

“A lot of public infrastructure uses a lot of energy when it's running. For example, think of a bridge that will open,” explains van der Burgt. "So when we combine data about an object's behavior and its electricity usage, we get interesting results."

So Rijkswaterstaat has implemented advanced systems to warn when an object is consuming too much or too little electricity. When the alert is triggered, they will send someone over to check if anything is wrong.

Thery van der Burgt, solutions architect at Rijkswaterstaat, with a colleague

Calculate the best shipping route

As a solutions architect, van der Burgt is tasked with protecting data from the system so it gets to the right people at the right time. For example, the design of a tool that allows captains to calculate the fastest transit route with real-time traffic updates, such as bridge waiting times and water levels.

This job is more complicated than you think. Water traffic is governed by a completely different set of rules than air traffic. In aviation, aircraft are centrally managed, neat and orderly. As for the water barges, which can reach the length of about two Boeing A380s (147 meters), follow more road-like procedures, with first-come, first-served rules at piers and bridges. .

In such a dynamic system, more data means greater predictability of the future. This allows captains of large barges to not have to stop and start ships as much, which means less fuel consumption and more punctual arrival of cargo. And this also highlights the importance of centralized and standardized real-time data collection and distribution.

Van der Burgt focused not only on the Dutch waterways; he is also working with an international task force to create a Europe-wide waterway information platform, which will be operational this year. The platform collects waterway data such as real-time traffic information, updates on bridges and locks, and water depths from across Europe, and makes it available to those who need it.

“A complicating factor in this process is that many seafarers also live on their barge, making it their de facto home. So sharing these locations is basically sharing someone's home address," van der Burgt said. So not only did they have to normalize different data from 13 countries across dozens of different data points, but also design a system in which captains can manage their privacy settings across platform, allowing them to choose who can see where they are.

The self-propelled barge in the 2019 test.

Self-propelled boat

The pan-European data system is also a step in preparing for the next big revolution in shipping: self-propelled barges.

“The first steps have been taken,” van der Burgt said, barely hiding his excitement. In 2019, a 135-meter-long barge completed a successful self-propelled 25-kilometer journey between two Dutch ports. "Of course the boat itself has a bunch of sensors on board, to ensure position, but all of our sensors on shore can help with better situational awareness," he adds, " and the sensors on the rover could, in theory, supplement our data, allowing for an even fuller picture."

When forced to guess, van der Burgt estimates that Rijkswaterstaat processes more than 100 terabytes of data per day. “I always say: we are sitting on a data warehouse.”

But the data itself is clearly worthless without a system and a human being able to understand it.

“Our scope of work is huge, beyond everything that happens in ocean and water transport. You are not only working with systems inside ships but also on bridges, which are just giant machines with a group of people with all kinds of different expertise,” van der Burgt said. “And above all, you are creating public value. Would you like to brag about how you've worked on some system to sell people more trash, or are you actually helping keep your country going?"