:fr: Enforcing new French law about environmental impact

[Dazeilad]

Early August, the French government took the decision to force route aiding apps to :

• inform about the environmental impact of the journeys
• promote the less impacting journey
• prompt awareness messages

The agenda has 2 milestones : december 2022, and december 2023. The bills can be found here (in French) :

• https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000046144256
• https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000046144276

And a press summary here (:fr: too) : https://www.actu-environnement.com/ae/news/transport-applications-mention-impact-environnemental-trajets-obligatoire-40150.php4

I didn't dig into the details, but this is for sure an important issue to look upon, at least to avoid fines. I recommend maybe to build a french task-force to ease the process (avoid language and law-enforcement barriers) ?

-------------------- :gear: Work In Progress After some research, I put here some useful things : :exclamation: French Govt Open Transport Data (FGOTD), refferred to in the bills : https://transport.data.gouv.fr

Art. D. 1115-23 : The points below concern only journeys starting from and ending in the French territory.

Todo :

Art. D. 1115-18.

• [ ] Import the Low Emission Zones from here with this proposition of tag (maybe a tag should be put on roads too, so as to identify during the journey calculation that a part of the journey is in a LEZ ?)
• [ ] For any journey crossing a LEZ, prompt what are the restrictions in the zone
• [ ] Allow the user to avoid a LEZ

Art. D. 1115-19.

OSMAnd is concerned by the 1) of the article as it propose journeys with transport services :

• [ ] Prompt an awareness message on car alternatives, during a journey made by car, among :

  • Pour les trajets courts, privilégiez la marche ou le vélo #SeDéplacerMoinsPolluer
  • Pensez à covoiturer #SeDéplacerMoinsPolluer
  • Passer de 130 à 110km/h sur autoroute réduit votre consommation de 20% #SeDéplacerMoinsPolluer
  • Au quotidien, prenez les transports en commun #SeDéplacerMoinsPolluer

• [ ] Before December 1st, 2022 : integrate open data from public transport available on the FGOTD portal
• [ ] Before December 1st, 2023 : integrate open data about carsharing services, cycling and walking (?) available on the FGOTD portal

Art. D. 1115-20. --> to translate

• [ ] Dans des conditions de trafic exemptées d'événements routiers sur les voies non secondaires, les services numériques d'assistance au déplacement s'efforcent de proposer à l'utilisateur un itinéraire évitant l'usage massif de voies secondaires non prévues pour du trafic intensif, notamment en s'assurant que le temps de trajet restant est réduit d'au moins 10 % comparé à l'itinéraire maximisant l'usage de voies non secondaires. Les voies secondaires sont renseignées sur la base de données dénommée « BD Topo » administrée par l'IGN. Les évènements routiers mentionnés à l'article D. 1115-20 du code des transports sont les suivants :
• fermetures de routes, voies, ponts ou tunnels ;
• accidents ;
• travaux routiers ;
• mesures temporaires de gestion de la circulation ;
• conditions météorologiques affectant la surface ou la visibilité de la route.

Art. D. 1115-21.

• [ ] Calculate the greenhouse gases emissions for every journey proposal, using the open data here : https://bilans-ges.ademe.fr
• [ ] Calculate the NOx and PM10 emissions for every jurney proposal, using either MEP/EEA (1) methodology (say COPERT methodology) or the PCIT (2) guide. French emissions inventory is available here and an EU version of the database is available here (1) COPERT / Combustion road guide / Abrasion road guide / Rail guide / Ship guide / Airplanes guide (2) PCIT guide
• [ ] Inform about the greenhouse gases and other air pollutants (NOx, PM10) emitted for every journey proposal.
• [ ] In case of a journey using several transport means, the proposals should be classified from the least to the highest GHG emissive.
• [ ] In case of a journey using some high-speed (> 110 km/h) roads, an alternative journey should be proposed, which takes into account a reduced speed (20 km/h under the max speed) on the concerned roads.

[vshcherb]

We just implemented this feature

inform about the environmental impact of the journeys

Other features are very tricky cause we don't have alternative routes feature at all, so we would like to have this feature we don't know how to implement it for now. So it might stimulate and motivate to implmement alternative routes, let's see

[Dazeilad]

I updated my message above. Art D 1115-21 : specific environmental datas should be used, or we should to be able to justify an other methodology. Do you know if the datas and methods mentionned were effectively used ?

I saw some points which may rather concern OSM community (intregrate open datas on the map). Do you know where I could raise these issues ?

[scaidermern]

I saw some points which may rather concern OSM community (intregrate open datas on the map). Do you know where I could raise these issues ?

There are many different contact channels available. For example https://community.openstreetmap.org/

[Codain]

Hi, if you need some French support I can probably help. At first sight this regulation is quite demending compared to what OsmAnd is today but it brings some stimulation to bring it to next level.

[InsertUser]

I don't know what your French revenue is, but you could always just stop selling there ;-P.

[chereskata]

I think that the app should remain at an informing basis and not teach the user certain viewpoints about things.

[Dazeilad]

I don't know what your French revenue is, but you could always just stop selling there ;-P.

What am I selling ?

I think that the app should remain at an informing basis and not teach the user certain viewpoints about things.

I didn't understand your point, can you develop ? What is beyond information ?

[chereskata]

@Dazeilad

I didn't understand your point, can you develop ? What is beyond information ?

This app should be kept lean of "teaching" information. I for example like to inform myself in the news (if i feel the need to do so). A lot of alerts about how a human has to do something will shorten his attention span. (Just my 2ct)

[InsertUser]

@Dazeilad :

I don't know what your French revenue is, but you could always just stop selling there ;-P.

What am I selling ?

This was aimed at the OsmAnd project team as a whole rather than you. It was meant as a joke but if the requirements are too onerous for a small team to implement then stopping sale in France might be something that needs to seriously consider if there are fines involved.

@kozboko :

This app should be kept lean of "teaching" information. I for example like to inform myself in the news (if i feel the need to do so). A lot of alerts about how a human has to do something will shorten his attention span. (Just my 2ct)

I would tend to agree, but if the summary above is correct then the French government might not.

Is the data that OsmAnd would have to integrate sufficiently compatible with OSM's license? Not all 'open' government licenses permit as many downstream uses as OSM which might have an impact on integration.

[Dazeilad]

This app should be kept lean of "teaching" information. I for example like to inform myself in the news (if i feel the need to do so). A lot of alerts about how a human has to do something will shorten his attention span. (Just my 2ct)

OK, I understand your point, but these measures are precisely written in the bills.

This was aimed at the OsmAnd project team as a whole rather than you. It was meant as a joke but if the requirements are too onerous for a small team to implement then stopping sale in France might be something that needs to seriously consider if there are fines involved.

Yep, it's always a possibility. But you could also see it as a challenge to improve the app in the whole world. :face_in_clouds:

Is the data that OsmAnd would have to integrate sufficiently compatible with OSM's license? Not all 'open' government licenses permit as many downstream uses as OSM which might have an impact on integration.

Well, some of the data already come from OSM :sweat_smile: I dig up a bit deeper, and I identified at least these licences :

• https://www.etalab.gouv.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ETALAB-Licence-Ouverte-v2.0.pdf
• https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/
• Particular clauses to the previous one : https://doc.transport.data.gouv.fr/presentation-et-mode-demploi-du-pan/conditions-dutilisation-des-donnees/licence-odbl

[breversa]

Here are my 2 cents about this topic: https://github.com/osmandapp/OsmAnd/discussions/15053