New rules and guidelines for UIDC will be released in April 2020...

RULES AND GUIDELINES 2019-2020

Student requirements

a. The competition is open to students of Urban Planning, Urban Design, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Engineering, and other relevant disciplines globally.
b. Students must be in their second year of university or beyond. Graduate students are eligible.
c. Students enrol as teams of minimum 2 participants. Recommended team size is 2-3 participants.
d. Teams must spend a combined 80-200 working hours on their project.
e. Each team shall collaborate with a sponsor such as a city, transportation authority, airport etc; however only students count as official members of the team.
f. City staff and other external parties can be interviewed and engaged in discussions, but are not allowed to do either modeling or make direct suggestions for the final report.
g. We recommend meeting with the sponsor a minimum of three times and at the final meeting make sure they approve the report.

Key issues to be addressed

In collaboration with the chosen sponsor, each student team shall select an urban development project in need of sustainable transit and present how autonomous shared mobility can be implemented as a solution.

Team sponsors

Each team must have a sponsor. The sponsor can be a city, transportation authority, harbour, hospital, airport or any other entity that has interest in the implementation of a sustainable, autonomous transportation system. Teams may use more than one sponsor, e.g. a City and a local ATN/SAV vendor.

NOTE: Teams can apply while locating potential sponsors. Should a team need support, the UIDC organization can help in finding sponsors.

Collaboration & project selection

The students and sponsor are obliged to collaborate to identify a suitable project area. The area should be selected based on real-life transit challenges and must have a sustainability component. We recommend scheduling a start-up meeting early in the process for the students to get an understanding of the obstacles and opportunities of the chosen project area.

Sponsor requirements

The sponsor can be a city, transportation authority, harbour, hospital, airport or any other entity that has interest in the implementation of a sustainable, autonomous transportation system.

To assist the students, the sponsor is required to provide:

a. A contact person for project interviews and discussions. We recommend meeting with the students at a minimum of three times.
b. Information about one or more local development projects in need of sustainable transit solutions.
c. Critical data such as development plans, maps, policy documents on environmental goals, ridership data, long term transportation plans, etc.
d. Sponsors outside Sweden must also assist in providing ortophoto and terrain data for the project area in the following formats:

1. JPEG file containing Aerial photo. Resolution approx. 25 cm.
2. JWG file defining the resolution and offset.
3. ASC file containing the DTM height values. Preferred resolution 2 meters.
4. PRJ file defining the map projection of both photo and DTM.

NOTE: the UIDC organization will contact teams and sponsors regarding data collection.

Assessment criteria

Submissions will be assessed based on:

a. Academic quality - Is the report academically written and clearly structured? Has prior research and experiences been used and referenced? Etc.
b. Relevance - Has the team successfully collaborated with the sponsor to address an actual need?
c. Feasibility - Is the proposed solution suitable for the project area?
d. Usability - Is the study practical and solution oriented? How can the results be used? Is the end user/human perspective represented?

ALL projects must have a transportation, energy and a built environment component. The transportation component must include either an Automated Transit Network (ATN) or a Shared Automated Vehicle (SAV) system. Students are free to use additional transportation systems should they find it suitable.

Registration cost

The registration cost for sponsors is $3,500 or $2,500 for those who participated previous years. The money is used for student training, servers and software, and travels to the award ceremony. The fee can be paid by a city, a city agency, an external sponsor or a foundation.

Students pay no fee.

Review, prize and award ceremony

A first review will take place at the Podcar City Conference November 6-7. Prior the conference, each team will submit a status report of their project.

The second review takes place after final submissions in January-February 2020. The winning teams will be announced in March and invited to present their project at an award ceremony, they will also receive a cash prize of $5,000 before taxes. Each winning team is expected to send at least one member to represent their team and give a presentation of their project. UIDC will cover the travel cost and three nights of accommodation for one person from each team*. 

*Students are required to take responsibility for visa applications and travel bookings. Teams are welcome to send more members; however, they must then either fund the travel and accommodation themselves, or apply for sponsorships.

Final submission format

All submissions must be in English and comply to the following formats:

a. A 4D visualization (no prior knowledge in 3D/4D visualization required as training will be provided) by January 20, 2020.
b. A written academic report 16 pages by February 27, 2020.
c. A short 2-5 minute video for the judges by February 27, 2020.

The 4D visualization

4D visualizations are used to showcase each team´s vision in a virtual replica, a 4D model, of the project area. The 4D visualization will be shown to the city and used by judges to evaluate the scope and feasibility of the project.

a. Each team will choose a 768x768 meter area. 4Dialog will help set up the area in a 4D model.
b. Each team will book dates for training in the 4D tool and receive two user accounts to the modeling software for independent work. All software is free.
c. 4Dialog will help create traffic simulations and a video from the 4D model. Note: not all transit systems can be represented in the 4D software, so teams may choose the system that is most similar to the one they have chosen for the report.
d. All information needed for the 4D visualization, tutorials and lessons will be found at www.uidcproject.com/4Dtraining.

Submissions are due 23:59 UTC time on January 20, 2020.

The Report

The report shall:

a. Be written in an academic manner and consist of 16 pages A4 or Legal, portrait orientation, including front page, table of contents and references.
b. Be based on needs identified from meetings with the city.
c. Include:

1. An ATN or public SAV-system (additional transportation systems may be added)
2. A front page stating the name of the project, city, team name and team members, and also a link to the video presentation
3. Abstract
4. Project and purpose description
5. Motivation – why this project was chosen
6. Images from the 4D model
7. Effects on the built environment
8. Effects on social and environmental sustainability
9. A rudimentary energy analysis
10. Reference list

Relevant appendices can be added in addition to the 16 pages.


Reports are to be submitted as pdf-files to uidc@4dialog.com, no later than 23:59 UTC time on February 27, 2020.

The video

Each model will be equipped with a traffic simulation to show the selected transit system. The simulation is done by 4Dialog and students are responsible to supply 4Dialog with a vehicle route and camera path. Once simulations are done, 4Dialog will make a video from each teams' model. The videos will be uploaded on Youtube and teams are responsible for pasting the link to their videos on the first page of the report.

Submissions are due 23:59 UTC time, February 27, 2020.

Failed Submission

Submissions will be disqualified if:

a. The report is more than 16 pages and/or incomplete and/or not submitted on time.
b. The 4D model is incomplete and/or not finished/submitted on time.
c. The video is incomplete and/or not submitted on time.
d. The team or any of its members has used external resources except as allowed.
e. An ATN or SAV system has not been used for the study.

Should any team experience difficulties that may lead to a failed submission, they must contact 4Dialog ahead of time for counselling.

Restrictions, ownership and user rights

a. Submitting teams automatically warrant that their submissions are original and free of any copyright infringements.
b. Participants have the right to use all information they and their team have submitted; however, are not allowed to sell, resell or in any other way use the work for profit and/or other commercial purposes unless 4Dialog agrees to this in writing.
c. All information submitted to UIDC servers is automatically the intellectual property of 4Dialog. Teams are still free to use the material as stated above.
d. All participants authorize 4Dialog to use all submitted materials such as reports, videos, visualizations and 4D models for media, marketing and any future development purposes without any compensation.

GDPR

By entering the UIDC, your name, email and Skype alias will be saved and used by UIDC and 4Dialog for the purpose of contacting you throughout the competition. Your name and email will also be used to set up the account for the 4D tools. Contact information is normally not saved longer than two years from entering date. Should you at any point in time wish us to delete your information, send an email to uidc@4dialog.com.

Contact us

If you are interested in participating in UIDC or simply have a question, email us at
uidc@4dialog.com