Pilsen data
The square is a lab
Republic Square is about to be rebuilt, and Pilsen wants to know what that will do to it. So in the European project URBREATH, the city measures it both before and after construction. No other Czech city is part of the project. The Pilsen +1 game counts the very same square, just every minute.
What gets measured here
The city's cameras count the square for four days in a row, roughly once a quarter. The top two figures compare summer and autumn 2025. The bottom two are targets the square should hit after the rebuild.
How much of the square's traffic is cars
23.7%July 2025
12.7%autumn 2025
Motor vehicles over four days of counting
114,96210–13 Jul 2025
52,56830 Oct – 2 Nov 2025
Share of the square used for car parking
5.2%before the rebuild
2.2%target after the rebuild
Walkways and pedestrian areas
825 m²before the rebuild
1,155 m²target after the rebuild
Source: Pilsen Open Data, dataset 220 (URBREATH)
Why Pilsen, of all places
Pilsen keeps signing up for European projects about data and cities. In three of them, it's the only Czech city.
2024 to 2027
URBREATH
A European project on reshaping public space to make it healthier and more pleasant. Nine cities are taking part, and Pilsen is the only Czech one. It picked Republic Square as its test site and is learning from Madrid, Tallinn, Leuven and Cluj.
Source: CORDIS, project 101139711
2022
Digital twin
In the DUET project, Pilsen was one of three European pilots, alongside Flanders and Athens. On a digital copy of the city it tested things like what a bridge closure does to traffic, or where to put solar benches so the sun actually reaches them.
since 2023
CLIMABOROUGH
The project is looking for ways to bundle energy and transport into a single service. Pilsen has been part of it since 2023 as the only Czech pilot city.
Source: Smart City Plzeň
since 2023
Junctions in Bory
In Bory, a district of Pilsen, seven junctions have cameras and LiDAR. A thermal camera and an acoustic sensor keep watch for trams, and an LED strip at the crossing warns pedestrians. Pilsen has been adjusting its traffic lights to live traffic since 2010, and its control system now runs 71 of its 92 junctions this way.
How the game counts
The camera counts on its own
The cameras on the square spot pedestrians, bikes and cars right on the device and only send out numbers. No image or video ever leaves the camera or gets stored anywhere.
Every minute
The city measures for four days once every few months. The game gets fresh numbers every minute, so it can tell a quiet morning from the afternoon rush.
The LIVE tag
The data doesn't decide how many characters show up in the game, so it stays equally hard for everyone. It only decides which characters get the LIVE tag. Each of them is a person or car the camera counted in the last two minutes.
Republic Square, past minute
- Pedestrians
- 9
- Cyclists
- 0
- Cars
- 42
Get your hands on the data
The numbers on this page are public. Download them as spreadsheets and crunch them yourself.