Using Publicly Available Data for Transportation Analysis: A Four-Country Comparison

This thesis presents a comparative analysis of the transport systems of Germany, Czechia, Spain, and Türkiye over the period 2013–2023, built entirely on publicly available data. It addresses the problem that the indicators needed for cross-country comparison are scattered across institutional sources with inconsistent definitions, units, and reporting periods. Data was collected from Eurostat, the OECD International Transport Forum, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and four national statistical offices, then harmonized through explicit, documented decisions and analyzed through an interactive six-page Power BI dashboard covering infrastructure and fleet characteristics, logistics and freight competitiveness, longitudinal trends including the COVID-19 disruption, road safety, and a cross-country indicator explorer. The findings show that the four countries occupy distinct positions on the transport development trajectory: Germany is a mature, decoupled system leading most indicators; Czechia leads on rail density but faces a structurally aging vehicle fleet; Spain shows the strongest post-pandemic rail recovery; and Türkiye records the highest growth rates alongside the largest road safety gap. The thesis contributes a harmonized cross-country dataset, an interactive dashboard, and country-specific policy recommendations, demonstrating that publicly available transport data can be made comparable and accessible through deliberate harmonization and exploration-oriented visualization design.