eNews 02 July 2009
eNews: 2 July 2009
ITS Radar International re-launch
The Newswire now has a new look and has been transformed to the ITS Radar International eNews letter. The former EU Watch and ITS Radar sections have been amalgamated and reformulated into six subject areas of Pilots, Technology, EU Policy, EU Research, Standards and Location Positioning.
In addition, we are launching a new web site. From today a new site combining the old ITS Radar and EU Watch sites will be available from http://www.highways.gov.uk/itsradar.
About eNews
The ITS Radar International project provides an intelligence service for the Highways Agency (HA) on ITS developments in Europe and around the world. It summarises key information for decision-makers and practitioners on activities related to Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and covers specific areas of key interest to the HA. This is carried out by TRL and AECOM on behalf of the HA.
Regular newsletters are being produced, covering information which is in the public domain. For more information about the project and the services provided, the web site can be reached at: http://www.highways.gov.uk/itsradar.
To contact us and let us know what you would like this project to deliver, please email us at: ITSRadarInternational@trl.co.uk.
Fact sheet topics
Following the request for votes on Fact Sheet topics in last month’s ITS Radar International email, we have created an initial short list of the topics with the highest votes:
- Managed Motorways;
- Co-operative vehicle systems, and
- Easyway.
Fact Sheets will be written on these topics in the coming months. Many thanks for your input.
Have you got news for us?
The ITS Radar International team is looking to project stakeholders such as yourself to enhance the service. Do you have any interesting projects, developments or products that would be of significance to the ITS Radar International project and its stakeholders? Are you aware of events or seminars that you feel the Highways Agency should be involved in?
We are looking for individual news items, event details and even fact sheets. Please note that anything submitted will be subject to editing and editorial policy. Also, please ensure that you have both copyright permission and permission from project owners.
If you feel like contributing to a future eNews, please send items to ITSRadarInternational@trl.co.uk.
New Subscribers?
Do you have a colleague who would like to receive eNews? Perhaps you already pass your copy on to colleagues when they could receive their own copy? Please forward this message on to colleagues who have an interest in receiving eNews direct, and ask them to click to Subscribe.
Index
Events
ION GNSS 2009
The ION GNSS 2009 event will discuss recent advancements in Global Navigation Satellite Systems and provide updates on all major GNSS systems. It will be held in the USA in October 2009.
Sharing the Road - International Road Federation world road meeting in 2010
The upcoming IRF World Road Meeting event will support discussions surrounding new developments in ITS. Topics will include ITS policies, ITS and its impacts on the environment and safety.
16th ITS World Congress Stockholm 2009
The preliminary programme for the congress ‘ITS in Daily Life’ is now available. The congress will take place on 21 – 25 September 2009.
European Policy
Latest ASECAP meeting summary
An article providing a summary of the latest ASECAP meeting where local representatives, ASECAP members, associate members and guests met to discuss transport policy issues and road tolling in Europe.
Freight traffic to mainland Europe falls by 19%
New figures released by the DfT show that road freight traffic to mainland Europe has fallen by 19%. Eurotunnel believe this could be attributed to the fire in the tunnel in September 2008 that has temporarily reduced the capacity.
High costs of public transport may stop Britain from meeting its carbon emission targets
Recent figures show that the cost of public transport has been increasing above inflation while the cost of motoring continues to fall. This may harm Great Britain’s chances of meeting its 2020 target of reducing carbon emissions by 80%.
Norway adopts its first ITS Action Plan
Norway has adopted its first ITS Action Plan, aimed at further improving Norway’s road safety record and contributing to reducing the environmental impact of road transport.
EC's Future of Transport Communication adopted
The European Commission has adopted a Communication on the Future of Transport. The Communication highlights trends and challenges that are likely to have to have an effect on transport. The Communication aims to stimulate further debate and tries to identify a strategic vision for the future of transport.
European Research
myCar platform to provide real time traffic and location services to smartphone users
A new partnership between INRIX and UIE Automotive will offer a platform for smartphone users that will enable them to have real-time traffic information as well as information on any potential or likely delays on their route due to road works or incidents.
New multi-standard System on Chip for wireless communication
Reicom’s new System on Chip (SoC) could ignite the market potential for cooperative vehicle applications by providing a system that is optimised for multi-standard wireless OEM transceivers.
Almost half of new cars will have embedded telematics by 2014
New research shows that embedded telematics could become a standard automotive feature in developed regions by 2015 with up to 43% of new vehicles having embedded telematics by 2014.
New GPS based routing system to assist trucks carrying dangerous goods
A new system has been developed that will utilise GPS to guide goods vehicles carrying dangerous loads along the safest route while minimising costs and journey times.
Pilots
Remote demonstration for new hazard alert
The Co-driver Alert project is a safety system designed to inform road users of hazards in their vicinity via an in-vehicle device. A demonstrator system will be road-tested from spring 2009 onwards.
TfL launches intelligent speed adaptation trial
Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) will be tested by Transport for London (TfL) during a six month period starting this summer in the area within the M25.
Ramp metering: delivering significant benefits to both the HA and road users
Evaluation of thirty sites with ramp metering on the Highways Agency’s network shows an average reduction in journey times of 13%. It is expected that the number of sites with ramp metering on England’s roads will shortly reach 80.
Scrap c-charge TIF rule says Cambridgeshire chief
Cambridgeshire’s cabinet member for transport has proposed that the congestion charging requirement for the Transport Innovation Fund scheme should be removed and that other innovative congestion-reducing schemes should be funded.
Weigh in motion saves fuel and reduces pollution
A report on emission testing prepared by the Oregon State’s Department of Environmental Quality revealed that Oregon’s Green Light Weigh-In-Motion system provides environmental benefits.
Speed enforcement: average is more
Case studies of the impact of average speed cameras on motorways during roadworks and on an A road as an alternative to route treatment are reported in this article. Future applications are also discussed.
Technologies
Providing telematics services in BMWs in Europe
WirelessCar has been selected to provide a range of new telematics services in all new BMW cars in Europe from June 2010.
Speed enforcement: all for one, one for all
The need for enforcement of speed control systems such as those deployed in managed motorway schemes is driving the development of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology (often referred to as Automatic Licence-Plate Recognition, ALPR). There is an increasing need for ‘all-in-one’ ANPR units that can illuminate the road and capture and process number plate images in one compact unit.
Bridging the gap - ITS in South Africa
As part of its drive to improve transport before the 2010 football world cup, ITS South Africa has established a virtual ITS Centre of Excellence. One of its objectives is to form relationships with international organisations.
The move to IP for transmitting images
This article discusses the benefits of digital CCTV for traffic surveillance and automatic incident detection and outlines some of the future developments which are envisaged.
The next landmark in vision technologies
Increased processing power has meant vision systems can now undertake high resolution 3D measurements and adjust for different types of objects in different orientations. These systems are starting to make their way out of the controlled environment of factory production lines and into the much more complex real world.
Calculating origin-destination information from number plate readings
A potential new application of Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras is for gathering origin-destination data for traffic models, which would be more reliable than current methods of data gathering.
Smoothie traffic in the Garden of England
Kent Highways Services partnership is expanding the ITS services based around its new traffic management centre. A link is planned with the Highways Agency for co-ordinated control of routes via the Regional Control Centre.
Speedy measures for surveying highway assets
A new service has been developed that will enable data collection for asset management purposes to take place at full highway speeds, logging the data collected in real time.
West Yorkshire re-writes the rules for speed camera site selection
One UK authority has recently changed its guidelines for selecting the location of speed cameras, based on a study of accident black spots in locations which did not meet the previous national criteria for siting cameras.
North Carolina to install interoperable e-toll system
The North Carolina Turnpike Authority in the USA is planning to install an electronic toll collection system on the Triangle Expressway, enabling users to pay without stopping, thus improving journey times and reducing congestion.
Local perspective: Comparing adaptive urban traffic control systems
This article compares the Urban Traffic Control system commonly used in Germany, Sitraffic MOTION methodology, with SCOOT, the UK’s most common Adaptive Traffic Control System.
Standards
INSPIRE / Spatial data infrastructure conference held in Rotterdam 15-19 June 2009
The “Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Convergence: Building SDI Bridges to Address Global Challenges” Conference took place on 15-19 June 2009. The conference included the Third INSPIRE Conference. Recordings of the plenary sessions and proceedings are available for download.
Call for tender on the development of technical guidance for the INSPIRE Transformation Service
The European Commission has issued an open call for tenders for the provision of technical guidance for the implementation of the INSPIRE transformation network service. The deadline for submitting an offer is 19 August 2009.
Dynamic location referencing method AGORA-C tested
The dynamic location referencing method AGORA-C has been successfully implemented and tested in Japan by Panasonic. It ensures compatible referencing of locations when information is exchanged between different applications or systems with different geographic databases. Results of the verification exercise are available.
IEEE 802 11p Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments WAVE Standard to move to next level of draft status
Voting on Draft 7.0 of the IEEE 802.11p standard for Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) closed on June 13th 2009. It is expected that the standard will achieve working group approval by January 2010.
New draft standard on linear referencing
A new ISO standard on linear referencing is to move to Draft International Standard (DIS), following a comments resolution meeting on the remaining technical issues. This standard is of interest to the HA, because it forms a critical contributing element to how systems complying with the EC INSPIRE Directive will locate things within transport networks.
HA ITS Registry update
Two models have recently been updated on the HA’s ITS Registry. This is a repository of data definitions and models supporting harmonisation between systems.
Article on standardisation in IntelliDrive (formerly VII)
IntelliDrive is the American cooperative systems initiative. This article discusses the direction of standardisation within IntelliDrive.
Location Positioning
Supporting Galileo and EGNOS standardisation
The EC DG TREN launched a call for tenders for support of work on standardisation in the Galileo and EGNOS programmes. In addition to carrying out standardisation process, successful tenderers should also help make relevant progress in the rail, road and multimodal transport domains.
GPS may suffer reduced service in 2010
A recent report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlights that the number of operational satellites in the GPS constellation is likely to fall below the required minimum of 24 during 2010 and beyond. This may happen as old satellites begin to fail and the new generation GPS IIIA satellites continue to suffer delays in development and acquisition.
The US Air Force is committed to maintaining the GPS level of service
The US Air Force acknowledges that there is a possibility that the GPS service could be disrupted during the transition period to newer, modernised GPS satellites. However, it states that it has been working towards minimising the possibility of disruption and mitigating its effects if such disruption does occur.
Report recommends the US government commits to eLoran
A report confirming eLoran’s suitability as a GPS back up has been finally made public. According to the report eLoran is the most cost effective and reliable GPS back up.
First GPS platform that enables LBS ad delivery
The first US-based GPS platform that enables delivery of location-based advertising has been launched by TechnoCom. SpotOn GPS is able to deliver location and time based advertising /marketing to a GPS enabled handset such as a mobile phone.
GINA project website is live
A GINA website has been launched that provides comprehensive information on the project, and its project partners. It describes road user charging schemes and general information on the use of satellite based navigation systems in the context of road user charging.
