Position dependent information services

J-Fr Gaillet

ERTICO

jf.gaillet@mail.ertico.com

Many Intelligent Transport Systems ("ITS") need precise information about the location of a user, a vehicle or a cargo item. This may be for services for traveller (i.e. route guidance, location-specific travel information or emergency call) or for managers of freight consignments, fleet vehicles or mobile personnel (i.e. logistics, fleet tracking or service management). The market for ITS applications is growing fast, largely based on the use of GPS.

ITS applications can be categorised as follows:

- Traffic management, operation and control

- Travel and traffic information

- Navigation and route guidance

- Emergency call and stolen vehicle services

- Collective transport

- Fleet and commercial vehicle management

- Tolling, road pricing and access control

- Advanced vehicle control and safety

Almost all of these could potentially make use of mobile Internet technology as both a working platform and a communication channel, and could therefore use the WAP protocol with positioning information.

ERTICO has for a number of years been working on aspects of mobile ITS using positioning information:

• ERTICO is participating in the definition of Galileo, the new European satellite navigation constellation. Galileo will be based on 21 or more medium Earth orbit satellites, compatible with GPS yet independent from it. Galileo will provide an accuracy of a few metres, significantly better than the current GPS standard positioning service. Furthermore, Galileo will provide service guarantees for safety critical applications, thereby enabling certification and international standardisation. As well as the free-of-charge basic service, a "controlled access service" (CAS) will be offered to specific users, with associated guarantees of availability and liability. Galileo will begin operating in 2005, reaching full operability in 2008.
• ERTICO has been involved in the definition of location methods specific for ITS. Those includes geocodes (GATS standard), TMC locations and ILOC. This last method uses a combination of WGS 84 coordinates and descriptive identifiers to reference locations.
• Finally ERTICO is involved in different EC funded projects in which a number of mobile ITS applications will be tested. Those projects are:

• ITSWAP: WAP protocol for mobile ITS applications using positioning;
• DIAMOND: ITS applications delivered over DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) combined with GSM carrier and using positioning;
• SMITH: demonstration during the Turin ITS World Congress 2000 of ITS applications using positioning.

The paper to be presented at the conference will highlight the current state of the above initiatives and will discuss how they will exploit the possibilities of WAP. Requirements for positioning specific to ITS services will also be put forward. A draft of these requirements is attached in Table 1, produced by the European GNSS Secretariat for the Road User Forum.

Although the final requirements of ITS regarding WAP have not been defined, it is clear that most ITS services need much more than simple WGS84 co-ordinates. This means codes for road intersections and links; bus and tram stops; motorway kilometre-posts; rail stations; etc. To ensure that WAP can support the highly promising ITS market in future, ITS developers need to work within the WAP/W3C framework. This paper will serve to highlight the main areas where this input should be made.