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EXPERIENCE
'LA JOIE DE VIVRE' IN MONTREAL AT ITS CANADA'S ANNUAL
CONFERENCE
Plans
are now well underway for ITS Canada's Annual Conference
and General Meeting, to be held June 1 to 4, 2008,
in Montreal, Quebec.
Experience
unprecedented professional growth by attending this
event, where transportation professionals from around
the world will converge to discuss the latest ITS
developments. This is your chance to connect with
other industry participants who have the answers to
your critical business issues. ITS Canada's largest
ever exhibition will provide expanded contact, personal
development and multi-level educational opportunities.
An
invitation from Honorary Conference President Carl
Desrosier and all of the latest details regarding
features of the Conference are available on the website.
Register
now to attend ... early registration discounts will
end May 2 and availability of discounted hotel rooms
is also time-limited, ending April 30.
ITS ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP
Don't
miss the workshop to be held during ITS Canada's Annual
Conference in Montreal on Wednesday, June 4, which
provides a forum for stakeholders regarding the next
update of the ITS Architecture for Canada. Panelists
will conduct discussions and share their perspectives
on themes such as:
- Results of the Previous Stakeholder Forum
- User Services Update
- Introduction to Equipment Packages
- ITS Standards Update
- Physical Architecture Update
- Architecture Tool Options Development
- Next Steps.
Plan
to attend this workshop that is open to all.
ITS
CANADA NEWS – PRESENTATIONS AVAILABLE ONLINE
One
of the results from the recent ITS Canada Member Survey
was that over 42 percent of respondents were unaware
that presentations made and/or photographs taken at
ITS Canada events are available afterwards on ITS
Canada’s website.
For
the first six months, access to materials is typically
restricted to delegates who attended the event. After
that, members are able to view presentations and images
by entering their User ID and password. Once two years
have passed, all site visitors are able to access
postings.
Included
in the archive are links to associated reports and
often a photo gallery for such items as missions to
World Congresses (most recently the event held in
Beijing), ITS Canada’s Annual Conferences (see
Niagara Falls in its splendor!) and workshops hosted
by the Society.
Visit
the archive today to view this information: www.itscanada.ca/english/newsandeventsarchive.htm.
EXPORT
OPPORTUNITIES – INCOMING KOREAN MISSION
The Canada Export Centre is a private corporation
that works in partnership with all levels of government,
supported primarily by participating Canadian exporters.
At the heart of the Centre is a permanent export trade
show that exhibits and promotes Canadian products
and services to international buyers, investors, distributors,
agents and joint venture partners from around the
globe, all year long.
The
Canada Export Centre, together with the British Columbia
Ministry of Economic Development, and Foreign Affairs
and International Trade Canada (DFAIT), are hosting
a Korean buying mission of 20 companies from a wide
range of industry sectors, as part of the Korean Importers
Association (KOIMA). These delegates are looking for
business opportunities to expand the reach and growth
of Canadian products and services into the South Korean
market.
The
event will be held Thursday, April 17, 2008, at the
Canada Export Centre in Vancouver, BC. One-on-one
matchmaking sessions with the individual Korean companies
will be organized to allow participants to discuss
a particular business opportunity with the delegates.
For more information, an agenda and a comprehensive
list of products that the delegates are interested
in, visit www.canadaexportcentre.com/koima.
NEWS
bITS
TRAVELLER AND PASSENGER
INFORMATION WORKSHOP – South Africa
ITS
South Africa, in cooperation with the ITS Centre of
Excellence, is hosting a Traveller and Passenger Information
Workshop on May 30, 2008, in Tshwane, South Africa,
to discuss dissemination of information to passengers
on topics such as routes, ticketing, timetables, delays,
and how and where to connect between different transport
modes.. For more information, visit www.itssa.org.
ITS PUBLICATIONS
These two publications look at the advanced transportation
management industry from eight angles, not just one:
policy, strategy, finance, technology, innovation,
integration, implementation and interoperability,
in equal measure.
Thinking
Highways – available free/online
European and North American editions
www.h3bmedia.com/onlineservices.cfm
ETC
– The International Road Pricing and Electronic
Toll Collection Review – free/online
www.h3bmedia.com/Contents.cfm?title=etc&edition=Q108
INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING IN INDIA
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a $350
million loan to improve urban infrastructure and services
in 31 towns and cities in India's mountainous northern
state of Uttarakhand, one of the country's top tourist
destinations. The towns and cities were chosen because
they are expected to lead industrial and tourism growth.
In addition to ADB's $350 million, the Government
of India will invest $150 million. The road network
will be improved to shorten travel times and increase
road safety. In addition, part of the funds will be
used to improve the capacity of relevant state departments,
urban local bodies and other urban service providers,
to ensure that they have the ability to manage and
deliver urban services efficiently and on a sustainable
basis.
OPPORTUNITIES
IN LATIN AMERICA
The
6th Annual Latin American Leadership Forum will be
held April 1 to 3, 2008, at the Miami Marriott Biscayne
Bay hotel in Miami, Florida. This conference will
focus on strategic infrastructure in Latin America
and the Caribbean – the top 50 strategic infrastructure
projects in Latin America, presented by their developers.
Highway project descriptions can be viewed at http://cg-la.com/lalf6projectshighways.php.
MEMBERS
IN THE NEWS
ATEME
has announced the release of VSIP2 EXTREME H.264 video
server with extended temperature range, to meet the
demanding requirements of system deployments in harsh
environments, allowing security managers to deploy
cameras at previously inaccessible sites. Designed
to adapt to existing network infrastructures, VSIP2
EXTREME is built upon ATEME’s compression technology
in order to optimize video quality while benefiting
from intelligent encoding features, including alarm
generation. This latest version of VSIP2 includes
DNA™ technology (Dynamic Network Adaptation)
based on recent innovations by ATEME’s R&D
laboratories with regard to safety, maintenance and
optimization of network bandwidth. For full details,
please visit www.ateme.com.
Delcan
Corporation has announced that its strategic
partner in Israel, P.G.L. Transportation Engineering
and Planning Ltd. (PGL), has been awarded a contract
by Ma’atz – The Israeli National Roads
Company, to manage the implementation of a National
Traffic Management System (NTMS). Valued at US$3 million,
this contract includes project management and design
review of a nation-wide deployment of an ITS system
in Israel. The system design, software development,
electronic equipment supply, and infrastructure design
and construction will be done by various designers
and contractors, while PGL’s role includes the
entire project management, design review and integration.
The geographical area for the NTMS extends approximately
50 km north of Tel Aviv (Highway 65), 50 km south
of Tel Aviv, (Highway 41), to Highway 6 (Cross-Israel
Highway), and 60 km to the east, up to Jerusalem.
The NTMS will be installed in three stages, starting
in the center of the country, and progressively moving
outwards.
Econolite
is partnering with Uniloc to introduce StrongPoint,
a security appliance for advanced traffic management
system (ATMS) network protection that uses device
recognition to create ‘device-locked’
secure private networks between a StrongPoint Server
at the traffic operations center and StrongPoint appliances
in traffic cabinets in the field. StrongPoint secures
transportation field controls such as intersection
signal controllers, variable message signs (VMS) and
traffic cameras. Econolite will deliver StrongPoint’s
superior identity access management capabilities to
protect against unauthorized internal network access
and cyber security threats to arterial traffic networks
throughout the world.
INIT Innovations
in Transportation, Inc., was
recently awarded a contract with Community Transit
in Everett, Washington, to provide their JAVA-based
CAD/AVL software for 337 of Community Transits’
fixed-route vehicles and 55 paratransit vehicles.
Community Transit will also utilize INIT’s onboard
computer, COPILOTtouch, as well as other INIT technologies
including onboard next stop displays and announcements
with MP3 voice data center for audio recording, automatic
passenger counting system, statistics software for
reporting, wireless LAN and real-time passenger information.
The project will be implemented along with an upgrade
to a digital 700 MHz radio system, including infrastructure
and mobile units. In addition, INIT will provide an
interface to the destination signs, traffic signal
priority system, fare boxes and Paratransit Scheduling
Software. INIT’s technology will support Community
Transit’s daily operations and provide tools
to help manage their vehicle fleet. The $10.4 million
dollar project is scheduled to begin April 2008, with
completion projected in the spring of 2010.
Telvent
GIT S.A. announced today that it has been
selected by Cleantech Indices, LLC, in conjunction
with the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), to join The
Cleantech Index(tm) (CTIUS), effective March 29, 2008.
The Cleantech Index is the first, and only, equity
index intended to reflect the surging global demand
for clean technology products and services. The index
is comprised of 46 public companies -- traded on either
the New York or American Stock Exchanges or the NASDAQ
National Market -- that are leaders in “cleantech”
innovation and commercial deployment across a broad
range of industry sectors, including energy efficiency
and renewable energies, and air and water quality
management. This inclusion recognizes that Telvent
excels at applying innovative solutions to a broad
array of critical infrastructures that affect millions
of people, improving safety and efficiency every day;
from IT infrastructures, to public transport and highway
systems, electric grids, oil and gas pipelines, and
water distribution systems.
In
early April, TransLink announced
continued strong financial performance for 2007, thanks
in part to a healthy economy and a federal tax credit
for monthly transit passes. The regional transportation
authority’s annual report showed higher revenue
from diesel fuel sales, thanks to the construction
boom currently underway in Metro Vancouver and an
increase in transit pass sales due in part to the
federal tax credit. This additional revenue outweighed
rising transit operating costs and, coupled with lower
debt servicing costs due to some delays in TransLink’s
capital programs, led to a better than expected financial
result for 2007. Some of these funds are already being
used to accelerate transit expansion.
TransLink
has also announced the establishment of a Chief Information
Officer (CIO) position at TransLink. In order to improve
the alignment of technology-related functions, the
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) group headed
by Keenan Kitasaka will report to the new CIO. In
addition, a new department will be established to
provide business analysis and process review services
at TransLink. The department will partner with TransLink
divisions to help define business problems, identify
available process or technology solutions, and assist
in preparation of the business cases.
Sky
Train – TransLink
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Newsletter
published by ITS Canada.
Submissions
or comments can be emailed to askus@itscanada.ca.
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