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ITS
CANADA GETS SET TO STORM MONTREAL!
In June 2008, the world’s
leading traffic and transportation professionals will
be in Montreal, Canada, for what promises to be the
largest and most informative ITS Canada Conference
and exhibition to date. The Conference is a significant
event for professionals involved in the design, management
and maintenance of traffic and transportation systems.
This year's event is extended by one day for both
Conference sessions and the exhibition, where 60,000
square feet will showcase over 55 exhibitors, including
live equipment demonstrations.
Come to Montreal, and meet the ITS experts and industry
leaders in this world-renowned Canadian city. Locate
new business partners and source new markets, or research
new applications and cost-saving techniques. Informative
Conference sessions will feature the latest intelligent
transportation systems technology and techniques,
enabling you to keep abreast of industry trends, complete
a significant amount of research in a short period
of time and stay ahead of your competitors. Great
networking opportunities that connect you with potential
partners or suppliers will expand your organization’s
potential.
Montreal features modern facilities and attractions
set against a backdrop of European-style history and
charm. Located on the mighty St. Lawrence River, the
downtown core and historic Old Montreal provide exciting
opportunities to experience a plethora of delights.
For those who love racing, the popular Formula 1 circuit
stops in Montreal the following weekend, an opportunity
to view the fastest racecars on the track, and street
Ferraris downtown.
Planned
social activities will provide Conference participants
with an opportunity to catch-up with old friends and
develop new acquaintances. Social events include an
evening welcome reception on Sunday, a banquet on
Tuesday evening, as well as an informal companions’
program. Delegates and companions can also take advantage
of the numerous activities that the exciting city
of Montreal has to offer. We look forward to seeing
you in Montreal!
www.itscanada.ca/montreal2008
TRANSPORT
CANADA’S URBAN TRANSPORTATION SHOWCASE PROGRAM
- WINNIPEG IS LEADING THE WAY WITH WINSMART
As
part of Transport Canada’s Urban Transportation
Showcase Program, the City of Winnipeg, in collaboration
with the Government of Canada, the Province of Manitoba,
the University of Manitoba Transport Institute and
Resource Conservation Manitoba, is using intelligent
transportation systems combined with other innovative
strategies to increase the reliability of transit.
The goal of the WinSMART project is to make sustainable
transportation easier and faster by:
- Introducing enhanced
transit priority service, featuring hybrid diesel
electric buses - an Automatic Vehicle Location system
and real-time electronic bus departure system will
improve schedule adherence of buses and increase
the reliability of transfer connections
- Introducing park and ride at
the existing headquarters of Manitoba Hydro, to
provide improved access to current transit operations
and any future rapid transportation along the corridor
- Fueling their municipal fleet
with biodiesel
- Enhancing their Downtown Wayfinding
System to create a safe, accessible, transit- and
pedestrian-friendly environment
- Building an active transportation
path along the Pembina corridor, a 15-kilometre
corridor that runs southwest from downtown along
Highway 75, through residential and employment areas,
including the University of Manitoba, to improve
connectivity to important destinations like the
University of Manitoba for cyclists and other path
users
- Helping residents reduce automobile
use through innovative community-based travel marketing
programs of alternative transportation modes
- Piloting an e-commerce delivery
project along with the development of a trucking
route program that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions
through better trip planning and routing, as well
as the creation of a digital road map that will
show truck use restrictions and enable delivery
fleet managers to use computerized routing models
that minimize travel distances, with research and
promotion of innovative freight practices related
to trip scheduling, load matching, idling reduction,
operation and maintenance programs, and driver training.
Expected
benefits include:
- Increased energy efficiency
and reduced greenhouse gas emissions from transportation
in one of the fastest growing and most heavily trafficked
areas of the city
- Reduced congestion and auto
dependence
- Increased use of transit, carpooling,
walking and cycling
- Reduced fuel consumption
- Improved public health and economic
efficiency
- Development of a more compact
urban form
- Elevated public understanding
of sustainable transportation issues, options and
behaviours.
Showcase
impacts will be determined through before-and-after
indicators specific to each initiative, as well as
surveys of participants.
For
more information, please visit: www.tc.gc.ca/utsp
Main
Street, Winnipeg
Copyright
city of Winnipeg 2005
DYNAMIC
MESSAGE SIGNS … WHAT’S NEW?
Real
time technology has aided in making highways safer
by incorporating graphics with text messages on Dynamic
Messages Signs (DMS). Using graphics provides the
flexibility needed to improve traffic conditions and
address traffic concerns, including incidents and
recurring congestion.
With the latest technology, full-colour, full-matrix,
high-resolution DMS products are an effective way
to communicate important messages to motorists. The
technology not only supports graphics but also various
font sizes, offering greater flexibility in how messages
are presented to motorists. High-resolution signs
offer many more pixels in the same display area, which
allows more detail than ever before. Text and graphics
are more legible, while the full-colour technology
allows accepted industry text and graphic symbols
to be used. All of this improves the effectiveness
of DMS, making roadways safer.
In
a study completed by the University of Rhode Island
(URI), Employing Graphics to Aid Message Display in
Dynamic Message Signs, a survey was conducted to determine
driver response times when presented with graphic-aided
messages versus text-only messages. The findings established
that response times were faster when drivers were
presented with graphic-aided messages.
Specifically,
the URI survey compared an all-text message to a text-plus-graphic
message that informed motorists of an accident ahead.
Ninety-four percent of those surveyed preferred the
text-plus-graphic version.
Another
overwhelming reason to use graphic images in conjunction
with text is because of the language diversity of
today’s motorists. Graphically-aided messages
convey important travel information to drivers with
limited English skills, who may have a slower response
time for English text-only messages.
WORLD
ITS MARKET CONTINUES TO GROW
According to a new report
by Global Industry Analysts, the global ITS market
is forecast to maintain a high CAGR of 14.32 percent
over 2000-2010 and reach US$20.7 billion in 2010.
The
U.S. constitutes the largest market for ITS, with
an estimated share of 43.97 percent in 2006, while
Europe represents the fastest growing market with
a CAGR of 18.24 percent over the same period.
In
terms of segment, the Advanced Traffic Management
Systems (ATMS) market, accounting for an estimated
48.81 percent share in 2006, represents the largest
segment, while the Electronic Toll Collection systems
(ETC) market is the fastest growing segment, with
a CAGR of 25.35 percent over 2000-2010. Other segments
independently analyzed include Public Vehicle Transportation
Management Systems (PVTMS), Commercial Vehicle Operations
(CVO) systems and "Other ITS" (including
Vehicle Safety Systems).
Unlike
any other manufacturing industry that has witnessed
phenomenal value migration from manufacturing to the
systems integrators, the ITS industry is still fragmented,
and each module maker plays a key role in the market,
Global Industry Analysts (GIA) states. Technology
enablers and system integrators equally share the
responsibility for advancing the industry's future
and are hence accorded equal importance. Apparently,
in the ITS industry, strategies when combined across
the board comprise the industry size.
GIA
believes that the industry is likely to witness a
wealth of strategic technological and product development
alliances attempting to buck up the mushrooming popularity
of intelligent transportation worldwide. Given the
overwhelmingly shrunk development cycles, enormous
costs of research and design, and evolving multiplicity
of complementary technologies, alliances are emerging
as the only way to cash in on the fast rising opportunity
without entailing big-ticket investments, both in
terms of time and money. Further details about GIA’s
research are available at: www.strategyR.com/MCP-1109.asp.
Reprinted
with permission from ITS International
NEWS
bITS
News from Transport
Canada
On
July 26, 2007, the Government of Canada and the
Government of Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) announced
they will invest up to $47,350 for the deployment
and integration of intelligent transportation systems
in the province. The projects being funded will
help make transportation in P.E.I. safer, more reliable
and more efficient. Each government will contribute
up to $23,675 for projects beginning now through
to September 30, 2008.
Intelligent
transportation systems combine and integrate information
processing, communication systems and sensing devices
to make the transportation system work more effectively.
With
this funding, P.E.I. Transportation and Public Works
will acquire and install up to 10 electronic salt-spreader
control systems and add up to 35 infrared road temperature-monitoring
systems to the department's winter road maintenance
equipment.
This
equipment will help collect data to track fleet
performance throughout the winter season, and will
optimize winter road maintenance by providing a
controlled and consistent application of road salt.
The department will operate the system for three
months and evaluate it based on reduction in road
salt, improved safety, and improved efficiency of
highway maintenance operations.
For
more information:
www.tc.gc.ca/mediaroom/releases/nat/2007/07-h140e.htm
Bus
Rapid Transit
Bus
Rapid Transit (known as BRT) is an enhanced bus
system that operates on bus lanes or other transitways
in order to combine the flexibility of buses with
the efficiency of rail. By doing so, BRT operates
at faster speeds, provides greater service reliability
and increased customer convenience. It also utilizes
a combination of advanced technologies, infrastructure
and operational investments that provide significantly
better service than traditional bus service. The
FTA is committed to making BRT a viable and functional
option for transit agencies across the country.
FTA Revamps Bus Rapid Transit Website
The
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) website of the Federal Transit
Administration (FTA) has recently been updated.
Although it is still under review by FTA, the site
is live and available to the public: www.fta.dot.gov/assistance/technology/research_4240.html
Publications - U.S. Federal Transit Administration
Bus
Rapid Transit: Elements-Performance-Benefits
Designed to introduce BRT, its major components,
its applications and its advantages. FTA will supply
copies of the brochure free of charge to organizations
and individuals. For copies, please contact Karen
Facen at karen.facen@dot.gov.
Bus
Rapid Transit: A Handbook for Partners
www.dot.ca.gov/hq/MassTrans/DOCS_PDFS/BRT/BRT_Handbook_0307.pdf
Bus
Rapid Transit Vehicle Characteristics
www.fta.dot.gov/documents/BRT_Vehicle_Characteristics_FINAL_June_2001.pdf
MEMBERS
IN THE NEWS
On
August 15, 2007, Applanix announced
that its Position and Orientation Systems for Land
Vehicles (POS LV) is helping 7 of the 36 teams selected
as semi-finalists to compete in the 2007 Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Urban Grand Challenge.
Included among the 7 teams are 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge
winner Stanford University and runner up Carnegie
Mellon University. Other teams adopting Applanix POSLV
solutions include Austin Robot Technology (the University
of Texas-Austin), Team Autonomous Solutions, Caltech
University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) and Team Urbanator. Applanix POS LV solutions
make a significant contribution to robotic vehicle
performance, including assistance with overall vehicle
navigation through better definition of positioning
relative to objects and right-of-way, and by helping
to more accurately direct sensors. For more information,
visit www.applanix.com.
TransLink
has contracted with INIT to equip
1,296 vehicles with INIT’s COPILOTpc, their
latest generation of on-board computers, with a Global
Positioning Satellite system (GPS) and a state-of-the-art,
fully digital, private mobile voice and data radio
system that will allow for more efficient real-time
control and optimization of service. The installation
is planned to be completed by the end of 2007. The
contract includes building a full-scale, state-of-the-art
digital radio system. The undertaking includes site
development and integration of M/A-COM’s “OpenSky”
radios with a microwave backbone. This advanced wireless
digital voice and data communications system for TransLink’s
bus lines in and around Vancouver, BC, will enable
TransLink to operate more efficiently and safely,
with reliable communications and access to dispatch
information and scheduling. For information: www.initag.com.
NAVTEQ
has announced availability of full-coverage maps for
Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia,
providing a road network map from the Baltic Sea in
the North, southwest to the Adriatic Sea. NAVTEQ has
broad coverage in Central and Eastern Europe with
road network maps for Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro,
Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. NAVTEQ has
also announced its first availability of digital map
coverage in India. It covers a population of more
than 53 million and includes over 64,000 kilometres
of road for the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad,
Chennai, Bangalore and the roads connecting these
cities. The city centres of six major cities are at
Detailed Coverage level, with the surrounding city
areas including all navigable and named roads. All
coverage areas include points of interest. For information:
www.navteq.com.
On
August 13, 2007, Unisys Canada Inc.,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Unisys, announced that
the Port of Halifax has awarded the company a contract
to develop and manage a biometric credentialing and
access control database system (CACDS) for approximately
4,000 of its port workers. Transport Canada and the
port will fund the project, scheduled for completion
by November 30. The Halifax Port Authority commissioned
the credentialing and access control database system
in compliance with Transport Canada’s Marine
Transportation Security Act and corresponding regulations.
Unisys will integrate vascular scanning technology
to identify port workers as part of the CACDS system.
An infrared scan of the back of the cardholder’s
hand will be embedded in a smart card, which also
will include the holder’s photograph. This vascular
image, which is recognized by a non-invasive infrared
sensor, will be used to identify the card holder when
he or she presents the card and places the back of
his/her hand in the scanner. Verification is instantaneous
and is achieved when the blood flow pattern of the
holder’s hand matches the pattern of the scan
stored on the card. For more information: www.unisys.com.
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Newsletter
published by ITS Canada.
Submissions
or comments can be emailed to itscanada@itscanada.ca.
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