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ITS
TRAINING WORKSHOP IN EO&O REGION A MAJOR SUCCESS
ITS
Canada and its members from Eastern Ontario &
Outaouais (EO&O) hosted a one-day ITS Training
Workshop in Ottawa on November 15, 2006. The 68 delegates
were welcomed by ITS Canada Chairman Joseph Lam and
by Carl Vervoort on behalf of the workshop Organizing
Committee. As outlined by Carl, the two objectives
of the day were to share Traveller Information Services
information and to grow the local ITS community.
This was the first workshop in a new outreach initiative
launched by ITS Canada’s Education & Training
Committee. These workshops focus on the ITS needs
and interests of professionals at the municipal and
regional levels. The topic of this workshop, Implementing
Integrated Traveller Information Services (TIS) in
Eastern Ontario & Outaouais (EO&O), was selected
by the Organizing Committee to examine ways to exploit
TIS to improve traveller safety, efficiency and convenience
in this region.
The workshop approached the topic in four related
sessions. The first one reviewed the state of the
art of TIS; the second reviewed the state of TIS practise
in the EO&O regions with speakers from the City
of Ottawa, MTO, MTQ and OCTranspo. The guest speaker,
Judy Yu of the City of Calgary, presented the TIS
accomplishments of that city as a benchmark against
which to compare TIS progress in EO&O. The delegates
then formed breakout groups to consider two issues:
alternative business models for TIS in EO&O; and
issues and barriers to TIS in EO&O. The discussion
results will be documented and published by ITS Canada.
Eight vendors took the opportunity to set up exhibit
tables at the workshop. Each one also spoke briefly
to delegates during a dedicated 30-minute portion
of the lunch hour. John Buck, Manager of Traffic Management,
City of Ottawa, who brought 19 of his staff to the
workshop, expressed satisfaction with the outcomes.
Gregg Loane of IBI Group, a speaker/exhibitor, offered
this assessment: “The conference was good. The
organizers did a really good job on a very modest
scale. It had big conference quality but in a small
local event.”
ITS Canada will make a CD of the ITS Training Workshop
available. For further information, visit www.itscanada.ca/ottawa2006.
 |
A
few of the many folks who helped make this event
a success:
Left
to right: Mark Pinet, Bill Johnson, Phil
Masters, Carl Vervoort, Judy Yu, John Buck,
Joe Lam and Jim Houghton |
ITS PROGRAMS AT THE CANADIAN URBAN TRANSIT
ASSOCIATION FALL CONFERENCE
Passenger Amenity Benefits of ITS
By Gregg Loane, IBI Group
In
November 2006, the Canadian Urban Transit Association
held its annual Fall Conference in Toronto. On November
8th, CUTA held two ITS programs: one on Customer Amenities
and the second on Initiatives for Operational Efficiencies.
The ITS Customer Amenities session featured three
topics:
 |
Canada 511 –
Making Transit a Priority (presented by Gregg
Loane, Associate with IBI Group) |
|
GO Transit’s E-News
Service (presented by Marion Denney, Transportation
Planner with GO Transit) |
|
VIA Rail Canada – Passenger
Amenities (presented by Guy Faulkner, Product
Manager - Corridor Services for VIA Rail). |
The
session began with a presentation by Gregg Loane of
IBI Group regarding Canada 511 and how it will support
public transit initiatives. Earlier this year, the
CRTC approved the use of 511 for weather and traveller
information. This will enable provincial, territorial
and other agencies to deploy 511 services. Transport
Canada has initiated discussion on Canadian traveller
information systems by proposing functional requirements
that identify design principles and types of transit
information content that could be included in a 511
service. Canada 511 will benefit transit by facilitating
access to transit and multimodal information for all
agencies in a local area, act as a marketing tool
for public transit, and provide the media with a centralized
access point for transit service news.
The
second speaker, Marion Denney, presented on GO Transit’s
new E-News service. The service provides email announcements
to service subscribers for a variety of topics, including
real-time schedule changes, construction activity,
and particularly service disruptions, related to both
their rail and bus services. Subscribers can personalize
their services by signing up for announcements for
particular stations and lines, and these announcements
will be sent to up to three of the subscriber’s
email accounts.
The
E-News service has proven to be very popular with
GO Transit customers, with over 10,000 subscribers
in the first two months of service, and it continues
to grow by 150 subscribers per week.
Guy
Faulkner of VIA Rail presented on VIA’s on-board
amenities, with a focus on their new WiFi service.
In-depth marketing has demonstrated that VIA customers
are looking for on-board Internet access and will
use it for a range of activities, particularly business
and entertainment uses. VIA’s WiFi service trial
began in 2003 in selected flagship trains and Panorama
Lounges. The trial was well received, and passengers
typically use the service for browsing, VPN connection,
email, and corporate Internet usage. In November 2005,
VIA Rail Canada became the first passenger railway
in the world to introduce wireless Internet on an
entire fleet of passenger cars. VIA has established
a revenue-sharing partnership to deploy the WiFi service
at no cost to VIA Rail.
Bill
Cunningham, Director for Mississauga Transit and moderator
of this CUTA conference session, then closed the session
and thanked all presenters.
 |
Left
to right:
Marion
Denney, GO Transit
Gregg Loane, IBI Group
Guy
Faulkner, VIA Rail
Moderator
Bill Cunningham, Mississauga Transit
|
TRANSIT ITS ARCHITECTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
By
Kevin Bebenek, IBI Group
CUTA’s
Fall Conference/ITS Workshop closed with a panel session
held on November 8 that dealt with ITS architecture
and technology applications for transit. The 75 attendees
included representation from transit authorities across
Canada, consultants and system providers.
ITS
Canada commenced the session with an overview of the
ITS Architecture for Canada, with a particular emphasis
on the relevance to transit. Most of the representation
in the room had limited experience in applying the
architecture and the presentation provided a useful
introduction regarding how the architecture can serve
as a tool to organize and plan for systems, both within
a transit agency and among peer agencies. This is
particularly important given the current emphasis
on interaction among agencies to deliver initiatives,
including:
|
transit signal
priority |
|
511 |
|
regional service co-ordination
and fare integration. |
The
session included some real-world examples of transit
technology deployments incorporating CAD/AVL, transit
signal priority, and passenger information displays,
namely, York Rapid Transit VIVA express bus service
and Grand River Transit iXpress express bus service.
The session concluded with information on the Transportation
Association of Canada’s efforts in developing
standardized approaches for queue jump lanes and transit
signalization at intersections. Also, the University
of Toronto Transit Technology Test-bed provided an
overview of their micro-simulation and optimization
of transit signal priority applications.
The participation and discussion
at the session underscores the level of activity and
importance of ITS to support various on-going transit
initiatives in Canada. There is significant interest
in the opportunities to utilize regional architectures
to organize and co-ordinate transit ITS initiatives
with other relevant initiatives.
Furthermore,
the transit ITS applications currently in operation
provide an opportunity to showcase the benefits of
the technology and provide lessons learned to other
agencies as they embark on their programs.
INTEGRATED
REGIONAL SIGNAL SYSTEM (IRSS)
By
James Fam, TransLink
Traffic
signal management systems have been proven to demonstrate
significant benefits from the coordination of traffic
signal operations. However, with the continued growth
of the various urban areas in the Greater Vancouver
region and the installation of an increasing number
of signalized intersections, there is a growing need
to coordinate the traffic signal operations between
adjacent municipalities and agencies.
The
goal of the IRSS is to make better use of available
information and communications technologies to provide
a 'system of systems', that facilitates coordinated
operation between individual municipalities and jurisdictional
agencies, while also allowing the individual agencies
to maintain their autonomy with respect to signal
control equipment selection and signal timing plan
implementation.
Utilizing
centre-to-centre communications protocol that will
provide for the integration and interoperability of
existing traffic signal management systems, the IRSS
will allow individual agencies to:
|
Share information
and data that will encourage coordinated operations
across jurisdictional boundaries |
|
Enable coordinated operations
along regional traffic corridors across jurisdictional
boundaries through access to a common time source |
|
Send and receive event notices
to/from adjacent municipalities and/or agencies
to trigger special pre-approved timing plans in
response to measured traffic flows, incidents
and special events |
|
Clearly demonstrate the potential
to realize traffic operation and safety-related
benefits from regional coordination |
|
Be
compatible with the ITS Architecture for Canada
and the other ITS initiatives set out in the BC
Provincial ITS Vision and Strategic Plan. |
Schematic
of IRSS System Concept
An
IRSS Pilot System is currently being implemented along
two corridors in the Surrey/Langley area:
|
200 Street, from
66 Avenue to Fraser Highway |
|
Fraser Highway, from 64 Avenue
to 200 Street. |
The
corridors include 11 signalized intersections belonging
to 4 jurisdictions (including the Ministry of Transportation,
City of Surrey, City of Langley and Township of Langley).
The project is mainly funded by Transport Canada under
the ITS component of the Strategic Highway Infrastructure
Program, TransLink, and the Insurance Corporation
of British Columbia (ICBC). Delcan is a private-sector
partner for this project. The pilot project, which
includes 'before and after assessments, will be completed
by March 2007.
ITS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
By
Alex de Barros, University of Calgary (U of C)
The
University of Calgary, through several of its research
units, is developing close relationships with Transport
Canada (TC), Alberta Infrastructure & Transportation
(AI&T), the City of Calgary, Edmonton Police Services
and the Centre for Transportation Engineering and
Planning (C-TEP) to develop ITS technology and investigate
its effects on society. Strategically located in southern
Alberta, the U of C is rapidly moving towards becoming
a Centre of Excellence for ITS research in Western
Canada.
ITS
is a multi-disciplinary field involving engineering,
information technology, geography and social sciences,
among others. ITS research at the U of C involves
a broad range of skills and capabilities across several
faculties and departments. The following is a sample
of the high-quality research projects that are underway
at the University.
All
three projects outlined below are being funded through
a contribution agreement between TC (50% funding)
and AI&T (50% funding, with other partners), under
the ITS R&D Plan, Innovation Through Partnership.
The Plan is part of the ITS component of the Strategic
Highway Infrastructure Program.
Dynamic
Message Signs
The objective of this research is to develop an optimal
strategy for the utilization of dynamic message signs
(DMS) that is grounded in psychological theories,
communication paradigms and behavioural change models,
as well as scientific evidence of the effectiveness
of the various messages and their deployment schemes.
The optimal operational strategy will address issues
such as:
|
what subset of
potential messages for DMS is most effective for
Alberta |
|
what is the best psychological
approach or communications method to adopt for
each type of message |
|
what behavioural change model
is most appropriate for designing each type of
message |
|
how frequently should each
message be displayed to maximize its effect |
|
what relative safety benefits
can be expected on these messages. |
Dr.
R. Tay and Dr. A. de Barros in Civil Engineering are
the principal investigators, with funding from TC,
AI&T and C-TEP.
Intersection
Safety Cameras
The objective of this research is to develop an optimal
strategy for the deployment of intersection safety
cameras (also known as red light cameras) that is
grounded in criminology, economic principles, psychological
theories and behavioural change models, as well as
scientific evidence of the relative effectiveness
of the various deployment schemes. The aim of the
research is to develop a best practice guideline for
the deployment or scheduling of intersection safety
cameras. The optimal operational strategy will address
issues such as:
|
the number and
location of camera-ready intersections that can
be enforced given a fixed number of cameras |
|
the optimal deployment plan,
including frequency and location of the cameras |
|
how drivers modify their
behaviour at the camera sites given the different
deployment schemes. |
Dr.
R. Tay and Dr. A. de Barros are the principal investigators,
with funding from TC, AI&T and C-TEP.
Automatic
Incident Detection
This project was initiated in March 2005 in cooperation
with Transport Canada, AI&T, the City of Calgary
and the Laboratory for Integrated Video Systems (LIVS).
The goal of the project is to investigate, define,
and implement image processing functions to assist
and enhance accurate detection of incidents using
live video streams received from cameras distributed
over different regions of the city. These cameras
monitor the roads and broadcast live video streams
over fibre optic cables to the traffic management
centre and the LIVS laboratory. Currently, there are
live video streams from nine cameras scattered over
the City of Calgary, to provide the development team
with real-time video streams for analysis and testing
purposes.
The
project is managed by Dr. A. Radmanesh from the City
of Calgary and Dr. W. Badawy from the U of C, and
funded by TC, AI&T, and the cities of Calgary
and Edmonton.
For
more information, please contact Dr. Alex de Barros
via e-mail at debarros@ucalgary.ca.
MEMBERS
IN THE NEWS
In
September 2006, Daktronics Canada announced that the
Nevada Department of Transportation has purchased
and installed new signs from the Vanguard® VF-2000
product line. More than 30 signs will be installed
throughout the state in the next few years, displaying
weather advisories, traffic management information
and AMBER Alerts. For more information, visit www.daktronics.com.
In
October 2006, EIS Electronic Integrated Systems Inc.
announced that it has completed the installation of
RTMS™ detectors for the SCOOT system in Collier
County, Florida. The project involved a total of 181
detectors; a combination of RTMS SPIDER systems and
inductive loops. The RTMS SPIDER was installed at
16 intersections with 16 solar powered, wireless DSS
radio RTMS sensors monitoring a total of 65 lanes.
The Remote Traffic Microwave Sensor (RTMS) is a sensor
for the detection and measurement of traffic on roadways,
providing per-lane presence, volume, occupancy, speed,
and classification information in up to eight user-defined
detection zones simultaneously. For more information,
visit www.eistraffic.com.
In
October 2006, Raytheon announced a contract to partner
with Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) to supply
electronic toll collection systems over the next ten
years. FTE manages 988 kilometers of limited-access
toll highways. The present system consists of a mix
of lane-based electronic and cash tolling elements.
The Turnpike passes through 11 counties from north
Miami to Interstate 75 (located in central Florida).
FTE also owns or operates other toll road systems
in Florida. The project includes 835 lanes of toll
equipment, a central processing and audit system,
as well as open-road tolling technology. The Florida
system will be modelled on the Highway 407 system
located in Toronto, Ontario, developed by Raytheon.
Installation is scheduled to be completed over the
next four years, and Raytheon’s contract will
continue for the following six years to complete related
tasks. For further information, visit www.raytheon.com/htms.
NAVTEQ
has announced the availability of complete cartography
of South Africa, including more than 450,000 kilometres
of roads. The final phase of the Football World Cup
will take place in South Africa in 2010, and users
of NAVTEQ’s digital maps will have access to
the entire country. There are more than 25,000 points
of interest, including 3,900 restaurants and 2,100
hotels. For further information, please visit www.navteq.com.
NAVTEQ has also announced that it will be acquiring
Traffic.com, a leading provider of personalized traffic
information in the United States, which will provide
NAVTEQ with proprietary traffic content as well as
the expertise and technology to deliver data to a
wider variety of customers across various industries.
UPCOMING EVENTS
CUTA
2006 Fall Conference and Trans-Expo
November 4 to 8, 2006 – Toronto, Ontario
Trans-Expo – November 7
www.cutaactu.on.ca |
| |
IBTTA Technology Workshop
November 12 to 14, 2006 - Santiago, Chile
www.ibtta.org/Events |
| |
 |
ITS Canada Training Workshop: Implementing
Integrated Traveller Information Services in Eastern
Ontario & Outaouais
November 15, 2006 – Ottawa, Ontario
www.itscanada.ca/ottawa2006 |
| |
|
5th
Chilean Congress / 2nd Pan American Congress
on ITS and Exhibition
November 15 to 17, 2006 – Santiago,
Chile
www.itschile.cl |
| |
IBTTA’s Transportation
Finance Summit
December 3 to 5, 2006 – Washington, D.C.
www.ibtta.org/Events |
| |
First
Middle-East ITS Conference
December 4 and 5, 2006 – Dubai, UAE
www.its-arab.org |
| |
|
ITS
Canada-AQTR Workshop: Intelligent Transportaton
Systems and Transit
December 7, 2006 – Montreal, Quebec
www.itscanada.ca/montreal2006 |
| |
ITS Technology Fair
February 14, 2007 – Washington, D.C.
www.itsa.org/techfair.html |
| |
SASITS e-Transport Conference
March 6 to 8, 2007 – Pretoria, South Africa
www.sasits.com |
| |
Intertraffic
China
March 15 to 17, 2007 – Beijing China
www.intertraffic.com |
| |
TAC's Spring 2007 Technical
Meetings
April 11 to 18, 2007 – Ottawa, Ontario
www.tac-atc.ca |
| |
Smart
Moving Conference 2007 / Traffex 2007
April 17 to 19, 2007 – Birmingham, UK
Theme: “SMART Solutions for Today”
www.its-uk.org.uk |
| |
|
ITS Canada Annual
Conference and General Meeting
April 29 to May 1, 2007 – Niagara Falls,
Ontario
www.itscanada.ca/niagara2007 |
| |
CITE 2007 Conference
May 6 to 9, 2007 – Toronto, Ontario
www.itetoronto.ca |
| |
Intertraffic Istanbul
May 9 to 11, 2007 – Istanbul, Turkey
www.intertraffic.com |
| |
XVII
Canadian Multidiscipinary Road Safety Conference
June 3 to 6, 2007 – Montreal, Quebec
www.cmrsc.polymtl.ca |
| |
ITS
America 2007 Annual Meeting and Exposition
June 4 to 6, 2007 – Palm Springs, California
www.itsa.org |
| |
European
ITS Congress
June 18 to 20, 2007 – Aalborg, Denmark
www.itsineurope.com |
| |
23rd World Road Congress
September 17 to 21, 2007 – Paris, France
www.paris2007-route.fr |
| |
14th
World Congress on ITS
October 9 to 13, 2007 – Beijing, China
|
| |
Newsletter
published by ITS Canada.
Submissions
or comments can be emailed to askus@itscanada.ca.
|
