Skip to main content

Developing open systems for Europe’s urban ITS

Europe’s POSSE (Promoting Open Specifications and Standards in Europe) is developing best practice guidelines for open urban transport systems, including case study examples, which will be open to all and which will set out the process for implementing open specifications and standards. POSSE believes open specifications and standards offer many benefits especially the ease with which different Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) can share and exchange information.
October 29, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Europe’s POSSE (Promoting Open Specifications and Standards in Europe) is developing best practice guidelines for open urban transport systems, including case study examples, which will be open to all and which will set out the process for implementing open specifications and standards.  POSSE believes open specifications and standards offer many benefits especially the ease with which different Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) can share and exchange information.

The six partners from the UK, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Norway and the Czech Republic have undertaken to engage with their key national players in order to raise awareness and build consensus on open systems.

Intelligent transport systems (ITS) are widely implemented in cities and regions to manage traffic and influence travel behaviour through systems such as adaptive area-wide traffic control, real-time travel information, bus priority at traffic lights, smart card ticketing and car park management and guidance, among others. ITS have largely been implemented in an un-coordinated and incremental way, due in part to the multitude of organisations involved, the absence of a common set of open ITS standards and specifications in Europe, and the prevalence of closed, proprietary systems within the market.

To enable other public authorities with an interest in open systems to benefit from the knowledge sharing within POSSE and to interact with partners, an Open ITS Systems Forum will be established. The call for applications to join the forum is open now and will close on 7 December 2012.

Related Content

  • The FIA’s formula for future mobility
    March 11, 2016
    The FIA’s Region I president Thierry Willemarck tells Colin Sowman about his organisation’s campaigning work for the rights of road users and mobility for all. The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile may be best known as the FIA and the governing body for world motor sport - particularly Formula 1 - but its influence spreads far wider than the racetrack. The organisation was founded in 1904 with a remit to safeguard the rights and promote the interests of motorists and motor sport across the world. No
  • Cost benefit goes under the microscope
    August 21, 2017
    Conventional cost benefit analysis (CBA) of plans for urban smart mobility initiatives needs serious rethinking, according to a recently-completed European study. The three-year Evidence Project (the Project) emerged in response to concerns about the availability and quality of documented research – including CBA – required to prove that investment in sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs) can be economically beneficial. Covering 22 sectors ranging from electric vehicles to shared spaces, the Project clai
  • Blockchain: the next big thing for ITS? Really?
    October 8, 2018
    Everyone’s heard of blockchain – but most people are less sure about what it really is, and how it might be used in transportation. Andrew Williams peers into cyberspace to find some answers. A growing number of organisations in the ITS industry are exploring how blockchain technology could be used for ITS and mobility applications. So, what exactly is blockchain technology? What are the key current and potential applications in the mobility and ITS sector? And what practical benefits might it bring?
  • Future Standards Forum - guidance for the future of machine vision standards
    November 9, 2012
    The Future Standards Forum (FSF), a joint initiative by European Machine Vision Association (EMVA), Automated Imaging Association (AIA) and Japan Industrial Imaging Association (JIIA), has been set up to provide proactive, strategic guidance to the development of industry standards and to minimise the creation of conflicting standards within the machine vision industry and in related industries. The FSF believes the machine vision industry is a knowledge driven industry which experiences an ever increasing