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

  • Europe’s road safety record suffers as austerity bites hard, say traffic police chiefs
    March 7, 2018
    Europe’s leading traffic police chiefs are struggling with the challenge of how best to manage the region’s road network in an era of austerity. Things are changing fast, and not for the better, reports Geoff Hadwick. Europe’s road safety record is under threat. Police budgets are being slashed, staff numbers are falling and a long-term trend towards ever-fewer road deaths has ground to a halt. The line on the graph has flat-lined. Does Europe’s road network face a far more dangerous future? Lower and
  • Making the case for ALPR in enforcement
    February 2, 2012
    Federal Signal's Brian Shockley uses examples from around the world to make the case for the greater use of automatic license plate recognition technology in the US. It is time, he says, to consider the possibilities of a national network and the use of average speed enforcement
  • Orange County to manage traffic with trial interoperable CCTV
    September 12, 2014
    Interoperable CCTV can provide early warning of problems and help improve traffic management and incident response as Morteza Fahrtash and Carlos Ortiz explain. California’s transportation system is one of the state’s defining features and Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) strives to improving mobility across the state through the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the network of highway, freeways, toll roads and expressways.
  • Ertico welcomes mandatory installation of eCall systems
    April 6, 2018
    Ertico Ertico has welcomed the mandatory installation of eCall in all new car and light vehicle models in Europe which will come into effect this month. The company, according to its chief executive officer Jacob Bangsgaard, has acted as one of the driving forces behind the discussion of equipping vehicles with emergency call service since 2001. Bangsgaard said: “Thanks to our diverse Partnership, we ensured cross-sectoral discussions and cooperation which was fundamental for reaching consensus towards