EU project tests new technologies in Madrid to improve traffic and travel information

Spanish technology group Indra is implementing the European R&D&i project Harmony, with the collaboration of research groups G@TV and TranSYT from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and with the support of Grupo Interbús and Spain's Traffic Department (DGT). The pilot study is being carried out in Madrid to develop new technologies to integrate real-time data from different transport operators and improve multimodal information services. The three-year project, developed with the Polytechnic University of
July 25, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Spanish technology group 509 Indra is implementing the European R&D&i project Harmony, with the collaboration of research groups G@TV and TranSYT from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and with the support of Grupo Interbús and Spain's Traffic Department (DGT). The pilot study is being carried out in Madrid to develop new technologies to integrate real-time data from different transport operators and improve multimodal information services.


The three-year project, developed with the Polytechnic University of Madrid, is part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program, the 1690 European Commission's investment plan for developing transport infrastructures with the goal of completing the trans-European transportation network.

The Harmony project applies current European standards and state-of-the-art technologies to standardise, exchange and integrate data on public transportation in real time and data and information on road network traffic, as well as from other transportation organisations. Based on this data, it aims to develop new multimodal information services that will benefit both transportation operators and citizens and contribute to improving mobility management and information.

A collaboration between transport operator Grupo Interbús and DGT provides Interbus with real time statistical traffic data in standard formats, which will enable the testing of information exchange between public transportation and traffic to improve management and mobility and to offer citizens new, improved services. In addition, by integrating the information from Interbús into Indra's traffic management solution, the buses may be located graphically on a map of Madrid's different roads.

In a second phase, it is expected that DGT will join the pilot project to validate the real-time standardised information exchange. In addition to testing services for improving the city's mobility management and contributing toward a coordinated and speedy incident response, the pilot project is also considering offering new services, such alerts and multimodal route planning, in a third stage.

Once completed, the Harmony project will analyse the real impact that these applications and services could have on both transportation conditions as well as on operators' management and users' satisfaction.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Researchers devise snow ploughing algorithm
    September 16, 2014
    Canadian researchers Olivier Quirion-Blais, Martin Trépanier and André Langevin have developed an algorithm to determine the most efficient routes for snow ploughs and gritters. Snow plough routing has always been something of a ‘black art’: to direct a fleet of show plough to clear priority roads without having the same road cleared several times while others are left untreated. Increasingly, GPS is being used to track the routes the clearing vehicles have taken but until now it has not been possible to ta
    Read More
  • Digital Light Processing transforms travel information
    July 19, 2012
    David Crawford investigates the potential of new projection technology. Fifty years on from its invention of the microchip, US company Texas Instruments (TI) has compressed the technology into a surface area of just 4.3mm. As such, it forms the heart of a new Pico Digital Light Processing (DLP) system that is set to transform travel information delivery for millions of users on the move - by making it projectable.
    Read More
  • New Haven shows small can be beautiful
    October 22, 2014
    Connecticut’s new administration is using smart policy and ITS solutions to bridge social divides. Andrew Bardin Williams investigates. With only 130,000 residents, New Haven can hardly be called a metropolis. Measuring less than 502km (18 square miles), the city is huddled against the coast, squeezed between two mountains (appropriately called East Rock and West Rock) that, at 111m and 213m (366ft and 700ft) respectively, can hardly be called mountains. The airport is small and has limited service, and th
    Read More
  • Iteris to upgrade South Carolina 511 traveller information services
    January 17, 2013
    Iteris, US-based intelligent traffic management information solutions provider is to upgrade and operate the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) next generation 511 Traveler Information System. The company has been awarded a three-year contract, valued at approximately US$2.5 million, including two one-year options for ongoing operation and maintenance. Work on the project is planned to begin immediately. A component of the award includes IterisPeMS (iPeMS), a state-of-the-art system that a
    Read More

Highlighted Content