The ITS action plan identifies the optimal use of road, traffic and travel data as a priority area. To achieve the EC’s ambition in this area, standardisation of data as well as the mechanisms for the exchange and the shared use of data between the stakeholders is required. These stakeholders are the relevant public authorities and service providers. More specifically this requires standards which define information and data structures and dictionaries in the field of road, traffic and travel. Examples are road traffic event information, operator initiated actions, road traffic measurements and travel time data. The exchange standards comprise both centre to centre (C2C) and centre to roadside communication.
Road traffic data is not limited to (the systems of) public authorities and providers. In fact it is part of several information chains. Thus WG 8 cooperates with other working groups to align their standards. To be mentioned are WG3 (Public Transport) and WG4 (Traffic and Traveller information). On the development of data exchange standards there is a liaison between WG 8 and ISO TC204 WG 9 (Integrated transport information, management and control). Note that the current focus in WG8 is on C2C-exchange. There is no on going work in the field of centre to roadside communications.
Working group 8 is responsible for the multi part DATEX II standard; With the aim to support sustainable mobility in Europe, the European Commission has been supporting the development of information exchange mainly between the actors of the road traffic management domain for a number of years. In the road sector, DATEX II has been long in fruition, with the European Commission being fundamental to its development through an initial contract and subsequent co-funding through the Euro-Regional projects. With this standardisation of DATEX II there is a real basis for common exchange between the actors of the traffic and travel information sector. DATEX II defines a common set of data exchange specifications to support the vision of a seamless interoperable exchange of traffic and travel information across boundaries, including national, urban, interurban, road administrations, infrastructure providers and service providers. Standardisation in this context is a vital constituent to ensure interoperability, reduction of risk, reduction of the cost base, promotion of open marketplaces and many social, economic and community benefits to be gained from more informed travellers, network managers and transport operators. The focus of DATEX II standardisation is on the information content. Part 1 defines the modelling methodology and rules for extension. Parts 2-7 define the content according to this methodology. Note that the actual mechanisms for Centre-to-Centre exchange (C2C) are yet to follow. Substantial work on exchange has already been performed with the ambition to take up its standardisation at the ISO level. For this there is an on going cooperation between CEN TC278/WG8 and ISO TC204/WG9.
The DATEX II specifications are maintained by a stakeholder organisation that has been created under the EasyWay programme. Inside EasyWay, DATEX II is included in a set of European Studies (ES), that deal with pan-European consensus forming and harmonization. DATEX II is covered by European Study 5.ES5 has been structured into two groups:
To support a consistent change management process the EasyWay Technical Group has prepared Rules of Procedure which have been endorsed by the EasyWay Strategy Group and TC278 WG8. The Rules of Procedure as well as information on the deployment and maintenance of DATEX II is available on www.datex2.eu .
