3. Present Situation

This sections describes the state-of-the-art of the results obtained from EU funded research projects, concerned with boosting the Personal Travel Services market.

It includes in particular reference to the results which have already and are being obtained by projects of the 5th EU Framework Programme, currently in progress. Some important 4th EU Framework projects are also referred to, i.e. those obtained by the CODE project - Concertation and Achievements Report of the Transport Sector (CARTS '99).

Four main areas of analysis were identified:

• Interoperability

• Market approach

• Access to the information

• Information delivery to the end user

• Legal aspects on data access, storing and collection

3.1 INTEROPERABILITY

The various research activities have already made available most of the tools required by transport operators. Many of the applications have been demonstrated in small-medium scale prototypes. What is still far from being achieved is the necessary open overall framework. Most of the prototypes have been implemented directly by transport operators to support and market their respective operations. This approach is likely to limit the penetration of multimodal personal transport services. Due to this limitation, the research on tools for "interoperability between operators", and "tools for the final user" has been more limited. Still fewer applications have been demonstrated in fields related to the "tools for added value service providers".

The level and extent of development of systems and related services (information, reservation, payment, assistance, etc) is quite variable through Europe. This is constraining the application of telematics to trips requiring intermodality across regions of Europe (across national borders). While some countries have highly sophisticated systems, others are little more than basic or still incomplete.

Access to the relevant information/service required before or during a trip is still very difficult. Improvements of existing systems are on their way and new systems are benefiting from previous research but, at the current pace of change, it will take a long time before real harmonisation and integration of systems is achieved. This is incompatible with the objective of speeding up the introduction of telematics in Europe. The traveller is at present likely to have to struggle through several different systems (if he is able to find them), especially where intermodal travel is involved. This is delaying the penetration of personal travel services.

Existing data exchange systems developed at European level have until now mainly been based on the use of DATEX specifications which impose the use of the ALERT C location referencing system. This choice for the exchange of road information in the interurban environment was made when no other solutions where available at the European level. Today, the context has changed. Data is being exchanged in both the urban and interurban environment. Traffic information systems are evolving from just road information to multimodal information. Location referencing systems, using so far a limited number of mono-modal pre-coded locations, are moving towards multimodal "on the fly" codification (e.g. ILOC, a map-based location reference method based on XY co-ordinates associated with descriptors and location types, resulting from the 4th FP EVIDENCE project). The location referencing methods used in existing data exchange systems show that there is still substantial uncertainty about the most suitable method for the intermodality domain.

The 4th FP INFOTEN introduced language-independent systems for traffic information exchange, multimodal traveller information services and advanced driver warning systems in the Alpine area and Central Europe.

The 4th FP TITAN concerned validation and further development of the European Reference data model for Public Transport operations (Transmodel). One of the main findings was that the costs and benefits of the implementation of Transmodel-based integrated information systems depend largely on the specific conditions of the company and its processes (organisation, the size of the network, the amount of data to be processed and numerous other parameters).

The main objective of the 4th FP EuroSPIN project was to acquire and disseminate seamless, multimodal public transport travel information. The project designed and developed an intelligent system capable of providing arrival/departure times, connecting services and journey plans to passengers using a variety of transport modes for metropolitan, regional, national and European. In time it could be expanded to cover reservations and ticketing. The information was accessible via the Internet and could also be provided through special kiosks at rail/bus stations, airports and other places of interest.

The 4th FP EU-SPIRIT project built up a system appropriate for European-wide continuous and seamless time-table information. As the underlying idea was to combine existing local independent approaches to public transport information systems, keeping them practically unchanged, an open distributed architecture with clearly defined API-interfaces was chosen. In fact, an overlaying search algorithm requests partial connections from a series of distributed data bases by using meta knowledge, and combines them to cover the whole itinerary. This technology is in principle also applicable for connecting road traffic information systems and could therefore lead to a system architecture for intermodal services. The technology is currently being demonstrated on several links between Scandinavia and Northern Italy incorporating timetable data form Skane Traffiken, DSB (Denmark), DB AG, ÖBB, RER (Italy) and some local transport operators. The participating transport operators all take the role of VASPs providing their customers with a window to the system on their own web-sites. A post-RTD continuation of the platform is very likely to be set up in 2001.

The TRIDENT project, also based on the results obtained in projects like INFOTEN, TITAN and EuroSPIN, is currently supporting intermodal travel ITS services by establishing the common reusable mechanisms required for sharing and exchanging data between content owners for different modes (bus/tram/metro, rail and road). TRIDENT is also investigating the recognised organisational and strategic issues hampering travel intermodality and proposing solutions. This will lead to proposals for new standards as well as recommendations supporting the implementation of systems based on the obtained results. Rapid progress is anticipated on the specifications supporting an EDI approach, enhancing results from the 4th FP (extensions of data dictionaries and location referencing rules, new messages for public transport delays, cancellations and schedules, etc). But the main focus of the project is on the development of common specifications supporting an object oriented approach (JAVA/CORBA).

The ODIN project aims to develop innovative paradigms for the design of open, distributed, and networked tools to boost the integration of an entire new class of just-in-time, interactive, value-added, map-based and personalised services for the mobile citizen (tourist, entrepreneur, commuter, farmer, etc.). The project will first provide the definition of a global system architecture for a mobile delivery platform and services compliant with the ISO/ODP (Open Distributed Processing) 10746 guidelines, and, specifically adhere and contribute to the work of the standardisation committees in the spatial data interoperability sector (such as the OpenGIS / ISO TC 211) and the context of Wireless Applications (such as the WAP Forum). ODIN will then specify and implement an integrated Toolkit capable of accessing spatial and non-spatial information sources using XML/Java and viewing them just-in-time and dynamically over wireless hand-held devices.

3.2 MARKET APPROACH

VASPs are unable to cope fully with the travellers' needs. In fact, they need to access data providers (Transport Service Operators and Tourist Services at Destination) to collect information. However, the information typically provided is raw data on the local traffic and travel conditions which is often non homogeneous and uses different non compatible reference networks. This involves a large amount of data elaboration which the VASPs certainly cannot afford.

The diagram in Figure 2 represents the usual current situation. Customers are approached by i) individual transport operators, ii) service providers interested in the activities at the destinations. It is important to note that, in this situation, each operator is interested only in approaching the direct customers.

3.3 THE NEED FOR TELEMATICS PLATFORMS

A possible solution is the use of telematics platforms, which would act as interfaces between the data providers and the VASPs. The telematics platform would also solve other problems, such as the guarantee of the quality and availability of the information retrieved, as well as any organisational problems emerging from its absence.

The 4th FP ENTERPRICE project developed a Mobility and Traffic Information Centre with the function of generating multimodal traffic information from raw data coming from different systems, combining the information, and presenting it for use by various private and public information services.

The recent implementation in Torino of the TITOS platform, funded by the Municipality of Torino, ATM - the organisation responsible for Public Transport in the City of Torino and the EC, through the SMITH project, represents another example of this kind of platform. For further details, refer to appendix "Review on Information Retrieval for Traveller Services" of this section.

The ISCOM project is currently involved in the development, demonstration and validation of electronic timetable information and the set-up of mobility centres in the regions with the cross-border aspect (Alsace (Regio Alsace) and Baden Württemberg) and the European capitals with the mass transport problem (Rome and Vienna). The transport services on the digital network are accessible either by end users directly as an internal service, or by operators staffing the mobility centre. The aim is to provide a value-added service on digital communication networks with a broad range of services for transport agencies and for road users. The evaluation will determine the user acceptance and traffic impacts due to changing behaviour.

3.4 MARKET SEGMENTATION

The main gap in research and development in this domain is the examination of the needs of the traveller (citizen, user, and customer) of today and tomorrow. Traveller frequently use several modes for a trip (multimodal) for reaching activities (multidestinations) and the aim is to allow a growing number of people to benefit from the services which can be provided by telematics applications. But it is essential to understand travellers current needs and future evolution, paying attention to the ease of access to the services they require. Travellers have different needs depending on the frequency of travel to particular destinations. At one end we find the needs of commuters, at the other end the requirements of holidaymakers. A segmentation for such telematics services would require a marketing approach taking into account categories such as: commuters, travellers for personal or leisure, business, short breaks and holidays. This has not yet been done and could be a first step in facilitating the rapid development of services and telematics systems in the future. Many 4th and 5th projects considered general end user requirements, but have not tackled this kind of segmentation.

The 4th FP INFOPOLIS 2 examined travel as a dynamic process where the user has to carry out tasks within three time-based contexts: pre-trip (planning), on-trip (tracking) and end-trip (assessment) from last PT vehicle to final destination. The main conclusion was that the role of information must be to reduce and anticipate the uncertainties inherent in travelling. It is important to provide a coherent and efficient information system meeting the user's needs at trip stages and all relevant points of the journey. The aim of the horizontal project, the 4th FP TELSCAN, was to ensure that developers of advanced transport telematics (ATT) take into consideration the specific needs of elderly and disabled travellers and drivers in their design process.

3.5 VASPS ON THE MARKET

Among the various VASPs on the European market, the following are of particular interest:

3.5.1 Trafficmaster

As a world leader in telematics, Trafficmaster has pioneered the collection and dissemination of digital real-time traffic information in the UK and Continental Europe.

Using a combination of infra-red technology for speed sensing and number plate recognition camera-based technology for journey calculation, Trafficmaster's sophisticated computer software disseminates real time information to a variety of products. It offers the end-user speed and delay time information for traffic congestion spots, both nationally and locally, delivered through voice or screen-based units or mobile phone service providers.

Trafficmaster's digital traffic information is also used to supplement GPS-based navigation systems, overlaying useful information about the traffic ahead and thereby augmenting the value of the navigation for the driver. Currently, via the web-site live traffic information is available also over the Internet.

3.5.2 Trafficmaster Europe

Following an open offer in 1999, Trafficmaster raised £66million to fund its European expansion strategy. Networks are being built in Germany, France and Italy, with Germany already delivering live traffic data. France and Italy will follow in early 2001. New generation voice and screen based consumer products will be available in all markets.

3.5.3 Passo

Mannesmann TeleCommerce with its PASSO telematics division currently provides telematics services via GSM wireless communications to automotive manufacturers, fleet operators, wireless networks and on the Internet.

PASSO's customers include BMW, who offers telematics services packages across its car model range. The services are currently operated in Germany with the U.K. to follow and other major European markets shortly thereafter. PASSO also currently offers Internet and WAP-based personalised traveller services and operates data gateways such as Short Message Services (SMS) and customized WAP-gateways for key customers.

The Passo telematics division within Mannesmann TeleCommerce provides network and device-independent high quality telematics and location-based services to automotive industries, fleet operators and network providers. Such services include automatic crash notification, emergency and roadside assistance, traffic information, navigational and concierge services and vehicle-related services such as telemetry and car diagnostics.

3.5.4 Tegaron

At its locations in Bonn and Stuttgart TEGARON Telematics GmbH develops and implements innovative solutions for growth markets. The outcome of this is a ground-breaking portfolio of individually tailored and standardised telematics services, including navigation, information and safety services.

3.5.5 Webraska

Webraska is the worldwide provider of wireless navigation, mapping and traffic information services and technologies for telecom operators and car manufacturers.

Turning mobile devices into worldwide personal navigation systems, Webraska's revolutionary IbDN™ (Internet-based Distributed Navigation) patented technology and its Personal Navigation Suite™ of valued-added services are solving mobile users needs everyday, increasing revenues, customer loyalty and brand recognition for leading service providers around the world, including SFR, Vizzavi, KPN, Belgacom, Airtel, Orange, ADAC and VoiceStream.

Answering basic questions such as "Where am I? Where is the nearest car park or petrol station? How do I get there, by car, foot or public transportation? What is the fastest route? Can you alert me when something goes wrong? Can you guide me safely all the way to my destination?", Webraska's turn-key applications, originally designed with leading French operator SFR, have been carefully crafted to make the best out of each access mode (WAP, I-mode, Java technology-enabled phones, SMS, Call Centres, PDAs, the Internet, car equipment), and to provide full turn-by-turn dynamic voice-enabled navigation on devices that support it.

Helping carriers leverage their UMTS, Wireless Internet and Location-Technology assets, Webraska also offers the Personal Navigation API™ that allows application developers to launch, in a matter of hours, anywhere in most of Europe, North America and increasingly in the Asia-Pacific region, 'location & navigation-enabled' wireless applications (location-based services, m-commerce, games, city guides, fleet management, mobile Extranet, etc.). It is available directly to all developers via Webraska's ASP Centres, and via licensees of the Global Navigation Server™ platform and Global Navigation Database™.

3.5.6 Médiamobile

Created in 1996, Médiamobile is the company keeping in operation the Visionaute service, currently a service covering the Ile de France area only, but with the objective of becoming a national service.

Médiamobile collect et manage all the real time traffic and travel information with the aim of easing the drivers' movements (traffic, car parks' availability, weather forecast...) from its public (Paris Municipality, Directions Régionales et Départementales de l'Equipement et autres Collectivités Territoriales) and private (Taxis Companies) partners.

Visionaute makes this information available using different communication media and channels.

3.5.7 ITIS

ITIS Plc was formed in 1997 with the intention of developing a state of the traffic and travel information database that could provide part of the solution to spiralling traffic congestion on the UK's Road network and perhaps help facilitate a modal shift to other forms of transport.

The company is backed by a group of private investors who are committed to the long term creation of a viable business operating as a value added service providers.

ITIS has established an operations Center in the Midlands staffed 24 hours a day seven days a weekend and has also created the IDEAS database utilising NavTech mapping data and capable of plotting real time, historical and predicative data for all modes of transport.

Products and services offered by ITIS include Internet and Intranet applications designed to help Companies allow their staff to travel more efficiently. Traffic data is also provided to the freight and logistics industry including J Sainsbury Plc to facilitate distribution. In the media, ITIS supplies travel information for London and the South East to Carlton Television and are also a content Provider to Orange the cellular phone company with whom it is developing SMS and WAP applications.

3.5.8 MIZAR Mediaservice

This new company, based in Verona, was set up in response to the growing demand for ITS services. MIZAR Mediaservice specialises in the creation of platforms and software solutions for multimedia traffic information services, and the provision of ITS services for travellers.

AS part of its "back-office" activity, MIZAR Mediaservice collects static and dynamic traffic and travel information from the different data provider. It then validates and elaborates the retrieved data and finally makes them available in the agreed formats to Service Providers willing to provide their ITS services to the final user.

As well as acting as content provider, MIZAR Mediaservice reaches the final user through its portal Walkie, setting up various ITS services including customised solutions and using the available communication channels. The MIZAR Mediaservices services are both on demand (e.g. route planning, public transport vehicles times) and on event (e.g. information on accidents, traffic and public transport anomalies).

3.6 LARGE SCALE EXPERIMENTS INCLUDING USER PROFILES

Large scale demonstrations of ITS services for citizens were promoted by the Integrated Applications for Digital Sites (IADS) project from the 4th FP. INFOVILLE (IA-1008) is a three year (1998-2000) project with the objective of involving the citizens in the Information Society by offering a large scale real-life demonstration and evaluation of the use of user-driven cross-sector telematics supported by a standardized integration platform. As a result, people at the different INFOVILLE sites could access on-line a wide and exciting range of services directly from their homes, their offices or at public places. One of the most discussed features of the project at its early stages was user registration. The reasons for user registration were of a technical and practical nature: storing user profiles involved statistical exploitation of the use of the sites, providing a great amount of useful information in terms of acceptance and rejection of services. This in turn could enable a continuous and dynamic tuning of the sites' service offer. It also enabled the site's platform to perform identity checks on users, protecting user's data from being accessed by other users, providing a friendlier interface to interactive services, automatically pre-filling the blanks in administrative forms. Reasons against user registration were basically due to privacy and confidentiality concerns, arguing that citizens do not like to have their transactions automatically controlled by public authorities. Of all the sites in the project, the only ones accepting user registration and the creation of users' profiles were the Spanish sites, located in the Valencia region.

Another example of interest is Tr@velSmarT (IST-1999-20015), an RTD and Demonstration project developed between November 2000 and October 2002, under the action line "Systems and Services for Tourism" (Key Action I, Systems and Services for the Citizen). It represents an innovative business concept - a loyalty programme - for regional tourism (destinations and their small and medium sized tourism enterprises STMEs). It is based on Customer Relationship Management, smart cards and the Internet. Tr@velSmarT offers to tourists travelling in Europe a unique payment means which is accepted by hundreds of SMTEs of a number of European tourist destinations (six destinations during the two year pilot operation). The usage of the Tr@velSmarT card is linked to a series of services and advantages (immediate reductions, privileged access, insurance), to a loyalty program which rewards the tourists when returning to one of the member destinations. The collection of client data (profiles, preferences, consumption, ...) combined with an intelligent data mining enables destinations and SMTEs to develop their offer and to better respond to the increasing demands of the tourists while launching direct and targeted marketing campaigns. Tr@velSmarT's ambition is to become a pan-European commercial service at the end of the pilot operation.

3.7 ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Telematics platforms are the content providers representing an interface between the VASPs and data providers. VASPs can access these platform using different channels, but the Internet channel is possibly the most suitable one. Different methods for retrieving the information have been and are being implemented. A detailed analysis is reported in the Appendix "Methods for data retrieval in a distributed environment".

One of the most promising technologies in this respect is "mobile agent technology". The mobile agent can roam the network and search for given information using specific policies, providing at the same time decentralisation and service personalisation. By moving to a content provider side, the agent can initiate an interaction with it, either establishing a negotiation, for example, about copyright issues, quality issues, delivery terms and prices on specific information, or registering interest in specific contents on behalf of its professional user. Declaration of interests can be used later on by the VASP to advertise contents that match those interests.

Various projects have explored or developed mobile agent techniques and applications. OPELIX is exploring the use of mobile agents for the implementation of the information commerce over the Internet.

3.8 INFORMATION DELIVERY TO THE END USER

An increasing number of information and communication technologies are providing the means for numerous applications of pre-trip and on-trip traveller and driver information, allowing a growing flow of information addressed at the driver and the traveller.

3.9 COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AND PROTOCOLS

Several ITS projects of the current and past EU FP have focussed on the exploitation of modern technologies (i.e. GSM, DAB, Internet, microwave links) through emerging and consolidated protocols like WAP, XML, TCP/IP, TPEG and DSRC.

The PROMISE experience led to further development in GSM based information services.

ITSWAP is currently evaluating the technical and commercial feasibility of ITS services over the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), the emerging industry standard protocol for GSM suited for mobile Internet applications using the GSM channel. The WAP protocol can provide wireless Internet-like services and information with an effective use of bandwidth to handheld devices with limited display and data capabilities, such as pagers, cell phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Current results highlights the WAP protocol exploitation is affected by network needs, limited HMI terminal capabilities and CPU power. Unsatisfactory results of the user acceptance analysis are mainly due to slow connection, price of the connection, low interest in the information content and handset problems.

Recent technology progress has brought the Digital Audio Broadcasting channels (DAB), the broadband wireless communication channels particularly suited to ITS applications because of the mobile reception offered. The integration with GSM and positioning technologies like GPS makes it possible to provide both broadcast and interactive ITS services, with the possibility of filtering relevant announcements concerning the geographic area of interest. After the DAB based trials in ENTERPRICE (Hessen) and EUROSCOPE (Cologne) and the results of the MEMO technology, a wide range of ITS DAB based applications are currently being studied and developed as part of the DIAMOND project. These range from simple traffic information to complex dynamic navigation. DIAMOND is currently evaluating the technical and commercial feasibility of integrating ITS services over the DAB channel with other technologies, such as GSM and GPS. Different protocols are being tested, such as MOT, XML, TCP/IP and TPEG for unidirectional and bidirectional services.

Broadcast technology (DAB, DVB, Internet) offers the most economical solution for delivering Traffic and Travel Information services to European citizens in the digital multimedia age. Information providers want to be able to reach their customers everywhere: at home, in their cars, at the office, on the train and when they are walking or cycling. Especially at locations where no wired connection can be set up, Digital Radio / DAB plays an important role for the point-to-multipoint distribution of information. Certainly the Internet is another important path into that multimedia world.

The TPEG project is currently working on the exploitation of the TPEG bearer independent protocol (Digital radio/DAB and Internet, not FM) on the way to standardisation, for the transmission of traffic and travel information within digital broadcast systems. TPEG is designed to allow message generation once only for many delivery channels and builds on the experience gained with the development of RDS-TMC for FM broadcasting, without the known performance limitations of FM/RDS systems and without the need to use location code numbers within the road network. The TPEG project is achieving technical consensus and supporting standardisation of TPEG-based applications, aiming at rapid implementation of enhanced multimodal information services and navigation systems for European travellers. Cross-border information flow will also be enhanced. TPEG traffic and travel information services depend on infrastructures that need further development. TPEG applications can make use of the Internet today, but in a only few years Digital Radio will give national coverage across Europe. Thus TPEG technology has a short time window for validation, consensus building with industry, and standardisation, before market maturity is achieved. A range of TPEG applications will then give all European broadcasters the ability to provide significantly enhanced multimodal TTI.

3.10 SMART CARD BASED APPLICATIONS

Various EU projects have been and are involved in researching smart card based applications for ITS services to the traveller. The results obtained by DISTINCT and CALYPSO projects are certainly worth mentioning.

DISTINCT based its research on ISO compatible contact cards. The DISTINCT consortium was mainly led by authorities and local administration (with the help of the local private sector). DISTINCT main result was to achieve smart card system interoperability across application fields and also countries, the latter demonstrated at a small scale only. Key aims of the project were to improve citizens' and tourists' access to information, provide high quality education and research facilities, facilitate outsourcing for businesses and the cities' administration, improve the quality of travel by public and private vehicles, reduce the need to travel, and provide new facilities for the elderly and disabled. The main end product of DISTINCT was the D-ID, a set of information held on the card about the cardholder and the card issuer, which helped in achieving interoperability and end user accessibility. DISTINCT was more end-user oriented, one of its objectives was to focus on the inclusion and accessibility of special user groups, such as the Elderly & Disabled (E&D). The definition of the business sectors involved at the sites were not an issue, although all sites had to have transport accessible to E&D at least.

CALYPSO focused attention on contactless card based applications. The CALYPSO consortium was led mainly by transport operators and other service providers. The project concentrated on producing a locally operating (or regionally) multi-application smart card with at least transport and banking applications as a basis. CALYPSO delivered an operational system allowing contact and contact-less operation for payment, ticketing, information, identification and security functions, within multiservice-multioperator environments. The Citizen Pass provides access to different information services through a display screen, like real time passenger information and commercial information.

3.11 HUMAN MACHINE INTERFACE

ITS projects of the current and post EU FP are focused on the exploitation of the technology progresses to produce equipment for the tomorrow travelling services. This involves also the user needs analysis and study/development of the human machine interface.

The 4th FP INFOPOLIS projects developed guidelines for designers of information systems for travellers. This includes guidelines on content, layout, icons, presentation, ergonomics, sequencing of information etc.

Looking at the projects belonging to the 5th FP, we can clearly distinguish the following area where HMI problems are considered:

• Mobile travel information (handheld terminals, PDA, on board displays, etc)

• Fixed travel information (kiosks, at stop displays, home PC, etc)

• In-vehicle and roadside driver information (in car terminals, VMS, etc)

A need emerging from the projects is the harmonisation of the HMI approach for ITS service reception in different environments (car, office, kiosks, etc), so as to have a common recognisable presentation and the same look and feel on different media.

3.12 MOBILE TRAVEL INFORMATION

Users here are represented by the owners of hand-held communicators or smart phones in the year 2003 with a need for up-to-date travel information. Market trends suggest that all the current owners of mobile phones could be in this category.

The presentation of information to users of hand-held devices is affected by specific problems of user interface design. The small display unit gives a very limited viewing area compared with the interface of desktop or laptop computers. In addition, the input modes available are extremely restrictive, exemplified by the composition of text messages on mobile telephones using the numeric keypad.

These problems and conclusions emerged from PEPTRAN, a 5th FP project where a hand-held device and existing car navigation system are used to guide a user from point to point within a city in the most efficient manner, walking and using public transport services. Through GSM and possibly DAB wireless data transmission the mobile unit will produce partial candidate routes from map data, public transport timetables and live information about the progress of public transport vehicles.

User needs analysis and WAP and DAB oriented HMI problems are also being considered by the ITSWAP and DIAMOND projects mentioned above.

3.13 FIXED TRAVEL INFORMATION

State-of-the-art speech recognition technology still lacks robustness with respect to environmental conditions and speaking style. In addition most research effort has been devoted to American English. The CORETEX project aims at improving current technology by making it less sensitive to environment and linguistic factors, and more suitable for European languages. This is being achieved by fast system development and generic core technology, dynamic adaptation techniques and methods to enrich transcriptions.

CATCH-2004 is currently developing a multilingual, conversational system with a novel unifying architecture across devices and services. The system will provide pervasive access to multiple applications and sources of information available to citizens from public and private service providers by supporting multiple client devices (kiosks, standard telephones and smart wireless devices) using multiple input modalities. A key aspect is to enable multilingual spoken access to information on the web using any of the considered devices.

3.14 IN-VEHICLE AND ROADSIDE DRIVER INFORMATION

Traffic information systems, in conjunction with traffic management systems, can help to reduce some of the negative aspects of road transport such as accidents, congestion and pollution, providing information and guidance for safer, more efficient and more environment- friendly use of the road transport infrastructure. The main goal of TRAVEL-GUIDE is to develop guidelines for information provision by traffic information and traffic management systems (in-vehicle information devices as well as infrastructure systems). TRAVEL-GUIDE is assessing the needs of drivers in terms of content, presentation, availability, reliability, timing and priority of the information provided, conduct relevant tests and suggest new methods in order to meet user needs and requirements raised by the development of the Trans-European Networks. The development of guidelines for driver information systems should help to maximise the benefits of these systems.

As far as the driver information services are concerned, the COMUNICAR project intends to design and develop an on-board multimedia HMI (Human Machine Interface) able to harmonise the messages oncoming from the functions for driving support, telematic services, comfort and convenience. The main aims of COMUNICAR are the assessment of the driver needs of information, definition of the best ways to provide messages considering drivers' workload and the environmental the traffic conditions. The intention is to design, develop and test an easy-to-use HMI, with implementation in different car prototypes.

3.15 LEGAL ASPECTS OF DATA ACCESS, STORAGE AND COLLECTION: THE EUROPEAN PANORAMA OF OBLIGATIONS FOR TRAVEL INFORMATION

3.15.1 The French panorama

According to the French constitution, national and local administrations must report about their activities and, since the transport system monitoring is an activity of the administration, the statistical results of the collected data must be made available.

The major recent legislation on transport, the orientation law of 1982, says that the right for transport includes the right for the users to be informed about the means which are offered and about the modalities of their use. It says also that the public service of transport includes the development of the information about transport systems, and the development of statistics. These duties are executed by the State, the Local authorities, Public establishments, in liaison with public and private companies.

A number of other laws concerning the environment, land and urban development, and administrative organisation in France, leads to the conclusion that the assessment and impact studies of projects require a lot of information about traffic and transport before and after the setting up of an infrastructure.

In fact numerous statistics are published, but traffic is better estimated on the national network than on local ones. Data available on urban public transport give a total yearly number of passengers by town but not by line within the town.

In relation to real time data collection and real time information, the legal obligations are less clearly stated. The decrees concerning governmental organisation mention that national and regional centres of road information should help drivers in real time. The provision of multimodal real time information however is not a legal obligation. Nevertheless, many urban public transport companies provide their passengers with information at the platform/stop about arrival time of the next vehicle.

Real time traffic is monitored at more than 1000 locations on national roads, and the figure is expanding continuously. Public authorities can obtain the real time information of traffic on conceded motorways on the basis of specific agreements.

As far as data ownership and right-of-use is concerned, it is the laws about intellectual property, industrial and commercial competition, which most apply. Public calls for tender for concession of transport networks say who will own what and who is obliged to give what information to others. Contracts may differ from one to another.

3.15.2 The UK panorama

a) Rail

Static data - at the time of the transfer of the national rail infrastructure to Railtrack, a licence condition was established requiring Railtrack to ensure the publication of a national rail timetable. Although the twice-yearly publication of a printed timetable would probably be sufficient to comply with this requirement, Railtrack also publishes the national timetable in the form of an electronic journey planner on the Internet.

Static data - at the time of transfer of train operations from British Rail to franchised train operating companies, a licence condition was established requiring each train operator to provide a national telephone enquiry service. This has been fulfilled by the train operators creating a national rail enquiry service under the auspices of the Association of Train Operating Companies.

Dynamic data - there is no obligation on Railtrack or the train operators to provide dynamic data to the public. However, the current renewal of many train operating franchises may give an opportunity for dynamic data to feature in the franchise agreement.

b) Bus

Until recently there has been no requirement on bus operators to provide information to the public. Local authorities have had powers so to do, but no obligation. Under the Transport Act 2000, local authorities have a new duty to ensure that local bus information is properly provided in their area (if necessary by arranging it themselves and recovering reasonable costs from bus operators). They also have powers to obtain from bus operators data on local bus services (passenger journeys; fare structures; operated mileage).

The nature of information to be made available to the public under the Act depends on each local authority's policies as described in its local transport plan and bus strategy. These are subject to consultation, including with bus operators. The local authority must be "reasonable" in the requirements about providing information to the public, but this could include both static and dynamic data.

c) Coach

There is no requirement on coach operators to provide data, other than for those journeys or part journeys that are operated as a bus service.

d) Trunk roads

The Highways Agency (HA) is committed to providing data under the Citizens Charter/Roads Charter. Details of road schemes and roadworks are published, and larger schemes may be subject to public enquiry. HA provides driver information in the form of VMS and radio messages. Some real-time information, e.g. for the M25 J10 to 15 is also available via the HA website. The TCC project will facilitate an increase in the amount of driver information available and especially real-time information. The boundary between "free" core information and "purchased" value added information is still rather unclear at present. In addition, a private company, "Trafficmaster" has been granted a licence under Legislation allowing access to the HA network in order to install equipment to collect traffic data for re-sale either as collected or processed as a congestion advice service.

3.15.3 The Dutch panorama

A new policy paper has been sent to the Parliament for approval, so they are currently in a transition phase. According to this paper, traffic data will be made available by the DOT to a PPP operated information centre, called TIC, from where others can obtain the data. Private companies are allowed to collect their own data but if they want any co-operation they will have to participate in the TIC.

3.15.4 The Spanish panorama

Spanish Regions have a very high degree of autonomy about many matters, so there are a certain number of "umbrella" nation-wide laws and regulations, plus a great many regional laws and regulations completing these. For example, road maintenance and signalling depends on the National Ministry of Transport for the national toll road network, and on the Regional Government for the regional road network, and even on provincial governments or municipalities. Signal convention is of course the same, and regulated by the national law.

From the nation-wide legislation point of view, specific laws make reference to information and data keeping and collection:

• Road transport is regulated by the 1987 law, which includes some reference to data maintenance. There is in particular a very detailed description of the "log book" that every public transport bus, rural or urban, must keep, containing for inspection purposes information about every trip. Statistical data must be provided quarterly.

• The 1989 law about Traffic, Motor Vehicles and Road Security simply mentions the possibility, besides standard road signalling, of setting up electronic signalling and monitoring systems, depending on traffic requirements.

• The Traffic Authority keeps a very detailed statistic record about cars, drivers, and accidents. This is access free on the website of the Ministry of the Interior.

• There is a specific 1997 law regulating the use of cameras in public places for security purposes, that also mentions traffic regulation purposes.

3.15.5 The Italian panorama

a) Public access to data and information

The existing law (241/1990) states that citizens (and legal entities) have the "access right" to all data generated by Public Administration (and entities operating under a "concession" contract). Previous laws had already granted the access to data owned by local administrations (142/90) and to any environmental data (346/86).

Therefore, in principle, citizens can access data related to transport and traffic (transport networks are operated either directly by Public Bodies or by concessionaires). The above law also states that i) information may be stored on any support, ii) citizens have the right to examine the information free of charge, iii) data can be copied, at the cost of making copies. In practice, the process for obtaining access can be cumbersome. Moreover, the law has not yet been "interpreted" or "applied" to access to transport-related data. It would seem that, while the law puts an obligation on authorities (or companies) to deliver static data (at the sole cost of the copies), it could not easily been extended to real time data. Moreover, since the law explicitly mentions "concessions", it needs to be adapted to the changing situation (e.g. licensees for public transport.)

b) Monitoring the networks

The above mentioned law (241/1990) states that the right to access information exists, but does not impose any obligation to create specific types of information. Obligations of this type are defined by sector laws (or specific contracts). For the road sector, the obligations come from the "Codice della strada", which explicitly states that "road operators" (which include Cities, Provinces, Regions, ANAS for the State Network and all the private operators working under concessions) have, among others, two main obligations:

• to monitor traffic
• to inform users (via static and dynamic info).

In practice, the obligations refer to: i) obtaining statistical data (like traffic volumes and accidents) and ii) informing users via static panels or Variable Message Signs.

In conclusion, issues related to the chain of information collection and delivery in the transport domain has not yet been considered in Italy with sufficient attention. The existing legislative framework lays down the basis for a positive solution. Efforts to obtain some regulations are being included in the current work on the National Architecture.

3.15.6 The European Commission's position

As seen above, the situation in the different regions is rather confused and the existing regulations, in short, do not help in the deployment of telematics services. A recommendation has recently been published by the Commission (Commission Recommendation on the Development of a Legal and Business Framework for Participation of the Private Sector in Deploying Telematics-Based Traffic and Travel Information (TTI) Services in Europe). They have chosen to produce a recommendation since " the adoption of a regulation or a directive would be premature, and best results can be achieved with a Recommendation". In brief, the recommendation aims to i) facilitate European TTI Services, ii) ask Member States to set up regulatory frameworks for such services, and iii) encourage the private sector to play a role in network monitoring activities. In the text, two main means for increasing the availability of traffic and transport data are envisaged, i.e. (1) establishing a framework for granting - under clear rules - existing data to service operators and (2) allowing private operators to install - again under clear rules - private monitoring systems on the road network. The recommendations gives Member States a period of two years in which to report progress.

3.15.7 The picture regarding personal data handling

The Spanish panorama

A short summary from nation-wide legislation:

• The Spanish Constitution states that use of IT must be restricted by law to guarantee personal and familiar privacy of the citizens and the full use of their rights.

• The highest level national law (called an "organic law") concerning personal information, personal records, questions of privacy, etc. is the 1999 law about Protection of Personal Data, that substitutes the previous 1992 law. It is a good example of the legal difficulties due to the fast evolution of technologies. To completely replace an organic law in seven years is quite unusual in an area that usually measures time in decades. The 1999 law regulates public and privately owned files, how they must be registered in a single General Register for Data Protection, the rights of individuals concerning the data recorded and its maintenance, exchange of data between administrations, etc. An Agency for Data Protection has been created to ensure that this law is properly applied.

• The 1998 General Telecommunications Law regulates the activities of the IT sector and characteristics of the Universal Service, stating that operators must guarantee the protection of personal data. It has a full chapter addressing users' rights.