The Urban Traffic Management Control or UTMC programme is the main initiative of the UK Department for Transport (DfT) for the development of a more open approach to Intelligent Transport Systems or ITS in urban areas.
UTMC systems are designed to allow the different applications used within modern traffic management systems to communicate and share information with each other. This allows previously disparate data from multiple sources such as ANPR cameras, Variable-message sign (VMS), car parks, traffic signals, air quality monitoring stations and meteorological data, to be amalgamated into a central console or database. The idea behind UTMC is to maximise road network potential to create a more robust and intelligent system that can be used to meet current and future management requirements.
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The UTMC was launched in 1997; during the first three years, a number of research projects were undertaken to establish and validate an approach based on modular systems and open standards. These have contributed to the UTMC Technical Specifications, which define UTMC standards.
UTMC has helped local authorities achieve their goals by adopting an appropriate, but not over constraining, set of standards to allow users, suppliers and integrators of UTMC systems to plan and supply systems cost-effectively in an open market. These standards are essential in breaking boundaries and local authority borders to allow network interoperability.
The UTMC Specifications and Standards Group (S&SG) is responsible for ensuring that the UTMC technical framework continues to meet local authorities needs, currently and in the future. The S&SG oversees the maintenance and upkeep of the UTMC Technical Specifications. Its members are drawn from both local authorities and the supplier community, but it is always led by local authorities.
The S&SG works closely with the full range of UTMC suppliers to ensure its requirements are technically achievable. It operates a transparent consultation regime on all technical changes. From time to time it may commission and fund technical research and standards development activities, though it operates principally through coordinating the input freely provided by suppliers and users.
As well as undertaking technical work to develop national specifications, there are a number of activities that help "market" the initiative to the traffic management community.
There is an annual conference, papers and articles are published in key industry journals and regular workshops are held focusing on key (technical or operational) themes.
In 2006, the UTMC community ran a number of special sessions at the ITS World Congress held in London, as well as running a village of suppliers demonstrating UTMC-compatible products.
The UTMC Products Directory [1] is a catalogue of UTMC Compliant Products which Local Authorities may use in finding Products for their Traffic Management Systems. The Products Register outlines the process for submitting a Product to the Register and subsequently to the Directory.
The Objects Registry TS004 [2] provides format standards for shared data (i.e. data communicated between applications of a UTMC system, or between a UTMC system and an external system) through:
The current issue as of April 2011 is TS004.006:2010.
Local authorities with UTMC have more control over their road network. Some examples of what they can do are:
Advise
By monitoring how long it takes a vehicle to pass two ANPR cameras and then dividing the time by the distance between the cameras, an average speed can be measured and used to inform motorists via VMS how long it will take them to reach a destination, or to set diversions. Example by Envitia: VMS in Aberdeen [3]. Example by IDT: Car park counting in Aberdeen [4]
Warn
Wind detectors attached to a bridge give drivers of high sided vehicles warnings before they cross. The warning messages are displayed on VMS signs activated when wind speed thresholds are exceeded. Example by Siemens: Bridge VMSs offer wind warnings [5].
Guide
By linking parking guidance systems to a common database traffic control room operators can inform motorists via strategic VMS about the current state of car parks; especially useful for special events like carnivals when normal use is exceeded. Example by Motts MacDonald: Car Park Guidance in Edinburgh [6]
Previously these systems would have been impracticable due to the sheer volumes of data processing and the operator time needed to apply constant manual updates.
The JCG brings together the UDG with three other key ITS community organisations, namely the Travel Information Highway, the Real Time Information Group and Intelligent Transport Systems Society for the United Kingdom. Meeting at chair’s level, the JCG aims to ensure that the strategic direction of the four groups is aligned.
The JCG meets approximately quarterly. It is a consultative rather than an executive forum: it is up to individual chairs and the groups they lead to take any action as a result of JCG discussions.
All of the following documents are maintained and published for open use on the UTMC website.
The current issue as of November 2007 is TS003:2005.