APPENDIX C – Generic ICMS Needs
1 – Need to optimize the supply and demand for transportation services within the corridor. Operations need to manage the supply of services to match demand. Assessing the availability of service during periods of varying demand involves knowing about either permanent or non-permanent changes to service availability and methods to make additional services available on either a permanent or temporary basis. These services include mass transit services and motorist assist services.
1.1 – Need to share control of devices within a corridor – Operators within a corridor need to be able to share information from, and control of, ITS devices within a corridor in order to manage supply and demand for transportation services. Devices may include HOV/HOT lane controls, DMS, HAR, CCTV, VDS, and RWIS roadside equipment, and video switches in operations centers. Control sharing rules should be established through institutional agreements among the equipment owners in the corridor.
1.2 – Need to understand demand for transportation services – This includes evaluation of alternatives for responding to changes in demand whether temporary or long-term. This requires collection of information about the volume of people who are demanding their services and the origin and destination of their trips. This also requires collection of information about willingness of travelers to shift from one network or mode to another based on conditions or incentives.
1.2.1 – Need for corridor performance measures – Measures are needed to evaluate how well a corridor is operating.
1.2.2 – Need for impact assessment tools – Maintenance and operation departments need to assess the potential impact of actions under consideration. This can be an assessment of long-term or short-term changes. The tools need to consider both intra-network and cross-network effects to deliver the net effect on corridor operations.
1.2.2.1 – Need to collect information about performance and response of the transportation network. – Data needs to be stored in an accessible data structure so that it can be used by analytical and/or predictive processes that support other needs. The analytical tools will need both current and historical information for analysis.
1.2.2.1.1 – Need to collect and archive information from permanent data collection installations in the corridor. As current information is collected in the corridor, it should be archived in a location and format that is usable by the analysis, modeling, and simulation tools.
1.2.2.1.2 – Need to collect and archive information from temporary data collection installations in the corridor It may be too expensive to collect all information needed on a regular, current basis. Some information may need to be collected for a period of time and stored as “typical” or historical reference information. “Typical” information can be used in place of continuous instrumented information, and historical information can be used as a basis for comparison between past and current conditions.
1.2.2.1.3 – Need for current information – The ICMS and system operators need current information about conditions within the corridor. This information includes travel volumes on networks within the corridor, travel times on networks, location and effect of events that impact capacity, and a measure of unused capacity on each network within the corridor.
1.2.2.1.4 – Need to have quality physical infrastructure – The ITS components need to be reliable, available, maintainable (and well maintained), extensible, and interoperable.
1.2.2.2 – Need to have descriptive information about corridor infrastructure – Certain static information is needed by operators and systems in order to perform required tasks. This information may include geographic, geometric, descriptive, or restrictive information about the transportation infrastructure and the ITS infrastructure.
1.2.2.3 – Need to monitor the physical status of the ITS and transportation infrastructure – Operations and maintenance staff need to have information about the operational status of the infrastructure in order to plan maintenance and make decisions about which resources can be used in response to new conditions that may arise.
1.2.3 – Need to collect and process information in a timely manner – Information needs to be collected and processed within timeframes consistent with the need for timely information. Processed information needs to be current enough for the system and operators to use as a basis for decisions and actions required to regulate and manage the transportation networks. Information must be current enough for transportation network users to make timely and appropriate decisions about time, route, and modes of travel.
1.2.3.1 – Need to have a quality information processing infrastructure – The ICMS sub-systems and components need to be reliable, available, maintainable (and well maintained), extensible, and interoperable.
1.2.3.2– Need to present understandable information – System operators and public users need information to be presented in formats that are easy to understand and relevant to the decisions that need to be made. This applies to visual and audio information presentation, use of appropriate contexts (map displays for geographic information, visual clues such as color, shape, blink) to convey states, and use of tabular and graph presentations to show relationships between parameters.
2 – Need for coordination with other corridor participants – To convey planned changes in operational status and to convey current near-real-time conditions.
2.1 – Need for transportation system operators and public safety organizations to coordinate – There is a need for coordination on a real-time basis for incidents requiring response by two or more organizations.
2.2 – Need for standard definition of customary actions – This identifies a set of pre-planned actions and the circumstances that would trigger those actions. This also implies shared access to the information required to identify the circumstances to the level necessary to establish which actions are required and associated response information such as location.
2.3 – Need to have competent and well-trained staff – This applies to the proper operation and maintenance of systems, and training in interpreting the information provided and determining the most effective actions to take when circumstances require non-customary action.
3 – Need for communication with transportation network users. Operators need to communicate with users to let them know the existing conditions in the transportation network and what alternative travel modes are available. Active communication sends information to users: HAR, DMS, text messaging, e‑mail, etc. Passive communication makes information available but users must seek out the information: media outlets, traffic web sites, travel web sites, 511 systems.
