ROMANSE Improves Traffic Flow in England

Because international port cities function as gateways to distant destinations for holiday makers, freight transporters, and a multitude of other travelers, they are often overwhelmed with unique vehicular traffic flow problems.

Southampton, historic English port city and departure point of the ill-fated Titanic, has been involved in a pan-European, GIS-based traffic monitoring and analysis system called the ROad MANagement System for Europe (ROMANSE) for more than five years. Southampton teamed with two other port cities, Cologne, Germany and Piraeus, Greece, in their successful bid for European Commission (EU) funding for their project, which demonstrates how traffic and travel information can be integrated and disseminated to the traveling public. The project is part of a wider transportation project in Europe known as EUROSCOPE, which stands for Efficient URban transport Operations Services Co-Operation of Port cities in Europe. Based on its success to date, ROMANSE will be analyzed to see how it can be implemented to ease transportation problems within the nine cities participating in the EUROSCOPE project.

ROMANSE is based on ESRI's ArcView GIS software and Siemens' Urban Traffic Control (UTC) system. ArcView acts as the graphical front end to the UTC. ESRI (UK) developed an extension to ArcView GIS called Strategic Information System Client for customized display. Basemaps originate from the United Kingdom's Ordnance Survey onto which a variety of current traffic information is overlaid. ArcView GIS creates on-the-fly status maps so that engineers at the Traffic and Travel Information Centre (TTIC) in Southampton can analyze existing road hazards and predict potential ones. They can then issue appropriate advice and warning messages for immediate display on digital road signs in the area or dispatch emergency services.

The information processed at the TTIC comes from a variety of sources, including closed circuit television, roadside detectors, and satellite tracking systems, all of which are fed into the UTC. It is then processed and integrated by ArcView GIS for instant analysis or display, providing the engineers with a good overview of what is happening on the road network. Information available to the engineers includes traffic flow per minute, traffic speeds, congestion, and car park occupancy.

In just over five years the project has moved from a theoretical concept to a fully operational traffic and travel information center, which is now an integral part of the region's operational and management strategy to improve its transport network. Although the current stage of research and development finishes in April 1999, ROMANSE will continue to function as an ongoing operational center as well as providing a model test site for future research and development in the use of transport telematics.

A unique feature of the project is the way in which a variety of systems have been integrated to produce a comprehensive traffic and travel information system. Functional areas within ROMANSE include Informed Traveler, Freight Logistics, and Network Management and Operations.

ESRI's MapObjects Internet Map Server software has been used to provide current traffic information and maps on demand to Internet users visiting the ROMANSE Web site at www.romanse.org.uk. The Web site will be live within the coming month. For example, users can check the current occupancy in car parks before traveling. A city center map is displayed and by clicking on each car park it is possible to determine both the current occupancy status and what the occupancy is likely to be in the near future, based on historic records. Information for cyclists is also available at the Web site.

Traffic information is also posted digitally on touch screen displays at main transport interchanges, shopping centers, tourist information centers, and libraries. At bus stops, arrival times are electronically displayed and some stops feature an audio version of the information for visually impaired passengers.

Currently the project is on target to deliver working systems that can be marketed commercially in other urban areas throughout the world. The technology developed for ROMANSE will provide highway departments with a comprehensive GIS-based traffic control and travel information system, which can be applied to the existing traffic problems in many congested towns and cities. The Internet side of the project is especially exciting because travelers will be able to see in real-time traffic conditions before they even get into their cars.

Comments Jim Stembridge, GIS project manager, "ROMANSE is one of the most advanced traffic control systems in the UK. By putting this detailed integrated information on the Internet, it is now at the leading edge of traffic and public transport information systems throughout Europe."

For more information please contact Clive Baker at ESRI(UK).

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