[Presentation]
[Partners]
[Results]
[Deliverables]
[Pilot sites]
Transmodel V4.1 Pilot sites
Object Oriented developments :
üstra is the PT operator of the city of Hanover. It uses various computer-aided systems for planning, operation and follow-up of the PT services. Some of these systems are only in the stage of test implementation, while others have been in use for many years and may need to be improved or replaced. All these systems are more or less working separately from each other, although common data are needed in many cases. For special purposes, extra interfaces have been developed to allow data transfer between applications. However, in general a common logical view on company data is necessary, and steps towards integrated data processing will be taken in the coming years.
The board of directors of üstra has defined a global strategy for the further development and organization of the company, including the requirement to realize an integrated information system by the end of the century. The implication in TITAN means to apply for this new system the Transmodel recommendations as regards architecture principles and conceptual data modeling. üstra will provide TITAN with investigations on data requirements and modeling, as well as learning from implementation of a Transmodel-based information system for the overall validation of this emerging standard.
The demonstration will consist in implementing a relational data base on hardware platforms existing in the company. An Oracle RDBMS will be used, as this system is available for all existing platforms. The selected applications will be modified or interfaced to the database, in order to provide a consistent data management system.
The investigation and detailed specification of information needs in the company will cover the following domains: network definition and timetable planning, vehicle scheduling, driver scheduling and rostering, personnel disposition, automatic vehicle monitoring, off-line passenger information and on-line passenger information and statistics/MIS. These domains will be included in the integrated information system with implemented systems coupled to a Transmodel database.
The
information needs of further domains will be studied in
order to give input and/or develop proposals for on-line
scheduling/operations control and multi-modal user
information including tram and light rail systems.
Salzburg is a city of approx. 150,000 inhabitants and the capital of Federal State “Salzburg“ in the North West of Austria. The Salzburger Stadtwerke AG (City Department of Works) is a compound enterprise owned by the City of Salzburg, consisting of the company departments Public Transport, Electricity supply, Gas, Water, and Heat supply.
The public transport department branch operates the bus and the trolleybus network in the city of Salzburg and the surrounding region. The line network has an overall length of over 130 km, more than half of which is being served by trolleybuses (thus, Salzburg owns one the biggest trolleybus networks in Western Europe). The bus and trolleybus systems carry nearly 50 million passengers per year. The vehicle park consists of approx. 80 trolleybuses and 50 diesel-powered buses.
The public transport operator in Salzburg aims at providing customers with a high quality transportation service, but economically efficient in order to meet the challenges of increasing competition in a free common market. Therefore, an increasing level of computer suppport and application of new advanced telematics technology has been recognised as necessary to provide services more efficiently and increase the quality of the planning and control process, as well as the service level offered to passengers. In particular, the planning of the public transport network and services needs to be put on an improved basis, using constantly updated empirical data describing the real transportation demand. Geographical and demographic data available at the City Department of Works and in the City authorities, are therefore necessary to be taken into account for public transport planning. The City Department of Works will collect and process these data and provide the public transport branch with an integrated information system.
In the City Department of Works, there are already various computer applications used by the different branches, which today are working totally separated from each other, without any degree of integration and automated communication. In the public transport department, the functional areas covered by such applications include timetable planning and vehicle scheduling, driver scheduling and rostering, personnel disposition and wage accounting, and information of passengers (timetable information). Systems for vehicle location and control of the driving process, and passenger information on the actual service, will be introduced in the very near future.
Apart from the genuine public transport applications, the development of a company-wide Geographical Information System has already started. This is being carried out by the City Department of Works directly, covering the needs of all sub-departments concerned, and in harmonisation with the Authorities of the City of Salzburg. The bus and trolleybus networks have been entered based on data provided by the Public Transport Department. The overhead wire network for the trolleybuses was provided by the Electricity Department. Supply networks from other departments have been included as well.
A most relevant issue of the future system must be to enable the public transport functions to take advantage of the Geographical Information System and its Digital Road Map, which is being developed in a multi-purpose context by the City Department of Works. The flow of information in both directions (from the GIS to public transport applications and vice versa) is essential for the realization of the planned multi-modal road traffic information system.
The computer applications of the public transport branch have to be coupled to an integrated system in order to improve information management at make it less expensive. The information inherent to the application systems must not only be usable separately for the single applications in question, but must be available for other applications too, and must be available not only for computers, but also for users (personnel) in order to satisfy their information needs in a flexible way and to provide a better support of the tasks they are in charge of.
As the objectives related to the European TITAN project have to be limited, in order to fit in with the budget and timetable of the overall project, the Salzburg part will focus on the integration of the public transport scheduling and passenger information applications with the Geographical Information System. The integration of additional public transport applications can be implemented outside the scope of the TITAN project, in a later stage.
The
developments started on have to rely on proven principles
of system architecture, modelling and design. The whole
system must not reflect the issues of one present product
or product family, but be open for possible changes of
components and sub-systems, and flexible enough to take
up future developments. European standards will therefore
be taken into account as far as possible. Transmodel will
be the basis for the development of the public transport
part of the company data model.
SLTC (Société Lyonnaise de Transports en Commun, a daughter company of the VIA GTI Group) is the urban PT operator of the Greater Lyon area. It uses an information system on operations integrating several software applications. Starting from the need to re-engineer some of these applications, the project brought in TITAN is aimed at renewing the whole information system, by creating a relational data base on operations, linked to all concerned applications and using the Transmodel recommendations.
The data base will be fed by vehicle scheduling, driver scheduling and stop point management applications. The data used in operations will be activated by a module for management of the operational calendar. The interfaces with down stream sub-systems will be designed and implemented. This includes applications for printed display/leaflets on timetables, dynamic and passive displays in major stop areas, telephone and telematics (Minitel) information systems, vehicle monitoring system, management information system, driver rostering and personnel disposition.
The computer policy has been oriented towards the implementation of a database using the Oracle RDBMS, distributed in a client/server architecture to user terminals based on the MS-Windows standard. Some terminals will be organized ('info-centres') to allow a powerful and user-friendly access to the data and, therefore, to provide new functional possibilities, especially as regards the management information.
The verification stage will consist in a lab running of the system on a limited set of data and equipment (corresponding to the simulated operations on part of 3 lines), while the demonstration will involve a real implementation of the system in the company.
The Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) is the main PT operator of the Paris region, one of the largest in Europe. RATP is strongly involved in developments based on object-oriented techniques. The object-oriented approach is likely to become in the years to come the reference technology for data base design in complex domains. A main advantage of this method is to facilitate the link between the analysis and the specification of complex real systems, and the design and the implementation of information systems. RATP is therefore in charge of the study aiming at the development of an object-oriented model, taking Transmodel into account, as regards the data structure. Other contributions will have to be taken into account, such as the contribution of the University of Brunel that developed an object-oriented model based on Transmodel, within the ESPRIT project superbus. RATP will contribute as well to introduce extensions and enhancements to Transmodel V.4, as regards the real-time control domain.
As mentioned above, several developments are already carried out by RATP using object-oriented modelling techniques. For, instance, the development of a training tool for the staff in charge of controlling the surface network (“ Spartacus ”) is in the process to achieved. In future, it is planned to adapt and extend “ Spartacus ” to comply with the developments achieved within TITAN.
.