The Urban Traffic Management Control or UTMC programme is the main initiative of the UK
Department for Transport 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 Automatic Number
Plate Recognition cameras, Variable-message sign, 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.
Background and history 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.
To assist local authorities in gaining the most from Intelligent transportation system
and to achieve their transport objectives, the Department for Transport initiated the
six-year, £6M UTMC programme in 1997.
The first half of the UTMC programme concentrated on specific applied research tasks, on both
technical and operational issues.
In January 2001, the programme embarked on a demonstrator phase to consolidate the results
of the earlier research.
Full scale demonstrator projects taking a pragmatic UTMC approach were run in Preston
by Mott MacDonald, Reading and Stratford-upon-Avon by Siemens and York by Envitia.
Early in 2003, the UTMC Development Group or UDG of stakeholders, consisting of local
authorities and suppliers was set up, with the support of the DfT, to oversee the future
development of UTMC.
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.
UTMC Activities Specifications and Standards
The UTMC Specifications and Standards Group 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.
The specification provides standards for shared data through:
holding definitions of current UTMC Objects, and making them available to users;
receiving submissions for potential new UTMC Objects, and coordinating consultation as
necessary; facilitating contact between Object developers;
advising on changes needed to potential new UTMC Objects;
registering new UTMC Objects.
Outreach and marketing 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 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 Register 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.
UTMC specification documents The following documents are maintained and
published for open use on the UTMC website.
The UTMC Framework Technical Specification TS003 [2] presents the core technical standards
recommended for use by Traffic Managers in their systems.
The current issue as of June 2013 is TS003.003:2009.
The UTMC Objects Registry TS004 [3] presents a standardised set of data structures associated
with traffic management, in several forms including UML data model, XML schema, SNMP
MIBs, some IDL scripts for CORBA based systems, and tabular representation.
The current issue as of June 2013 is TS004.0061:2010.
Examples of UTMC in action 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 [4].
Example by IDT: Car park counting in Aberdeen [5]
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 [6].
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 [7]
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.
Joint Chairs’ Group The JCG was created in 2004 to bring together
the UDG with other key ITS community organisations; it was later expanded to include representation
from the Department for Transport and the Highways Agency.
The JCG's aim was to ensure that the strategic direction of the various groups and bodies
involved in UK ITS was kept aligned.
The JCG was suspended in September 2012, as the prevailing financial conditions had reduced
the resource available to its participants.
See also Department of Transport
Intelligent Transport Systems Intermodal Journey Planner
External links http:www.utmc.uk.com UTMC website
http:www.dft.gov.uk UK Department for Transport