Traffic Message Channel
Encyclopedia
Traffic Message Channel (TMC) is a technology for delivering traffic and travel information to drivers. It is typically digitally coded using the FM-RDS
system on conventional FM radio broadcast
s. It can also be transmitted on DAB
or satellite radio
.
It allows silent delivery of dynamic information suitable for reproduction or display in the language chosen by the user and without interrupting normal audio broadcast services.
Services, both public and commercial, are now operational in many countries worldwide.
When data is integrated directly into a navigation system, this gives the driver the option to take alternative routes to avoid traffic incidents.
The message is coded according to the Alert C standard. It contains a list of up to 2048 event phrases (1402 pr 01.02.2007) which can be translated by a TMC receiver into the language of the user. Some phrases describe individual situations such as a crash, while others cover combinations of events such as a crash causing long delays.
In Europe, location code tables are maintained on a national level, assigning numerical codes to locations (typically major junctions) on the road network. Those location tables are integrated in the maps provided by in-vehicle navigation system companies such as Navteq
and Tele Atlas
, and by vehicle manufacturers such as Volvo
. In other countries such as the U.S. and Canada, private companies maintain the location tables and market TMC services commercially.
Sources of traffic information typically include police, traffic control centers, camera systems, traffic speed detectors, floating car data
, winter driving reports, roadwork reports and others.
It is a forum to discuss traffic information related aspects. Furthermore it maintains the TMC-Standard (ISO 14819).
On 11 November 2007 the TMC-Forum and the TPEG
-Forum has merged into TISA (Traveller Information Services Association). TISA has taken over all TMC-Forum activities
standard. Almost all the broadcast data bits were already taken.
Given so few bits to work with, one major design challenge of RDS-TMC was to find a way of using 16 bits (about 65000 locations) to describe an entire state or country. Such a system could not convey latitude-longitude data so easily available 25 years later with great precision using GPS. Instead RDS-TMC has to rely on the use of relatively lean location tables, pointing only to significant road junctions along defined national and regional highways. The precision of each traffic events' location when compared to modern GPS devices can seem to be low. The user's navigation system locates a driver to about 3 metres, but only knows that the crash is between Exit 3 and Exit 4, northbound on the motorway. This is because traffic events (accidents, congestion, burst water mains, faulty traffic lights, etc.) have to be superimposed onto the maps in users' GPS devices by matching the reported location into the location table.
Navigation system makers may maintain that if the nearest location table point (nearest significant junction) is located some distance from the point of the crash, then the traffic event might be shown on the device as being out of place. (In reality, it is shown as being on a section of main road between two junctions.) Even if the lack of accuracy causes an error of only a short distance this could make a significant difference as to how the program in the GPS device will interpret the event in relation to the user's planned route. For example, if there is roadwork close to a junction the position of the roadwork may be interpreted as being a short distance away. This could place the apparent roadwork on the other side of the junction. The consequence would be that the GPS device might not divert the user from the roadwork because it was assumed to not affect the route.
In fact, though, operationally, this level of detail may be exactly what is required. From the police and road authorities' viewpoints, it may be as just much as they wish to give out. The police may not want sightseers homing in on exact crash sites - additionally, emergency calls are often to somewhat vague locations, or may describe an incident (such as a multi-vehicle accident or an accident requiring multiple emergency vehicles for extrication, etc.) whose actual extent of disruption is more a segment of road than a specific point. Also, road authorities and local communities do not want drivers taking shortcuts through the minor residential streets now opened up by in-vehicle navigation systems. On motorways and other limited-access roads, knowing where the crash is located to 3 meters is no help to casual drivers when road junctions are kilometers apart. On city streets, the commercial needs of navigation system users may be to cut through minor residential roads and play areas, but this is not necessarily the optimum solution from a community perspective. The fact that actual public deployments of RDS-TMC listed later in this article have rarely used more than 10% of the available locations suggests that it may be public policy as much as technology that is currently limiting the system's precision.
In the U.S. and elsewhere, systems such as CARS
already exist that could track and pinpoint event locations with accuracies of a meter, and these real-time data are already being published in XML for access by companies such as Google
and TomTom
. These incident reports are also being received from Google on mobile phones and handheld devices that are in vehicles already. Laws on the use of mobile devices may determine that this is potentially dangerous, but it exists and is working today. In conclusion, though, what this discussion has missed so far is that live incident reports themselves are almost always highly uncertain in terms of precise locations. But if it is assumed that these will get better, we now have technology required to provide the data. It is now up to society to regulate how much detail shall be given, and how safe it is for users to use these data in real time while they drive.
The presentation, titled Unusual Car Navigation Tricks, raised the point that RDS-TMC is a wireless cleartext protocol and showed how to build a receiver and transmitter with cheap electronics, capable of injecting false and potentially dangerous messages.
The TMC Forum responded to this claim by stating that the effects of any 'pirate' TMC broadcasts would be minimal or even non existent, due to the fact that TMC equipped receivers filter out information that does not lie on the planned route. Also, it was stated that such broadcasts would directly interfere with that country's TMC carrier station, which would contravene the respective laws of that county, leading to criminal or civil liability. It was therefore concluded that such a motive is unlikely, given the legal risks and minimal disruptions that could occur if the perpetrator were successful in broadcasting a TMC signal.
Detailed instructions and schematics have also been posted on Issue #64 of Phrack
hacking magazine.
The technical concepts of RDS-TMC started to be developed about 30 years ago, initially by Blaupunkt
and Philips
. With European Commission funding, the BBC
, Transport Research Laboratory
and CCETT
came together in a team led by Castle Rock Consultants to develop the standard. More recently, dedicated navigation device
(PND) has emerged as an alternative way of delivering traffic information via mobile phones and hand-held PDAs with GPS.
Nevertheless, automobile companies continue to roll out RDS-TMC launches in various countries across the world. One reason is that the use of cellular phones and PDAs by drivers is attracting a great deal of legislative attention concerned about driver distraction. Like car radio
s, in-vehicle navigation systems have not so far attracted the same concerns, and may continue to outsell handheld solutions, just as luxury car radios eventually outsold pocket transistor radios in the 20th century.
The reality is that both types of services have their place, with no single solution having all the answers. Higher-end models of Personal Navigation Assistant come with a TMC receiver built-in and depending on the country, the service is available in Eclipse, Garmin
, iPhone
(Navigon
), Navman
, Navway, Mio
, Pioneer
, TomTom
and Uniden
navigation systems, and in Volvo
, BMW
and Ford Falcon
navigation systems, among many others.
There are also TMC adapters, which extends mobile navigation systems with integrated GPS receiver (as mobile phones/PDAs with GPS) with TMC functionality. They can include a bluetooth or non-bluetooth (mainly, USB) connection. With help of the adapter, the received traffic messages are through-handed to the navigation software, these can again compute an alternative route with consideration of the new traffic conditions and avoid the traffic jam. The adaptors generally includes connector for FM/TMC Antenna (2,5mm phone jack or MCX jack 50 Ohm). Some examples of compatible navigation programs are AvMap, Destinator
PN, Falk
Navigator TMC Edition (special version for MyGuide Navigator 6500XL TMC Bundle), GoPal, iGO
, Mireo, Navigon
MN5, Route 66, and Sygic
.
Simple RDS-TMC Decoder is a simple RDS (Radio Data System) decoder
written for TMC analysis.
, whose 95 FM station urban markets will probably all have some level of traffic information services. However, the other is Sirius Satellite Radio
, which covers all of North America, including deeply rural areas and almost empty deserts. Although vendors are beginning to make arrangements with statewide and multi-state information source systems such as CARS
, operated by state police and state departments of transportation, it can be expected that coverage will remain sketchy in some states during the next few years.
, Garmin
, Mio
, Uniden
, iPhone
(Navigon
& Sygic
), Eclipse
, Pioneer
, Alpine
and Clarion
navigation systems. SUNA Traffic Chnnel is also available in Ford, Holden
, Toyota, Nissan, Subaru
, & Mercedes Benz navigation systems. SUNA is currently the only source of comprehensive, metropolitan congestion monitoring content in Australia - this is achieved using proprietary technology interfacing to traffic light control systems. The SUNA broadcast service is fully compliant with both the RDS and TMC standard however the broadcast is encrypted and therefore will not work on all in-car GPS navigation systems that do not have a commercial arrangement with SUNA.
, ORF
is broadcasting the service, free of charge, on the radio channels Ö1
, Ö2 (9 regional channels), Ö3, Radio Salzburg and FM4
and is supported by the Federal Ministry for Traffic, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT). ASFINAG is responsible for the location table, currently in version 2.1, which has undergone a number of updates in order to handle increased use during Euro 2008. In total, around 8.000 location codes are present in this table.
there are 4 TMC services: TMOBILIS in Belgium, TIC-VL and 4FMTMC in Flanders
and RTBF
in Wallonia and Brussels
. All of them (except for TMOBILIS) are currently open services.
The first service is TMOBILIS provided by Be-Mobile and Touring Mobilis. It is the only fully Belgian service: On the one hand it combines all Belgian sources from the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels government, the police stations, a national Floating Car Data
system based on Proximus
and GPS vehicles, and the Touring Mobilis call center. On the other hand it is also nationally broadcast by both VRT
on Studio Brussel
for Flanders and RTBF
on Classic21 in Wallonia and Brussels
.
The service TIC-VL is broadcast by VRT
on Radio 2 and is using content from the Vlaams Verkeerscentrum. Coverage of content and transmissions is limited to the Flanders
region.
In Wallonia and Brussels
, the service CLASS.21 is broadcast by RTBF
on Classic 21. The service is from the Centre PEREX of the Ministère de l’Équipement et des Transports (MET) in collaboration with TMC4U. Both coverage of transmissions and content is limited to Wallonia and Brussels.
A last TMC service is 4FMTMC provided by Vialis, which is also operating TMC services in the Netherlands. It is broadcast by 4FM
in Flanders, containing both the content from the Vlaams Verkeerscentrum and PEREX and so covers Belgium in total. In future they plan to add information on speed cameras.
Tritel creates the location tables by order of the regional communities. Since December 2004 the broadcast messages are according to location table version 1.4b, in which N-roads are added. The latest, currently used, version is 2.3 (from July 2008).
based traffic information company in cooperaton with broadcast hardware manufacturer Kvarta. Data sources include real time traffic information provided by tix.bg. The service can be accessed by most navigation devices manufactured by Garmin
and will soon be featured in several factory fitted car navigation devices.
, 3 services are available. 2 of them (DIC PRAGUE, TELEASIST) are in operation from January 2006 and one (JSDI) from 2008. All services are free to air.
A first service, called DIC PRAHA, is available in Prague
. It is broadcast on Český Rozhlas
– Regina (92.6 MHz). The service provider is TSK-Praha (Communication Technical Administration). The content comes from the traffic centre in Prague (TIC Prague) and consists of closures and restrictions and levels of service in Prague.
A second service, TELEASIST provided by Teleasist together with Global Assistance is available countrywide, however is not as detailed as TIC Prague in specific areas. It is being broadcasted by CRo1 Radiožurnál
.
Last service, called JSDI, is provided by Czech Road Motorway Directorate (ŘSD ČR) and is broadcasted countrywide on ČRo3 Vltava
. The content consists of closures and road restrictions and winter maintenance from all over the country, accident information from rescue services and detailed content from TIC Prague.
TMC developments are coordinated by CEDA. They are responsible for the location table (current version is 3.0, containing more than 16 000 records).
is operated by Vejdirektoratet or DRD (Danish Road Directorate). It is broadcast on DR
P1, P2, P3 and P4.
DRD is also responsible for the location tables. The current version used is 9.0. It contains around 2.450 location codes.
is provided by Destia. The service covers biggest cities and roads 1-999. These areas cover the whole country. TMC messages are broadcast nationally on YLE Radio Suomi channel. Destia uses several information sources to validate traffic data including induction loops, traffic cameras, radio stations, road users and several other partnership companies. The service is encrypted, based on the encryption specifications made by the TMC Forum.
The location table is provided by FINNRA, the Finnish Road Administration. The newest location table is version number 1.42 and it is used by Destia’s TMC service. This version of the table contains around 8.100 problem locations.
.
The free service is provided by the motorway operators and provides information on their toll-roads. The toll-road operators are AREA, ASF, ATMB, Cofiroute, ESCOTA, SANEF, SAPN, SAPRR, SFTRF and SMTPC. The TMC data is on the 107.7 traffic channel so it can only be received along the motorways.
The commercial service V-Trafic is provided by Mediamobile. It is a partnership between TDF, Renault
, Trafficmaster and Cofiroute. The service, which replaces the previous Visionaute service, is transmitted on the frequencies of France Inter and can be received nationally. It includes the information from the motorways but also on Paris congestion. The service was first open but it is now a pay-service, but it is not encrypted: by using a different location table number they can restrict the use. This method is TMC Forum 's Interim encryption method. They have about 60000 customers.
Next to that a service from ViaMichelin and Carte Blanche is provided, transmitted by the Towercast network (NRJ group). In September 2005 PSA Peugeot Citroën
signed a partnership with ViaMichelin for the use of this info in their navigation systems.
Location tables are released by the government agency SETRA and includes about 20000 locations. Since version 0.4 it includes both inside Paris and outside Paris. The latest certified version is 8.0 for France (the last release contained around 13.500 problem locations) and 0.0 for Andorra (containing 62 problem locations).
both a public and a commercial service are available. The public service is an open, free service that can be received by the public radio stations.
The other service TMCpro is a pay service provided by Navteq Services GmbH owned by Navteq
. The service was developed and formerly provided by T-Systems Traffic GmbH a subsidiary of T-Systems
which was bought by Navteq
in January 2009. The service went live at the beginning of 2005 across Germany. The content is provided by ddg Gesellschaft für Verkehrsdaten mbh, a wholly owned subsidiary of T-Systems Traffic GmbH. It is an encrypted service, based on the conditional access specifications made by the TMC Forum.
BASt, the German Federal Highway Research Institute, is releasing location tables. In version 5.1 all major access roads leading to the football arenas which were used in the World Championship in 2006 were added. The current version is 10.1, which contains 44.233 location codes.
based traffic information company and is available on Galaxy Radio and Radio DeeJay. The service can be accessed by most navigation devices manufactured by Garmin
and Mio
and is soon to be featured in several factory fitted car navigation devices.
based traffic information company and is available on the national FM networks of Petőfi Radio (Channel 2 of Magyar Rádió, Hungary's State Radio) and NEO FM (a national commercial station). The service can be accessed by most navigation devices manufactured by TomTom
, Garmin
, Navigon
, Mio
and Navon, and is also featured in several factory fitted car navigation devices, including selected models of Volvo
, Toyota and Lexus
. The service is based on V2.0 of the Hungary location table.
In Jul 2011, iQios Sejahtera announced the launch of the first real-time traffic service in Indonesa by Sep 2011 based on this location table.
went live as of November 2010.
A service was extended to provide national coverage later that year. The service is provided by TrafficNav, the Budapest
based traffic information company and is available on RTÉ Radio 1
, a national FM network of Ireland's State Radio. Data sources include real time traffic information provided by Dublin City Council
. The service can be accessed by most navigation devices manufactured by Garmin
and will soon be featured in several factory fitted car navigation devices.
from 1 July 1998 by RAI
. CCISS (National Traffic Information Centre) is providing the service. It is broadcasted on Rai Radio 1 FM; this service covers Italy.
Another TMC service is provided by the commercial radio station RTL 102.5
in cooperation with InfoBlu. This service is available as Premium Service so you have to use a software enabled receiver and covers 90% of the population of Italy, and is still increasing.
The Italian location table, provided by RAI-CCISS, is in its version 2.1 with around 12.500 codes.
The current version (as of September 2010) is version 3.1 with around 41.000 location codes. It has all highways, state roads, county roads and urban roads for main towns. It is available here.
. Currently it is free, but they plan a pay-service including local information. TMC4U is a collaboration between Siemens and ANWB. The transmissions are on the radio channels of SkyRadio, Radio Veronica, Radio 1 and 3FM.
A second TMC service ViaTMC is provided by Vialis. They are transmitting on the FM channels of Q-music (previously Radio Noordzee), BNR Nieuwsradio and Radio 538. Information of traffic jams, road works and so on is the same on both channels, but they add information on speed trap
s to it independent of each other.
Radio 2 is also sending out TMC-messages, working with data from Vialis.
Location tables come from AVV Transport Research Centre and are supplied by TIC Nederland. The current version is 6.1 which has additions for parking areas / parking lots compared to the 'old' 2003.a version.
The open service is transmitted using the P1-frequency, and information on coverage and nearest transmitter can be found on. NRK broadcasts information on roadworks, planned closures and winter-closed mountain passes. Updates on accidents and other unforeseen information are currently done Mon-Fri 05.30-22.00, Sat 09.30-17.00 and Sun 13.00-22.00.
The private radio station P4 is working with Destia Traffic to provide TMC info in Norway. This service is encrypted but free (according to Destia Traffic) for all private users, and some GPS manufacturers, such as TomTom, Garmin, mio and Navigon provide Destia Traffic' service for free.
In 2003 there was an experiment with distributing TMC-messages in a limited area (Østfold, Akershus and Oslo). A private operator might start a commercial service during 2008. In June Destia starts to broadcast the TMC service in Norway.
Statens vegvesen, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA), is releasing location tables. The current version is V3.1
, on private radio station RMF FM
. The service is provided by Destia Traffic and it's currently available for Garmin
and Navigon
users.
In Nov 2010, the Land Transport Authority announced the release of the Location Table for Singapore. Quantum Inventions offers a traffic data service based on this location table and includes traffic incidents information, traffic speeds, parking availability, weather, road closures, etc. Various brands of GPS systems using the Galactio software provide these dynamic data in the navigation system.
based traffic information company and is available on two national FM networks of Radiotelevizija Slovenija
, Slovenia's State Radio. The service can be accessed by most navigation devices manufactured by Garmin
, Navigon
and Navon, and will soon be featured in several factory fitted car navigation devices. The service is based on V3.0 of the Slovenia location table.
on RNE
3. It is provided by
The road network coverage is the motorways, national roads and first level roads that belong to the Autonomous Communities.
Next to that, RACC is working on urban TMC services, starting with Seville and Barcelona. This will broadcast on RNE
2.
Location tables are coming from DGT, Dirección General de Tráfico. The current version is 2.1 and contains about 7.750 problem locations.
. Swedish Transport Administration, or Trafikverket, is responsible for the free service and for making the location tables. Nowadays version 2.2.2009 is in use for broadcasting RDS-TMC messages, which contains about 22587 location Codes and 923 Area, 4191 road/ segment/ street and 17473 points. New versions are always backward compatible.
Regarding the transmission, Sweden is divided into 8 broadcasting zones in order not to transmit traffic information that is not useful at that location. They cover the European, national and major county highways and contain information about traffic accidents, road works and road weather. The service is broadcast on Sveriges Radio
P3
radio station and covers 98 percent of Sweden. 98 percent is multi-messages in the air in Sweden.
Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) has an information page for Trafikverket RDS-TMC in Swedish.
. The broadcaster is SRG SSR idée suisse
or Swiss Broadcasting Corporation who transmits TMC on FM chain 1 (general, services) and FM chain 3 (pop/rock) all over Switzerland.
It is Viasuisse, a daughter company of it, that operates the service.
Location codes are the responsibility of the Swiss Federal Roads Authority FEDRO but B+S Ingenieur (Bundesamt fuer Strassen) makes the location tables. Version 5.5 is the latest version, containing around 10.000 codes, and is backwards compatible.
. It is broadcast nationally on Classic FM
and broadcast is supplemented by use of other commercial radio stations. ITIS provides traffic data on RDS-TMC to all the major automotive companies (BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover and others). The price of the service is included in the price of the car or of the navigation system.
This system uses Floating Vehicle Data, positional information from over 160,000 vehicles fitted with fleet management systems, this data provides the information about traffic speed and congestion throughout the UK road network. The data is complemented by journalistic or "Incident" data provided by Trafficlink. Trafficlink is owned by ITIS and provides live traffic and travel bulletins to BBC National and Local Radio and also to over 95% of the UK commercial radio stations. The incident data included in to the TMC data includes road works, accidents and closures.
RAC Live operated by RAC Trafficmaster Telematics (RTT) a 50-50 joint venture between RAC Motoring Services
and Trafficmaster also operates a national service. It uses the local and regional radio broadcaster Global Radio
to ensure reception across mainland Britain. This system uses road-side infrastructure to measures a vehicle's travel time between sensors placed a few miles apart, and uses number plate recognition technology.
Both providers are responsible for their own location tables. The current location table version of ITIS is 5.1. The current location table version of Trafficmaster is 3.1.
Within the United Kingdom TMC services are only offered as pay services. As such they are currently always carried by commercial radio stations rather than by the BBC, a public service broadcaster. The BBC is required by its charter to be free from both political and commercial influence and is therefore unable to carry a pay service unavailable to all.
started transmitting TMC messages all over the US, as has Sirius Satellite Radio
. Navteq
provides traffic data to both XM and Sirius Satellite Radio. Navteq Traffic delivers traffic information and related advertising via RDS and HD signals to navigation devices nationwide. Navteq also provides high quality traffic sourced from sensors, probes and other technologies in 10+ countries as of Dec 2009. INRIX
, Inc. fuses TMC data with real-time flow information from its crowd-sourced network of floating cars
and mobile devices with information from other public and private sources to deliver real-time and predictive traffic information.
Clear Channel Communications
and Tele Atlas
have a TMC service called Total Traffic Network (TTN), using FM RDS
in 77 US cities and three Canadian metropolitan areas. These services are both subscription, and were initially available to many in-car navigation units via an expansion module
purchased separately.
The TomTom RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver acquires information through an FM radio signal broadcast by Clear Channel's regional providers. By connecting a compatible TomTom navigation device to the RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver, users automatically receive traffic information via the TMC connection. Once a trip is planned, traffic alerts are displayed in the traffic bar on the right hand side of the screen. When users tap the traffic bar, they receive further information, such as accident or traffic delays. The RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver is compatible with the TomTom VIA series, GO 920, TomTom GO 720, TomTom ONE XL and TomTom ONE 3rd edition. It provides integration of RDS-TMC Traffic information with the user interface of the TomTom GO and ONE products.
By now, in addition these after-market services, about six major motor manufacturers are offering RDS-TMC as standard in their U.S. vehicles, including Volvo
and BMW
.
Ibiquity
HD Radio
is advertising a TMC service based on the existing RDS-TMC standard. Utilizing the established standard for RDS/TMC, the Traffic Message Channel (TMC) is a data application for broadcasting real-time traffic information. Data messages will be received and decoded by a TMC-based receiver in conjunction with HD Radio devices and navigation systems. Traffic services are delivered to the driver in a vehicle in a variety of ways: the most common of these being a TMC-enabled navigation system.
, however no further information is available on this at present.
In Romania
and Luxembourg
no service is currently planned. In Dubai
the location table version 1.2 has been certified. In Turkey
it is planned but not in usage yet.
In China
they are currently investigating on which technology their traffic information system will be based. The main choice is between the Japanese system VICS
and the European TMC. A TMC Location table version 1.0 has been certified already.
Radio Data System
Radio Data System, or RDS, is a communications protocol standard for embedding small amounts of digital information in conventional FM radio broadcasts. RDS standardises several types of information transmitted, including time, station identification and programme information.Radio Broadcast Data...
system on conventional FM radio broadcast
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
s. It can also be transmitted on DAB
Digital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
or satellite radio
Satellite radio
Satellite radio is an analogue or digital radio signal that is relayed through one or more satellites and thus can be received in a much wider geographical area than terrestrial FM radio stations...
.
It allows silent delivery of dynamic information suitable for reproduction or display in the language chosen by the user and without interrupting normal audio broadcast services.
Services, both public and commercial, are now operational in many countries worldwide.
When data is integrated directly into a navigation system, this gives the driver the option to take alternative routes to avoid traffic incidents.
How it works
Each traffic incident is binary-encoded and sent as a TMC message. Each message consists of an event code and a location code in addition to expected incident duration, affected extent and other details.The message is coded according to the Alert C standard. It contains a list of up to 2048 event phrases (1402 pr 01.02.2007) which can be translated by a TMC receiver into the language of the user. Some phrases describe individual situations such as a crash, while others cover combinations of events such as a crash causing long delays.
In Europe, location code tables are maintained on a national level, assigning numerical codes to locations (typically major junctions) on the road network. Those location tables are integrated in the maps provided by in-vehicle navigation system companies such as Navteq
NAVTEQ
Navteq is a Chicago, Illinois-based provider of Geographic Information Systems data and is a dominant company in providing the base electronic navigable maps...
and Tele Atlas
Tele Atlas
Tele Atlas is a Netherlands-based company founded in 1984 which delivers digital maps and other dynamic content for navigation and location-based services, including personal and in-car navigation systems, and provides data used in a wide range of mobile and Internet map applications...
, and by vehicle manufacturers such as Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
. In other countries such as the U.S. and Canada, private companies maintain the location tables and market TMC services commercially.
Sources of traffic information typically include police, traffic control centers, camera systems, traffic speed detectors, floating car data
Floating Car Data
Floating car data , also known as floating cellular data, is a method to determine the traffic speed on the road network. It is based on the collection of localisation data, speed, direction of travel and time information from mobile phones in vehicles that are being driven...
, winter driving reports, roadwork reports and others.
TMC-Forum
TMC-Forum is a non-profit organization. The members are service providers, receiver manufactures, car manufactures, map vendors, broadcasters (public and private), automobile clubs, public authorities and others.It is a forum to discuss traffic information related aspects. Furthermore it maintains the TMC-Standard (ISO 14819).
On 11 November 2007 the TMC-Forum and the TPEG
TPEG
The Transport Protocol Experts Group or TPEG, for short was founded in 1997 by the European Broadcasting Union. It is a group of experts led by the EBU coming from all areas of the Traffic and Travel Information businesses, as well as broadcasting. The group developed the TPEG specifications for...
-Forum has merged into TISA (Traveller Information Services Association). TISA has taken over all TMC-Forum activities
Discussion
RDS-TMC is an extremely low-bandwidth system, with each RDS-TMC message comprising only 37 data bits sent at most 1-3 times per second, using a very basic data channel primarily designed for FM radio tuning and station name identification. Compressing entire traffic incident descriptions in multiple languages into a mere 16 bits for a location, 11 bits for an event code, plus 5 bits for an extent and a few more bits for the duration and system management might be regarded a miracle of ingenuity, whose need was dictated by constraints already set in the pre-existing RDSRadio Data System
Radio Data System, or RDS, is a communications protocol standard for embedding small amounts of digital information in conventional FM radio broadcasts. RDS standardises several types of information transmitted, including time, station identification and programme information.Radio Broadcast Data...
standard. Almost all the broadcast data bits were already taken.
Given so few bits to work with, one major design challenge of RDS-TMC was to find a way of using 16 bits (about 65000 locations) to describe an entire state or country. Such a system could not convey latitude-longitude data so easily available 25 years later with great precision using GPS. Instead RDS-TMC has to rely on the use of relatively lean location tables, pointing only to significant road junctions along defined national and regional highways. The precision of each traffic events' location when compared to modern GPS devices can seem to be low. The user's navigation system locates a driver to about 3 metres, but only knows that the crash is between Exit 3 and Exit 4, northbound on the motorway. This is because traffic events (accidents, congestion, burst water mains, faulty traffic lights, etc.) have to be superimposed onto the maps in users' GPS devices by matching the reported location into the location table.
Navigation system makers may maintain that if the nearest location table point (nearest significant junction) is located some distance from the point of the crash, then the traffic event might be shown on the device as being out of place. (In reality, it is shown as being on a section of main road between two junctions.) Even if the lack of accuracy causes an error of only a short distance this could make a significant difference as to how the program in the GPS device will interpret the event in relation to the user's planned route. For example, if there is roadwork close to a junction the position of the roadwork may be interpreted as being a short distance away. This could place the apparent roadwork on the other side of the junction. The consequence would be that the GPS device might not divert the user from the roadwork because it was assumed to not affect the route.
In fact, though, operationally, this level of detail may be exactly what is required. From the police and road authorities' viewpoints, it may be as just much as they wish to give out. The police may not want sightseers homing in on exact crash sites - additionally, emergency calls are often to somewhat vague locations, or may describe an incident (such as a multi-vehicle accident or an accident requiring multiple emergency vehicles for extrication, etc.) whose actual extent of disruption is more a segment of road than a specific point. Also, road authorities and local communities do not want drivers taking shortcuts through the minor residential streets now opened up by in-vehicle navigation systems. On motorways and other limited-access roads, knowing where the crash is located to 3 meters is no help to casual drivers when road junctions are kilometers apart. On city streets, the commercial needs of navigation system users may be to cut through minor residential roads and play areas, but this is not necessarily the optimum solution from a community perspective. The fact that actual public deployments of RDS-TMC listed later in this article have rarely used more than 10% of the available locations suggests that it may be public policy as much as technology that is currently limiting the system's precision.
In the U.S. and elsewhere, systems such as CARS
CARS
Cars, or automobiles, motor cars, are wheeled motor vehicles used for transporting passengers.Cars or CARS may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Cars , a Disney/Pixar film series...
already exist that could track and pinpoint event locations with accuracies of a meter, and these real-time data are already being published in XML for access by companies such as Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
and TomTom
TomTom
TomTom NV is a Dutch manufacturer of automotive navigation systems, including both stand-alone units and software for personal digital assistants and mobile telephones. It is the leading manufacturer of navigation systems in Europe. TomTom's customer service is located in Amsterdam, Netherlands...
. These incident reports are also being received from Google on mobile phones and handheld devices that are in vehicles already. Laws on the use of mobile devices may determine that this is potentially dangerous, but it exists and is working today. In conclusion, though, what this discussion has missed so far is that live incident reports themselves are almost always highly uncertain in terms of precise locations. But if it is assumed that these will get better, we now have technology required to provide the data. It is now up to society to regulate how much detail shall be given, and how safe it is for users to use these data in real time while they drive.
Security
In April 2007 research about RDS-TMC was presented at the CanSecWest security conference by two Italian security researchers.The presentation, titled Unusual Car Navigation Tricks, raised the point that RDS-TMC is a wireless cleartext protocol and showed how to build a receiver and transmitter with cheap electronics, capable of injecting false and potentially dangerous messages.
The TMC Forum responded to this claim by stating that the effects of any 'pirate' TMC broadcasts would be minimal or even non existent, due to the fact that TMC equipped receivers filter out information that does not lie on the planned route. Also, it was stated that such broadcasts would directly interfere with that country's TMC carrier station, which would contravene the respective laws of that county, leading to criminal or civil liability. It was therefore concluded that such a motive is unlikely, given the legal risks and minimal disruptions that could occur if the perpetrator were successful in broadcasting a TMC signal.
Detailed instructions and schematics have also been posted on Issue #64 of Phrack
Phrack
Phrack is an ezine written by and for hackers first published November 17, 1985. Described by Fyodor as "the best, and by far the longest running hacker zine," the magazine is open for contributions by anyone who desires to publish remarkable works or express original ideas on the topics of interest...
hacking magazine.
Devices and Navigation Programs
An RDS-TMC receiver is in effect a special FM radio tuner that can decode TMC data. Satellite TMC receivers utilize a dedicated data channel that is broadcast as part of the much larger broadcast digital audio channels. TMC decoding is carried out by matching event and location codes against look-up tables of phrases and locations that can be translated into audio or displayed on a Sat nav device. The look-up tables must be implemented in a service-specific database mapped to geographic routes and intersections. As with the navigation systems themselves, periodic upgrades are needed as the road system changes. These steps provide opportunities for vendors to generate revenue from users who cannot use the system unless they have the latest lookup tables.The technical concepts of RDS-TMC started to be developed about 30 years ago, initially by Blaupunkt
Blaupunkt
GmbH is a German manufacturer of electronics equipment, noted for its home and car audio equipment. It was a 100% subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH until March 1st, 2009 when its Aftermarket and Accessories branch including the brand name were sold to Aurelius AG of Germany for an undisclosed...
and Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
. With European Commission funding, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, Transport Research Laboratory
Transport Research Laboratory
TRL is a British transport consultancy and research organisation based at Wokingham Berkshire with approximately 500 staff. TRL is owned by the Transport Research Foundation , which is overseen by 80 sector members from the transport industry. TRL also own small UK regional offices situated in...
and CCETT
Centre commun d'études de télévision et télécommunications
CCETT or Centre commun d'études de télévision et télécommunications was a research centre created in Rennes in 1972 jointly by the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française and Centre National...
came together in a team led by Castle Rock Consultants to develop the standard. More recently, dedicated navigation device
Personal navigation assistant
A Personal Navigation Assistant also known as Personal Navigation Device or Portable Navigation Device is a portable electronic product which combines a positioning capability and navigation functions....
(PND) has emerged as an alternative way of delivering traffic information via mobile phones and hand-held PDAs with GPS.
Nevertheless, automobile companies continue to roll out RDS-TMC launches in various countries across the world. One reason is that the use of cellular phones and PDAs by drivers is attracting a great deal of legislative attention concerned about driver distraction. Like car radio
Car radio
Car radio may refer to:*a radio in a car. See car audio and in car entertainment*"Car Radio", a song by Spoon from their 1998 album A Series of Sneaks...
s, in-vehicle navigation systems have not so far attracted the same concerns, and may continue to outsell handheld solutions, just as luxury car radios eventually outsold pocket transistor radios in the 20th century.
The reality is that both types of services have their place, with no single solution having all the answers. Higher-end models of Personal Navigation Assistant come with a TMC receiver built-in and depending on the country, the service is available in Eclipse, Garmin
Garmin
Garmin Ltd. , incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is the parent company of a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao , that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies for the Global Positioning System...
, iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
(Navigon
Navigon
Navigon GmbH is a Hamburg, Germany-based manufacturer of GPS devices and GPS navigation software. It is privately owned, however in June 2011 it was announced that Navigon is to be acquired by a subsidiary of Garmin...
), Navman
Navman
Established in 1986 as New Zealand-based Talon Technology, Navman is a GPS systems company providing stand-alone GPS units, OEM GPS modules, GPS software for Palm handhelds and Pocket PCs, automotive navigation systems and navigation systems for use at sea.Acquired by Brunswick Corporation in June...
, Navway, Mio
Mio Technology
Mio Technology Corporation, a subsidiary of Mitac Int'l Corp., is a Taiwanese electronics maker that manufactures and markets Pocket PCs, Personal Digital Assistants , smartphones and Personal Navigation Devices...
, Pioneer
Pioneer Corporation
is a multinational corporation that specializes in digital entertainment products, based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. The company was founded in 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair shop...
, TomTom
TomTom
TomTom NV is a Dutch manufacturer of automotive navigation systems, including both stand-alone units and software for personal digital assistants and mobile telephones. It is the leading manufacturer of navigation systems in Europe. TomTom's customer service is located in Amsterdam, Netherlands...
and Uniden
Uniden
is a Japanese company in the wireless communication industry.-History:Uniden was established on February 7, 1966 by its founder Hideo Fujimoto...
navigation systems, and in Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
, BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
and Ford Falcon
Ford Falcon (Australia)
The Ford Falcon is a full-size car which has been manufactured by Ford Australia since 1960. Each model from the XA series of 1972 onward has been designed, developed and built in Australia and/or New Zealand, following the phasing out of the American Falcon of 1960–71 which had been re-engineered...
navigation systems, among many others.
There are also TMC adapters, which extends mobile navigation systems with integrated GPS receiver (as mobile phones/PDAs with GPS) with TMC functionality. They can include a bluetooth or non-bluetooth (mainly, USB) connection. With help of the adapter, the received traffic messages are through-handed to the navigation software, these can again compute an alternative route with consideration of the new traffic conditions and avoid the traffic jam. The adaptors generally includes connector for FM/TMC Antenna (2,5mm phone jack or MCX jack 50 Ohm). Some examples of compatible navigation programs are AvMap, Destinator
Destinator
The original "Destinator" was a trademark for mechanical roller-curtain type destination signs used on public transit vehicles, intercity buses, etc....
PN, Falk
Falk Corporation
The Falk Corporation headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin are designers, manufacturers, and marketers of non-electrical precision industrial power transmission products for medium and heavy-duty industrial applications.-History:...
Navigator TMC Edition (special version for MyGuide Navigator 6500XL TMC Bundle), GoPal, iGO
Igo
Igo can refer to the following:*Igo, another name for Go *I-GO, a non-profit organization which operates a car sharing service in Chicago, Illinois...
, Mireo, Navigon
Navigon
Navigon GmbH is a Hamburg, Germany-based manufacturer of GPS devices and GPS navigation software. It is privately owned, however in June 2011 it was announced that Navigon is to be acquired by a subsidiary of Garmin...
MN5, Route 66, and Sygic
Sygic
Sygic is a Slovak brand of automotive navigation systems for mobile telephones.Sygic develops and sells turn-by-turn voice guided GPS navigation for a wide range of mobile devices...
.
Simple RDS-TMC Decoder is a simple RDS (Radio Data System) decoder
Decoder
A decoder is a device which does the reverse operation of an encoder, undoing the encoding so that the original information can be retrieved. The same method used to encode is usually just reversed in order to decode...
written for TMC analysis.
Coverage
In some places, TMC coverage is smaller than that of the radio programme carrying the TMC service, therefore white spots exist. For example, in the USA, one of the two TMC commercial services is run by Clear Channel CommunicationsClear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
, whose 95 FM station urban markets will probably all have some level of traffic information services. However, the other is Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
, which covers all of North America, including deeply rural areas and almost empty deserts. Although vendors are beginning to make arrangements with statewide and multi-state information source systems such as CARS
CARS
Cars, or automobiles, motor cars, are wheeled motor vehicles used for transporting passengers.Cars or CARS may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Cars , a Disney/Pixar film series...
, operated by state police and state departments of transportation, it can be expected that coverage will remain sketchy in some states during the next few years.
TMC services in operation
The following countries provide a TMC service:Australia
Intelematics Australia broadcasts a national encrypted RDS-TMC service focused initially on urban Australia, under the consumer brand 'SUNA Traffic Channel'. The service, which reaches around 85% of urban Australia is transmitted by commercial FM broadcasters in seven cities, as well as via XML for online and smartphone applications. The service is available on GPS systems including NavmanNavman
Established in 1986 as New Zealand-based Talon Technology, Navman is a GPS systems company providing stand-alone GPS units, OEM GPS modules, GPS software for Palm handhelds and Pocket PCs, automotive navigation systems and navigation systems for use at sea.Acquired by Brunswick Corporation in June...
, Garmin
Garmin
Garmin Ltd. , incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is the parent company of a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao , that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies for the Global Positioning System...
, Mio
Mio Technology
Mio Technology Corporation, a subsidiary of Mitac Int'l Corp., is a Taiwanese electronics maker that manufactures and markets Pocket PCs, Personal Digital Assistants , smartphones and Personal Navigation Devices...
, Uniden
Uniden
is a Japanese company in the wireless communication industry.-History:Uniden was established on February 7, 1966 by its founder Hideo Fujimoto...
, iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
(Navigon
Navigon
Navigon GmbH is a Hamburg, Germany-based manufacturer of GPS devices and GPS navigation software. It is privately owned, however in June 2011 it was announced that Navigon is to be acquired by a subsidiary of Garmin...
& Sygic
Sygic
Sygic is a Slovak brand of automotive navigation systems for mobile telephones.Sygic develops and sells turn-by-turn voice guided GPS navigation for a wide range of mobile devices...
), Eclipse
Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer...
, Pioneer
Pioneer Corporation
is a multinational corporation that specializes in digital entertainment products, based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. The company was founded in 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair shop...
, Alpine
Alpine Electronics
is traditionally known as an aftermarket car audio and navigation systems manufacturer, famed for their high quality, premium in-car audio units commonly known as headunits. It is a subsidiary of Alps Electric Co. and its registered head office is in Tokyo, Japan. However its main offices, or the...
and Clarion
Clarion (car audio)
is a Japanese manufacturer of car audio, automotive navigation systems, AutoPCs, visual equipment, bus equipment, and communication equipment.Up until the end of 2005, products in Japan were marketed under the brand name AddZest, while outside of Japan the same product typically carried the Clarion...
navigation systems. SUNA Traffic Chnnel is also available in Ford, Holden
Holden
GM Holden Ltd is an automaker that operates in Australia, based in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The company was founded in 1856 as a saddlery manufacturer. In 1908 it moved into the automotive field, before becoming a subsidiary of the U.S.-based General Motors in 1931...
, Toyota, Nissan, Subaru
Subaru
; is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries .Subaru is internationally known for their use of the boxer engine layout popularized in cars by the Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911, in most of their vehicles above 1500 cc as well as...
, & Mercedes Benz navigation systems. SUNA is currently the only source of comprehensive, metropolitan congestion monitoring content in Australia - this is achieved using proprietary technology interfacing to traffic light control systems. The SUNA broadcast service is fully compliant with both the RDS and TMC standard however the broadcast is encrypted and therefore will not work on all in-car GPS navigation systems that do not have a commercial arrangement with SUNA.
Austria
In AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, ORF
ORF
ORF may refer to:* ORF , the Austrian public service broadcaster.* Open reading frame, a portion of the genome.* The IATA airport code for Norfolk International Airport in Norfolk, Virginia.* ORF format , Olympus raw image file format....
is broadcasting the service, free of charge, on the radio channels Ö1
Ö1
Ö1 is an Austrian radio station: one of the four national networks operated by Austria's public broadcaster ORF. It focuses on classical music, jazz, documentaries, features, news, radio plays, radio dramas, cabaret, quiz shows, and discussions.Ö1's programming mix of information, culture, music,...
, Ö2 (9 regional channels), Ö3, Radio Salzburg and FM4
FM4
FM4 is an Austrian national radio station, operated by the ORF. Its main target is the youth audience, and much of the music output is characterised by an alternative rock and electronic music slant....
and is supported by the Federal Ministry for Traffic, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT). ASFINAG is responsible for the location table, currently in version 2.1, which has undergone a number of updates in order to handle increased use during Euro 2008. In total, around 8.000 location codes are present in this table.
Baltic region
Destia Traffic has expressed plans to start broadcasting traffic information in the Baltic region soon.Belgium
In BelgiumBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
there are 4 TMC services: TMOBILIS in Belgium, TIC-VL and 4FMTMC in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
and RTBF
RTBF
Radio Télévision Belge Francophone is the public broadcasting organization of the French Community of Belgium, the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium...
in Wallonia and Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
. All of them (except for TMOBILIS) are currently open services.
The first service is TMOBILIS provided by Be-Mobile and Touring Mobilis. It is the only fully Belgian service: On the one hand it combines all Belgian sources from the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels government, the police stations, a national Floating Car Data
Floating Car Data
Floating car data , also known as floating cellular data, is a method to determine the traffic speed on the road network. It is based on the collection of localisation data, speed, direction of travel and time information from mobile phones in vehicles that are being driven...
system based on Proximus
Proximus
Proximus, also known as Belgacom Mobile, is the largest of Belgium's three mobile telecommunications operators. It competes with Mobistar, owned by France Télécom, and Base, a subsidiary of Dutch KPN.-History:...
and GPS vehicles, and the Touring Mobilis call center. On the other hand it is also nationally broadcast by both VRT
Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep
The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie , or VRT, is a publicly-funded broadcaster of radio and television in Flanders ....
on Studio Brussel
Studio Brussel
Studio Brussel is a radio station in Belgium, owned by the VRT. The music played is considered more alternative than the other big radio stations, and is aimed mainly at a youth audience....
for Flanders and RTBF
RTBF
Radio Télévision Belge Francophone is the public broadcasting organization of the French Community of Belgium, the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium...
on Classic21 in Wallonia and Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
The service TIC-VL is broadcast by VRT
Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep
The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie , or VRT, is a publicly-funded broadcaster of radio and television in Flanders ....
on Radio 2 and is using content from the Vlaams Verkeerscentrum. Coverage of content and transmissions is limited to the Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
region.
In Wallonia and Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, the service CLASS.21 is broadcast by RTBF
RTBF
Radio Télévision Belge Francophone is the public broadcasting organization of the French Community of Belgium, the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium...
on Classic 21. The service is from the Centre PEREX of the Ministère de l’Équipement et des Transports (MET) in collaboration with TMC4U. Both coverage of transmissions and content is limited to Wallonia and Brussels.
A last TMC service is 4FMTMC provided by Vialis, which is also operating TMC services in the Netherlands. It is broadcast by 4FM
4fm
Classic Hits 4FM is an independent multi-region radio station broadcasting to Dublin and commuter belt, the cities and counties of Cork, Limerick, Galway and County Clare. Reception is also possible in parts of several other neighbouring counties...
in Flanders, containing both the content from the Vlaams Verkeerscentrum and PEREX and so covers Belgium in total. In future they plan to add information on speed cameras.
Tritel creates the location tables by order of the regional communities. Since December 2004 the broadcast messages are according to location table version 1.4b, in which N-roads are added. The latest, currently used, version is 2.3 (from July 2008).
Bulgaria
A national TMC service for Bulgaria went live in December 2010. The service is provided by TrafficNav, the BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
based traffic information company in cooperaton with broadcast hardware manufacturer Kvarta. Data sources include real time traffic information provided by tix.bg. The service can be accessed by most navigation devices manufactured by Garmin
Garmin
Garmin Ltd. , incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is the parent company of a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao , that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies for the Global Positioning System...
and will soon be featured in several factory fitted car navigation devices.
Colombia
No TMC service is currently available as the country's current legislation does not allow the insertion of external digital data into analogue FM transmissions, and as a consequence, the use of RDS-TMC technology is also banned.Czech Republic
In the Czech RepublicCzech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, 3 services are available. 2 of them (DIC PRAGUE, TELEASIST) are in operation from January 2006 and one (JSDI) from 2008. All services are free to air.
A first service, called DIC PRAHA, is available in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. It is broadcast on Český Rozhlas
Ceský rozhlas
Český rozhlas is the Czech Republic's publicly funded radio broadcasting organization.It offers the following radio channels:*ČRo 1 – Radiožurnál: news and information*ČRo 2 – Praha: talk and family programmes...
– Regina (92.6 MHz). The service provider is TSK-Praha (Communication Technical Administration). The content comes from the traffic centre in Prague (TIC Prague) and consists of closures and restrictions and levels of service in Prague.
A second service, TELEASIST provided by Teleasist together with Global Assistance is available countrywide, however is not as detailed as TIC Prague in specific areas. It is being broadcasted by CRo1 Radiožurnál
Ceský rozhlas
Český rozhlas is the Czech Republic's publicly funded radio broadcasting organization.It offers the following radio channels:*ČRo 1 – Radiožurnál: news and information*ČRo 2 – Praha: talk and family programmes...
.
Last service, called JSDI, is provided by Czech Road Motorway Directorate (ŘSD ČR) and is broadcasted countrywide on ČRo3 Vltava
Ceský rozhlas
Český rozhlas is the Czech Republic's publicly funded radio broadcasting organization.It offers the following radio channels:*ČRo 1 – Radiožurnál: news and information*ČRo 2 – Praha: talk and family programmes...
. The content consists of closures and road restrictions and winter maintenance from all over the country, accident information from rescue services and detailed content from TIC Prague.
TMC developments are coordinated by CEDA. They are responsible for the location table (current version is 3.0, containing more than 16 000 records).
Denmark
The free TMC service DK-TMC in DenmarkDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
is operated by Vejdirektoratet or DRD (Danish Road Directorate). It is broadcast on DR
Danmarks Radio
DR – officially rendered into English as the Danish Broadcasting Corporation – is Denmark's national broadcasting corporation. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is today Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enterprise...
P1, P2, P3 and P4.
DRD is also responsible for the location tables. The current version used is 9.0. It contains around 2.450 location codes.
Finland
The commercial service in FinlandFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
is provided by Destia. The service covers biggest cities and roads 1-999. These areas cover the whole country. TMC messages are broadcast nationally on YLE Radio Suomi channel. Destia uses several information sources to validate traffic data including induction loops, traffic cameras, radio stations, road users and several other partnership companies. The service is encrypted, based on the encryption specifications made by the TMC Forum.
The location table is provided by FINNRA, the Finnish Road Administration. The newest location table is version number 1.42 and it is used by Destia’s TMC service. This version of the table contains around 8.100 problem locations.
France
Both a free public service and a commercial service are available in FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
The free service is provided by the motorway operators and provides information on their toll-roads. The toll-road operators are AREA, ASF, ATMB, Cofiroute, ESCOTA, SANEF, SAPN, SAPRR, SFTRF and SMTPC. The TMC data is on the 107.7 traffic channel so it can only be received along the motorways.
The commercial service V-Trafic is provided by Mediamobile. It is a partnership between TDF, Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
, Trafficmaster and Cofiroute. The service, which replaces the previous Visionaute service, is transmitted on the frequencies of France Inter and can be received nationally. It includes the information from the motorways but also on Paris congestion. The service was first open but it is now a pay-service, but it is not encrypted: by using a different location table number they can restrict the use. This method is TMC Forum 's Interim encryption method. They have about 60000 customers.
Next to that a service from ViaMichelin and Carte Blanche is provided, transmitted by the Towercast network (NRJ group). In September 2005 PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën is a French manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles sold under the Peugeot and Citroën marques. Headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, PSA is the second largest automaker based in Europe and the number eight in the world.-History:In December 1974 Peugeot S.A....
signed a partnership with ViaMichelin for the use of this info in their navigation systems.
Location tables are released by the government agency SETRA and includes about 20000 locations. Since version 0.4 it includes both inside Paris and outside Paris. The latest certified version is 8.0 for France (the last release contained around 13.500 problem locations) and 0.0 for Andorra (containing 62 problem locations).
Germany
In GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
both a public and a commercial service are available. The public service is an open, free service that can be received by the public radio stations.
The other service TMCpro is a pay service provided by Navteq Services GmbH owned by Navteq
NAVTEQ
Navteq is a Chicago, Illinois-based provider of Geographic Information Systems data and is a dominant company in providing the base electronic navigable maps...
. The service was developed and formerly provided by T-Systems Traffic GmbH a subsidiary of T-Systems
T-Systems
T-Systems is a worldwide operating ICT provider founded in October 2000. It belongs to Deutsche Telekom AG and its central office is located in Bonn, Germany. Within Deutsche Telekom AG it is responsible for multinational corporations and public-sector institutions. It operates in more than 20...
which was bought by Navteq
NAVTEQ
Navteq is a Chicago, Illinois-based provider of Geographic Information Systems data and is a dominant company in providing the base electronic navigable maps...
in January 2009. The service went live at the beginning of 2005 across Germany. The content is provided by ddg Gesellschaft für Verkehrsdaten mbh, a wholly owned subsidiary of T-Systems Traffic GmbH. It is an encrypted service, based on the conditional access specifications made by the TMC Forum.
BASt, the German Federal Highway Research Institute, is releasing location tables. In version 5.1 all major access roads leading to the football arenas which were used in the World Championship in 2006 were added. The current version is 10.1, which contains 44.233 location codes.
Greece
A TMC-service has been available in the Attica region since September 2010, to be rolled out for nationwide coverage in 2011. The service is provided by TrafficNav, the BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
based traffic information company and is available on Galaxy Radio and Radio DeeJay. The service can be accessed by most navigation devices manufactured by Garmin
Garmin
Garmin Ltd. , incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is the parent company of a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao , that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies for the Global Positioning System...
and Mio
Mio Technology
Mio Technology Corporation, a subsidiary of Mitac Int'l Corp., is a Taiwanese electronics maker that manufactures and markets Pocket PCs, Personal Digital Assistants , smartphones and Personal Navigation Devices...
and is soon to be featured in several factory fitted car navigation devices.
Hungary
A national TMC-service has been available since 2008. The service is provided by TrafficNav, the BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
based traffic information company and is available on the national FM networks of Petőfi Radio (Channel 2 of Magyar Rádió, Hungary's State Radio) and NEO FM (a national commercial station). The service can be accessed by most navigation devices manufactured by TomTom
TomTom
TomTom NV is a Dutch manufacturer of automotive navigation systems, including both stand-alone units and software for personal digital assistants and mobile telephones. It is the leading manufacturer of navigation systems in Europe. TomTom's customer service is located in Amsterdam, Netherlands...
, Garmin
Garmin
Garmin Ltd. , incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is the parent company of a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao , that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies for the Global Positioning System...
, Navigon
Navigon
Navigon GmbH is a Hamburg, Germany-based manufacturer of GPS devices and GPS navigation software. It is privately owned, however in June 2011 it was announced that Navigon is to be acquired by a subsidiary of Garmin...
, Mio
Mio Technology
Mio Technology Corporation, a subsidiary of Mitac Int'l Corp., is a Taiwanese electronics maker that manufactures and markets Pocket PCs, Personal Digital Assistants , smartphones and Personal Navigation Devices...
and Navon, and is also featured in several factory fitted car navigation devices, including selected models of Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
, Toyota and Lexus
Lexus
is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. First introduced in 1989 in the United States, Lexus is now sold globally and has become Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. The Lexus marque is marketed in over 70 countries and territories worldwide, and has...
. The service is based on V2.0 of the Hungary location table.
Indonesia
In Oct 2009, GEWI Europe GmbH & Co. KG released the TISA certified Location Table version 1.0 for Indonesia.In Jul 2011, iQios Sejahtera announced the launch of the first real-time traffic service in Indonesa by Sep 2011 based on this location table.
Iran
The service is currently unavalable, although the infrastructure is already in place; originally for use by the Iranian National Broadcasting Company (IRIB). The service is expected to become publicly available in 2020.Ireland
TMC for Dublin, IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
went live as of November 2010.
A service was extended to provide national coverage later that year. The service is provided by TrafficNav, the Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
based traffic information company and is available on RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ Radio 1 is the principal radio channel of Irish public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926...
, a national FM network of Ireland's State Radio. Data sources include real time traffic information provided by Dublin City Council
Dublin City Council
Dublin City Council is the local authority for the city of Dublin in Ireland. It has 52 members and is the largest local authority in Ireland. Until 2001, it was known as Dublin Corporation.-Legal status:...
. The service can be accessed by most navigation devices manufactured by Garmin
Garmin
Garmin Ltd. , incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is the parent company of a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao , that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies for the Global Positioning System...
and will soon be featured in several factory fitted car navigation devices.
Israel
A commercial RDS-TMC service is offered by Decell Technologies since February 2011. Decell provides national coverage broadcasted by several leading regional radio stations. The content distribution relies on Decell's TISA certified TMC location table number 36. Decell provides real-time flow and incident traffic data on RDS-TMC to all leading navigation companies.Italy
A public RDS-TMC service free of charge is available in ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
from 1 July 1998 by RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
. CCISS (National Traffic Information Centre) is providing the service. It is broadcasted on Rai Radio 1 FM; this service covers Italy.
Another TMC service is provided by the commercial radio station RTL 102.5
RTL 102.5
RTL 102.5 is a private Italian radio station. Despite its name, this radio station is not endorsed or affiliated with RTL Group.It has been the first Italian radio station using the format Contemporary hit radio, which involves the broadcasting of greatest hits only.The RTL 102.5 group includes...
in cooperation with InfoBlu. This service is available as Premium Service so you have to use a software enabled receiver and covers 90% of the population of Italy, and is still increasing.
The Italian location table, provided by RAI-CCISS, is in its version 2.1 with around 12.500 codes.
The current version (as of September 2010) is version 3.1 with around 41.000 location codes. It has all highways, state roads, county roads and urban roads for main towns. It is available here.
Netherlands
The service provider TMC4U is delivering a TMC service in the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Currently it is free, but they plan a pay-service including local information. TMC4U is a collaboration between Siemens and ANWB. The transmissions are on the radio channels of SkyRadio, Radio Veronica, Radio 1 and 3FM.
A second TMC service ViaTMC is provided by Vialis. They are transmitting on the FM channels of Q-music (previously Radio Noordzee), BNR Nieuwsradio and Radio 538. Information of traffic jams, road works and so on is the same on both channels, but they add information on speed trap
Speed Trap
Speed Trap is a live jazz album by Peter King, recorded at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in September 1994, and released in 1996 under the Ronnie Scotts Jazz House label...
s to it independent of each other.
Radio 2 is also sending out TMC-messages, working with data from Vialis.
Location tables come from AVV Transport Research Centre and are supplied by TIC Nederland. The current version is 6.1 which has additions for parking areas / parking lots compared to the 'old' 2003.a version.
New Zealand
The New Zealand Automobile Association broadcasts traffic alerts via FM broadcast radio in and around Greater Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.Norway
As of 2009, NRK has an open TMC service in a testing phase.The open service is transmitted using the P1-frequency, and information on coverage and nearest transmitter can be found on. NRK broadcasts information on roadworks, planned closures and winter-closed mountain passes. Updates on accidents and other unforeseen information are currently done Mon-Fri 05.30-22.00, Sat 09.30-17.00 and Sun 13.00-22.00.
The private radio station P4 is working with Destia Traffic to provide TMC info in Norway. This service is encrypted but free (according to Destia Traffic) for all private users, and some GPS manufacturers, such as TomTom, Garmin, mio and Navigon provide Destia Traffic' service for free.
In 2003 there was an experiment with distributing TMC-messages in a limited area (Østfold, Akershus and Oslo). A private operator might start a commercial service during 2008. In June Destia starts to broadcast the TMC service in Norway.
Statens vegvesen, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA), is releasing location tables. The current version is V3.1
Poland
From 1 May 2010, commercial TMC service is available in PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, on private radio station RMF FM
RMF FM
RMF FM - the most popular and the first commercial radio station in Poland. RMF FM started broadcasting on 15 January 1990 in Kraków. The current director is Tadeusz Sołtys. The radio is wholly owned by the German Bauer Verlagsgruppe.-Frequency FM in Poland:-External links:*...
. The service is provided by Destia Traffic and it's currently available for Garmin
Garmin
Garmin Ltd. , incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is the parent company of a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao , that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies for the Global Positioning System...
and Navigon
Navigon
Navigon GmbH is a Hamburg, Germany-based manufacturer of GPS devices and GPS navigation software. It is privately owned, however in June 2011 it was announced that Navigon is to be acquired by a subsidiary of Garmin...
users.
Singapore
In Jun 2006, GEWI Europe GmbH & Co. KG released the first TISA certified TMC Location Table for Singapore and started a traffic broadcast service which is operated by its Singapore company, GEWI Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Updated to version 1.1 in July 2009, the latest updated TMC Location Table version 1.2 that includes more than 150 car park locations within the Central Business District and downtown areas was certified by TISA in May 2011. GEWI's traffic services are available on several models of Smartphones, PAPAGO! and Garmin GPS navigation devices.In Nov 2010, the Land Transport Authority announced the release of the Location Table for Singapore. Quantum Inventions offers a traffic data service based on this location table and includes traffic incidents information, traffic speeds, parking availability, weather, road closures, etc. Various brands of GPS systems using the Galactio software provide these dynamic data in the navigation system.
Slovenia
A national TMC-service has been available since June 2009. The service is provided by TrafficNav, the BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
based traffic information company and is available on two national FM networks of Radiotelevizija Slovenija
Radiotelevizija Slovenija
Radiotelevizija Slovenija – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija – is Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization. Based in the country's capital, Ljubljana, it has regional broadcasting centres in Koper and Maribor and correspondents around Slovenia, Europe and the world...
, Slovenia's State Radio. The service can be accessed by most navigation devices manufactured by Garmin
Garmin
Garmin Ltd. , incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is the parent company of a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao , that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies for the Global Positioning System...
, Navigon
Navigon
Navigon GmbH is a Hamburg, Germany-based manufacturer of GPS devices and GPS navigation software. It is privately owned, however in June 2011 it was announced that Navigon is to be acquired by a subsidiary of Garmin...
and Navon, and will soon be featured in several factory fitted car navigation devices. The service is based on V3.0 of the Slovenia location table.
Spain
A TMC service is available in SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
on RNE
Radio Nacional de España
is Spain's national public radio service. Since 1973 it has formed, together with , a part of , the corporation responsible for managing national public-service broadcasting in Spain.-Origins of RNE:...
3. It is provided by
- SCT as the operator of traffic management in Catalonia Autonomous Community
- DT in the Basque Country Autonomous Community
- DGT (Traffic General Directorate) as the operator for the rest of the country's traffic management.
The road network coverage is the motorways, national roads and first level roads that belong to the Autonomous Communities.
Next to that, RACC is working on urban TMC services, starting with Seville and Barcelona. This will broadcast on RNE
Radio Nacional de España
is Spain's national public radio service. Since 1973 it has formed, together with , a part of , the corporation responsible for managing national public-service broadcasting in Spain.-Origins of RNE:...
2.
Location tables are coming from DGT, Dirección General de Tráfico. The current version is 2.1 and contains about 7.750 problem locations.
Sweden
A free service is available in SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Swedish Transport Administration, or Trafikverket, is responsible for the free service and for making the location tables. Nowadays version 2.2.2009 is in use for broadcasting RDS-TMC messages, which contains about 22587 location Codes and 923 Area, 4191 road/ segment/ street and 17473 points. New versions are always backward compatible.
Regarding the transmission, Sweden is divided into 8 broadcasting zones in order not to transmit traffic information that is not useful at that location. They cover the European, national and major county highways and contain information about traffic accidents, road works and road weather. The service is broadcast on Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio AB – Swedish Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with...
P3
SR P3 (radio station)
Sveriges Radio P3, P3 or SR P3 is a Swedish radio station owned by Sveriges Radio and is oriented towards young people...
radio station and covers 98 percent of Sweden. 98 percent is multi-messages in the air in Sweden.
Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) has an information page for Trafikverket RDS-TMC in Swedish.
Switzerland
A TMC service is available in SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. The broadcaster is SRG SSR idée suisse
SRG SSR idée suisse
SRG SSR is the Swiss public broadcasting organisation, founded in 1931 as SRG-SSR. Headquartered in Bern, SRG SSR is a non-profit organisation, funded mainly through radio and television licence fees and making the remaining income from advertising and sponsorship.Switzerland's system of direct...
or Swiss Broadcasting Corporation who transmits TMC on FM chain 1 (general, services) and FM chain 3 (pop/rock) all over Switzerland.
- In German speaking areas: DRS 1DRS 1DRS 1 is a Swiss radio channel, one of six operated by SR DRS, with its headquarters in Zürich.Launched in 1931 it was the first German-language radio station for German-speaking Switzerland....
(G) / DRS 3DRS 3DRS 3 is the third radio station from Schweizer Radio DRS. The station was launched in 1983 in response to, the licensing of private radio stations in Switzerland that was directed primarily for music to a younger audience....
(G) / La 1èreLa 1èreLa Première is the first French language radio station in Switzerland owned by Radio Suisse Romande . Founded in 1922, its programming is general, cultural and musical, its studios are located in Lausanne.- Broadcasting :...
(F) / Rete UnoRete UnoRete Uno is the principal radio channel of the Swiss public-service broadcasting organization RSI.Broadcasting in Italian, it is receivable throughout Switzerland via FM, DAB, cable, and satellite...
(I) partly - In French speaking areas: La 1èreLa 1èreLa Première is the first French language radio station in Switzerland owned by Radio Suisse Romande . Founded in 1922, its programming is general, cultural and musical, its studios are located in Lausanne.- Broadcasting :...
(F) / Couleur 3Couleur 3Couleur 3 is the third radio station launched by Radio Suisse Romande . The station was launched in 1982.It is receivable on French-speaking Switzerland and in Bern canton using FM.- External links :*...
(F) / DRS 1DRS 1DRS 1 is a Swiss radio channel, one of six operated by SR DRS, with its headquarters in Zürich.Launched in 1931 it was the first German-language radio station for German-speaking Switzerland....
(G) / Rete UnoRete UnoRete Uno is the principal radio channel of the Swiss public-service broadcasting organization RSI.Broadcasting in Italian, it is receivable throughout Switzerland via FM, DAB, cable, and satellite...
(I) partly - In Italian speaking areas: Rete UnoRete UnoRete Uno is the principal radio channel of the Swiss public-service broadcasting organization RSI.Broadcasting in Italian, it is receivable throughout Switzerland via FM, DAB, cable, and satellite...
(I) / Rete TreRete TreRete Tre is the third Italian-language radio station from Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana , aimed at younger viewers broadcasting popular and alternative music. It was launched at 00:03 on 1 January 1988 and is available via FM mainly in the Italian speaking cantons of Ticino and...
(I) / DRS 1DRS 1DRS 1 is a Swiss radio channel, one of six operated by SR DRS, with its headquarters in Zürich.Launched in 1931 it was the first German-language radio station for German-speaking Switzerland....
(G) / La 1èreLa 1èreLa Première is the first French language radio station in Switzerland owned by Radio Suisse Romande . Founded in 1922, its programming is general, cultural and musical, its studios are located in Lausanne.- Broadcasting :...
(F)
It is Viasuisse, a daughter company of it, that operates the service.
Location codes are the responsibility of the Swiss Federal Roads Authority FEDRO but B+S Ingenieur (Bundesamt fuer Strassen) makes the location tables. Version 5.5 is the latest version, containing around 10.000 codes, and is backwards compatible.
Taiwan
The Taiwanese police radio station and Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MOTC) both broadcast RDS-TMC traffic data. It is currently available for TomTom, Garmin, Panasonic, PaPaGo and Mio devices.United Kingdom
The private company iTIS Holdings provides a commercial TMC service iTMC in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It is broadcast nationally on Classic FM
Classic FM (UK)
Classic FM, one of the United Kingdom's three Independent National Radio stations, broadcasts classical music in a popular and accessible style.-Overview:...
and broadcast is supplemented by use of other commercial radio stations. ITIS provides traffic data on RDS-TMC to all the major automotive companies (BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover and others). The price of the service is included in the price of the car or of the navigation system.
This system uses Floating Vehicle Data, positional information from over 160,000 vehicles fitted with fleet management systems, this data provides the information about traffic speed and congestion throughout the UK road network. The data is complemented by journalistic or "Incident" data provided by Trafficlink. Trafficlink is owned by ITIS and provides live traffic and travel bulletins to BBC National and Local Radio and also to over 95% of the UK commercial radio stations. The incident data included in to the TMC data includes road works, accidents and closures.
RAC Live operated by RAC Trafficmaster Telematics (RTT) a 50-50 joint venture between RAC Motoring Services
RAC plc
RAC Limited is a breakdown company in the United Kingdom supplying products and services for motorists. Initially formed as the "Associate Section" of the Royal Automobile Club, it was incorporated as R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. in 1978. It was then sold by the members of the Royal Automobile...
and Trafficmaster also operates a national service. It uses the local and regional radio broadcaster Global Radio
Global Radio
Global Radio UK Ltd. is a British commercial radio company, the largest in the country following acquisitions of Chrysalis Radio and GCap Media.The company's Chief Executive Officer is Stephen Miron, while the Group Chairman is Charles Allen...
to ensure reception across mainland Britain. This system uses road-side infrastructure to measures a vehicle's travel time between sensors placed a few miles apart, and uses number plate recognition technology.
Both providers are responsible for their own location tables. The current location table version of ITIS is 5.1. The current location table version of Trafficmaster is 3.1.
Within the United Kingdom TMC services are only offered as pay services. As such they are currently always carried by commercial radio stations rather than by the BBC, a public service broadcaster. The BBC is required by its charter to be free from both political and commercial influence and is therefore unable to carry a pay service unavailable to all.
United States and Canada
In the United States of America, XM Satellite RadioXM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...
started transmitting TMC messages all over the US, as has Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
. Navteq
NAVTEQ
Navteq is a Chicago, Illinois-based provider of Geographic Information Systems data and is a dominant company in providing the base electronic navigable maps...
provides traffic data to both XM and Sirius Satellite Radio. Navteq Traffic delivers traffic information and related advertising via RDS and HD signals to navigation devices nationwide. Navteq also provides high quality traffic sourced from sensors, probes and other technologies in 10+ countries as of Dec 2009. INRIX
Inrix
INRIX is a software company which provides a variety of mobile applications and Internet services pertaining to traffic and navigation. INRIX provides historical and real-time traffic information to businesses and individuals in over 30 countries including the United States and much of Europe...
, Inc. fuses TMC data with real-time flow information from its crowd-sourced network of floating cars
Floating Car Data
Floating car data , also known as floating cellular data, is a method to determine the traffic speed on the road network. It is based on the collection of localisation data, speed, direction of travel and time information from mobile phones in vehicles that are being driven...
and mobile devices with information from other public and private sources to deliver real-time and predictive traffic information.
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
and Tele Atlas
Tele Atlas
Tele Atlas is a Netherlands-based company founded in 1984 which delivers digital maps and other dynamic content for navigation and location-based services, including personal and in-car navigation systems, and provides data used in a wide range of mobile and Internet map applications...
have a TMC service called Total Traffic Network (TTN), using FM RDS
Radio Data System
Radio Data System, or RDS, is a communications protocol standard for embedding small amounts of digital information in conventional FM radio broadcasts. RDS standardises several types of information transmitted, including time, station identification and programme information.Radio Broadcast Data...
in 77 US cities and three Canadian metropolitan areas. These services are both subscription, and were initially available to many in-car navigation units via an expansion module
Expansion card
The expansion card in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard or backplane to add functionality to a computer system via the expansion bus.One edge of the expansion card holds the contacts that fit exactly into the slot...
purchased separately.
The TomTom RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver acquires information through an FM radio signal broadcast by Clear Channel's regional providers. By connecting a compatible TomTom navigation device to the RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver, users automatically receive traffic information via the TMC connection. Once a trip is planned, traffic alerts are displayed in the traffic bar on the right hand side of the screen. When users tap the traffic bar, they receive further information, such as accident or traffic delays. The RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver is compatible with the TomTom VIA series, GO 920, TomTom GO 720, TomTom ONE XL and TomTom ONE 3rd edition. It provides integration of RDS-TMC Traffic information with the user interface of the TomTom GO and ONE products.
By now, in addition these after-market services, about six major motor manufacturers are offering RDS-TMC as standard in their U.S. vehicles, including Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
and BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
.
Ibiquity
IBiquity
iBiquity Digital Corporation is a company formed by the merger of USA Digital Radio and Lucent Digital Radio, with the goal of creating an in-band on-channel digital radio system for the United States and around the world...
HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
is advertising a TMC service based on the existing RDS-TMC standard. Utilizing the established standard for RDS/TMC, the Traffic Message Channel (TMC) is a data application for broadcasting real-time traffic information. Data messages will be received and decoded by a TMC-based receiver in conjunction with HD Radio devices and navigation systems. Traffic services are delivered to the driver in a vehicle in a variety of ways: the most common of these being a TMC-enabled navigation system.
Other planned services
It is also planned to start in PortugalPortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, however no further information is available on this at present.
In Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
no service is currently planned. In Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
the location table version 1.2 has been certified. In Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
it is planned but not in usage yet.
In China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
they are currently investigating on which technology their traffic information system will be based. The main choice is between the Japanese system VICS
Vehicle Information and Communication System
Vehicle Information and Communication System is a technology used in Japan for delivering traffic and travel information to road vehicle drivers.It can be compared with the European TMC technology.It can be transmitted using:* Infrared...
and the European TMC. A TMC Location table version 1.0 has been certified already.
See also
- BluetoothBluetoothBluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
- Google mapsGoogle MapsGoogle Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
- Intelligent transportation systemIntelligent transportation systemThe term intelligent transportation systems refers to information and communication technology that improve transport outcomes such as transport safety, transport productivity, travel reliability, informed travel choices, social equity, environmental performance and network operation...
- Yahoo! MapsYahoo! MapsYahoo! Maps is a free online mapping portal provided by Yahoo!.-News:*On May 16, 2007, Yahoo! released a new map style designed by the cartography company...
Traffic
External links
- General
- Germany
- Austria
- Switzerland
- Belgium
- Sweden
- Netherlands
- France
- Spain
- Denmark
- TMC Service Denmark (only in Danish)
- Frequencies DR
- Finland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Norway
- UK
- Czech Republic