Transportation systems are inherently distributed systems with complex information requirements. Robust modern standards for transportation data are important for the safe and efficient operation of transportation systems. A wide variety of Standards organisations, consortia and groups are involved in producing and maintaining standards that are relevant to the global transport technology, transport journey planning and transport ticket/retailing industry. These include:

• Formal standards development organisations;
• Other international bodies developing definitive core specifications;
• Other important international bodies;
• Other National bodies developing definitive core specifications;
• Other important National bodies

Formal standards development organisations

The formal development of international standards is organised in three tiers of Standards Development Organisations, recognised by international agreements :

• World: International Organisation for Standardisation, ISO.
• Regional Regional Standards bodies coordinate standardisation between geographically or politically connected regions with a need to harmonise products and practices. For example in Europe, the European Committee for Standardisation or CEN
• National, e.g. Most Nations have a coordinating body responsible for organizing partipitation in CEN & ISO activities, for publishing ISO & CEN standards within the country, and for coordinating national standardisation activities. The National SDO in turn will delegate responsibility as appropriate to the relevant trade associations, government departments and other stakeholders for a specific are of technical expertise. For example, in the UK the British Standards Institution or BSI is the National SDO.

The SDOs conduct their work through a system of working groups, responsible for different areas of expertise. These evolve over time to accommodate changes in technology. key current working groups for transport standards are outlined below.

CEN Working Groups and leaders for Transport Standards

CEN Allocates responsibility for different areas of transport standardisation to working groups

• WG1 - Automatic Fee Collection and Access Control -CEN
• WG2 - Freight and Fleet Management System - ISO
• WG3 - Public Transport - ISO
• WG4 - TTI – Traffic and Traveller Information - ISO
• WG5 - TC - Traffic Control - ISO
• WG6 - Parking Management - n/a
• WG7/8 - Geographic Road Data Base: Road Traffic Data - ISO
• WG9 - Dedicated Short Range Communications - CEN
• WG10 - Man-machine Interface - n/a
• WG11 - Subsystem- Intersystem Interfaces - ISO
• WG12 - Automatic Vehicle and Equipment Identification - CEN
• WG13 - System Architecture and Terminology - ISO

ISO Working Groups and leaders for Transport Standards

ISO Technical Committee 204 is responsible for Transport Information and Control Systems. It has a number of standing Working Groups, which set up Subgroups from time to time.

Current ISO TC204 Working Groups, Work program & Countries that provide Secretariat are as follows

• WG1 Architecture - UK
• WG2 Quality and Reliability Requirements - Japan
• WG3 TICS Database Technology - Japan
• WG4 Automatic Vehicle Identification - Norway
• WG5 Fee and Toll Collection Holland
• WG7 General Fleet Management and Commercial and Freight - Canada
• WG8 Public Transport/Emergency - America
• WG9 Integrated Transport Information, Management, and Control - Australia
• WG10 Traveller Information Systems - UK
• WG11 Route Guidance and Navigation Systems - Germany
• WG14 Vehicle/Roadway Warning and Control Systems - Japan
• WG15 Dedicated Short Range Communications for TICS Applications - Germany
• WG16 Wide Area Communications/Protocols and Interfaces - America

For an up to date schedule of the remit of TC204, its current Working Groups and their points of contact please refer to:
http://www.iso.org/iso/en/stdsdevelopment/tc/tclist/TechnicalCommitteeDetailPage.TechnicalCommitteeDetail?COMMID=4559&scopelist=

Other international bodies developing definitive core specifications

As well as the formal SDOs, a number of other international bodies undertake work that is important for Transport and Transport Information standards

• International Air Transport Association
  International Air Transport Association
  The International Air Transport Association is an international industry trade group of airlines headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the International Civil Aviation Organization is also headquartered. The executive offices are at the Geneva Airport in SwitzerlandIATA's mission is to...
  
   (IATA)
• International Union of Railways
  International Union of Railways
  The UIC , or International Union of Railways, is an international rail transport industry body.- Brief history :The railways of Europe originated as separate concerns. There were many border changes after World War I and the Treaty of Versailles. Colonial railways were the responsibility of the...
  
   (UIC)
• European Broadcasting Union
  European Broadcasting Union
  The European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 74 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 49 associate broadcasters from a further 25...
  
   (EBU) - See 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...
  
  
• World Wide Web Consortium
  World Wide Web Consortium
  The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...
  
   (W3C)
• OpenTravel Alliance
  OpenTravel Alliance
  -Defacto, Open Source Standards for the Travel Industry:The OpenTravel Alliance is a non-profit organization which develops open data transmission specifications for the electronic exchange of business information for the travel industry, including but not limited to the use of XML.OpenTravel...
  
   (OTA)
• Open Geospatial Consortium
  Open Geospatial Consortium
  The Open Geospatial Consortium , an international voluntary consensus standards organization, originated in 1994. In the OGC, more than 400 commercial, governmental, nonprofit and research organizations worldwide collaborate in a consensus process encouraging development and implementation of open...
  
   (OGC)
• Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS)

Other important international bodies

• Object Management Group
  Object Management Group
  Object Management Group is a consortium, originally aimed at setting standards for distributed object-oriented systems, and is now focused on modeling and model-based standards.- Overview :...
  
   (OMG)
• EuroRoadS
• Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST)
• European Railway Agency
  European Railway Agency
  The European Railway Agency is one of the agencies of the European Union. The decision to set up the agency was made in April 2004. The agency has two main sites, both in Nord Department, France...
  
   (ERA)

German organisations active in Transport Standards development

• Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen (VDV)

UK bodies developing definitive core specifications

• Department for Transport
  Department for Transport
  In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...
  
   (DfT)
• Ordnance Survey
  Ordnance Survey
  Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
  
   (OS)
• Rail Settlement Plan
  Rail Settlement Plan
  Rail Settlement Plan is a division of the Association of Train Operating Companies in the United Kingdom. It provides a wide range of common services to the UK's franchised passenger rail operators and third party providers of information and retail services.The company was established on the...
  
   (RSP)
• National Rail Enquiries (NRE)
• Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation
  Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation
  ITSO is a non-profit membership organisation which maintains and develops the ITSO specification. The specification is an open one which is Crown copyrighted and available to all with the aim of allowing interoperable ticketing between transport operators in the UK....
  
   (ITSO)
• UTMC Development Group (UDG)
• Real Time Information Group
  Real Time Information Group
  The Real Time Information Group is an organisation in the United Kingdom supporting the development of bus passenger information systems; its 85 members include local authorities, bus operators and system suppliers together with representatives from the UK government and other key industry groups...
  
   (RTIG)
• Travel Information Highway (TIH)

Other important UK bodies and initiatives

• Transport for London
  Transport for London
  Transport for London is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London in England. Its role is to implement the transport strategy and to manage transport services across London...
  
  
• National Traffic Control Centre (NTCC)
• Association of Transport Operating Officers (ATCO)
• Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)
• Royal National Institute for Deaf People
  Royal National Institute for Deaf People
  Action on Hearing Loss, formerly known as The Royal National Institute for Deaf People is a charitable organization working on behalf of the UK's 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people. The head office of RNID is in Islington, Central London . Its President is Lord Ashley of Stoke. The Chief...
  
   (RNID)
• Journey Solutions
• Oyster card
  Oyster card
  The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport services within the Greater London area of the United Kingdom. It is promoted by Transport for London and is valid on a number of different travel systems across London including London Underground, buses, the Docklands...
  
  

US bodies developing definitive core Transit Standard specifications

• National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation System Protocol
  National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation System Protocol
  The National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation System Protocol is a family of standards designed to achieve interoperability and interchangeability between computers and electronic traffic control equipment from different manufacturers.The protocol is the product of a...
  
   or NTCIP
  National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation System Protocol
  The National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation System Protocol is a family of standards designed to achieve interoperability and interchangeability between computers and electronic traffic control equipment from different manufacturers.The protocol is the product of a...