While we’re on the topic of location referencing, we’ll profile Jürgen Terpe, GEWI’s resident expert in map and network data that is central to precise location referencing and harmonization.
GEWI is selectively expanding our global network of authorized partners. Read about Toronto based Era2, a new GEWI partner who will be using TIC for processing traffic data as they design transportation solutions for the Canadian Public Sector market.
As GEWI celebrates our 20th anniversary, we also celebrate our many long term employees whose expertise has contributed to making TIC the most widely used traffic software worldwide. Recently, TISA awarded David Marsh with their highest honor, a TISA fellowship, in consideration for his extensive contributions to the traffic and travel information industry.
GEWI is also busy with conference events, just returning from exhibiting at ITS America and preparing to exhibit at ITS Canada June 10-13th in Quebec City.
For a self-demonstration of TIC product features, we invite you to view the TIC Product Videos which have recently been updated at www.gewi.com. To discuss your requirements, please contact us at info@gewi.com.
GEWI Technology: Location Referencing
Simply stated, location referencing is a means of describing a position within a road network using a set of network elements and attributes.
However, things can become complicated rather quickly.
There are many methods that can be used to reference data to a road network. Examples would be TMC locations, AGORA-C, OpenLR, distance marker or latitude/longitude.
Often collected data is referenced using varying methods of location referencing. So, if a customer needs to visualize various data such as weather, camera, speed, parking, connected vehicle, or other data, location reference harmonization is required.
GEWI has developed the TIC3 location reference which allows all data to be referenced to a single standard. This provides a very efficient means of referencing all collected data, and allows data to be collected and distributed between systems, regardless of the type of location reference method used.
Once the data is harmonized, it can be presented to the operator using the Relation feature (shown above) which presents the operator with a consolidated view of all collected data. (weather, camera, speed, parking, etc.) The result is increased data quality as operators can easily verify real-world conditions compared to data which may be collected from automated sources.
GEWI is so focused on quality that in addition to creating our own TIC3 location for data referencing, GEWI has also created our own map rendering engine which allows for the fastest possible access and visualization of map and network location data. The result is a very smooth, fast, reliable user interface for TIC operators, and allows GEWI to continue to improve the product without relying on third party vendors.
David Marsh Awarded With TISA Fellowship
At the TISA General Assembly in Brussels, David Marsh was awarded a TISA Fellowship by unanimous decision of the TISA Commitee.
TISA fellowships are awarded to inviduals who have extensive experience in the TTI domain and who have attained the highest possible level of achievement over many years. TISA Fellows are widely recognized as having contributed significantly to the performance, development or technology of services and products, and David Marsh embodies this definition.
His career in Traffic started some 30 years ago with the UK Automobile Association where he was responsible for the development of databases and products for road traffic/weather and general lifestyle information. He represented the AA on the European RDS-TMC (Traffic Message Channel) working party, was Chairman of the EU supported TMC Forum and Executive Vice President of the European Road Information Centre (ERIC) in Geneva. David was also instrumental in the development of British Airways’ first fully automated flight information system (BA FlightWatch).
David is also a Former Director of SCOTIA (Scottish Travel Information Association) Ltd, Former Chairman of the TMC-Forum, and Former Exec’ Vice President ERIC (European Road Information Centre) Geneva.
Since joining GEWI in 2005, he has focused on RDS-TMC and sales and marketing. During his long and diverse career he has been responsible for the development and implementation of various information systems and services in addition to live broadcasting on Radio and TV.
GEWI joins the rest of TISA membership and the entire ITS community in congratulating David Marsh on this prestigious fellowship award. GEWI’s CEO, Hagen Geppert commented “It is people like David Marsh that have made the incredible innovations in TTI possible and GEWI is fortunate to have him as part of our global team and we congratulate him on this very well deserved honor bestowed by TISA”.
GEWI Welcomes Era2 as Authorized Partner
Era2 Productions, a private Canadian Corporation specializing in design and development of digital age solutions for the Global Transportation Industry, is lead by Executive Director Willem Galle and Managing Director William Tapscott. GEWI’s TIC software platform for processing traffic data will be used by Era2 as they design transportation solutions for the Canadian Public Sector market.
Era2 is a multi-disciplinary company providing both practical solutions i.e. Project Design and Management as well as strategic advisory services in Business Planning, Capital Financings, Merger and Acquisitions and Government Relations.
Prior to Era2, Galle was the COO of Descartes Systems Group, a global software provider to logistics and Tapscott, the Managing Director of Maptuit (now Telogis), a leading NA provider of optimization software for Transportation. Both Galle and Tapscott were co-founders of Intellione (now Urban Informatics) in Canada.
Era2 Executive Director Bill Tapscott commented “Era2 has sought out best-in-class COTS software products and services companies, to deliver superior solutions to clients in logistics, traffic operations management, and traveler information services, and GEWI’s TIC product meets all of our requirements, out of the box, for this market”.
GEWI’s CEO Hagen Geppert commented “GEWI is selectively expanding our Authorized Partner Network globally to add companies that meet our standards of quality and technical expertise, and Era2 meets this criteria and we welcome them as a GEWI Authorized Partner”.
The TIC product is commercial off-the-shelf software platform for information services, as proven in over 125 commercial and government projects operating worldwide since 1997. TIC is a cost-effective, robust, and scalable alternative compared to build-your-own systems. TIC is available from GEWI in Europe, North America, and Asia, and from partners worldwide.
GEWI To Attend and Exhibit at ITS Canada
ITS Canada will hold its 15th Annual Conference and General Meeting in the beautiful and historic city of Quebec, at the Chateau Frontenac Fairmont, from June 10th to June 13th, 2012.
GEWI will both attend and exhibit at the conference, as the TIC product is quite relevant to the conference theme “ITS – Transportation in Transition to a new Digital Economy”.
TIC provides the features and functionality required to better manage transportation data, including the ability to provide information to connected vehicles and navigation devices.
The ITS Canada conference is recognized as one of the best conferences in North America to discuss developments and deployments in the field of intelligent transportation technology. GEWI will be one of more than 35 technology providers exhibiting to allow delegates to discuss their needs and new developments.
If you’d like to schedule a meeting to learn more about TIC during ITS Canada, contact jim.oneill@gewi.com.
TIC CONNECTS: Travelers and Information
Drivers today have a growing number of tools on which they can rely for real-time traffic and travel event information. Whether the driver is using an in-dash or stand-alone navigation device, or an app on their smartphone, precise event location is central to the accurate reporting of incidents affecting traffic conditions.
How TIC accomplishes this is described in a separate story in this edition, but to the traveler, all they care about is that all data that they need is accurately reported and precisely location on their device.
TIC is used by many types of customers in every link in the traffic service chain to create the traffic data, test the navigation devices, process the data in RDS-TMC or TPEG format for use in navigation devices, or distribute the data to other systems, web sites, broadcasters or IVR systems.
The end result to the driver is accurately referenced traffic and travel event information which can be used by the navigation device to route a driver around delays. TIC’s location referencing capabilities are just one more way that TIC CONNECTS: Travelers and Information.
TIC Product Feature Video – Traffic and Travel Events
GEWI Celebrates 20th Anniversay at ITS America
The 2012 ITS America Annual meeting and exposition was the 22th annual event for ITS
America. GEWI’s exhibit at the conference showcased the 15th year of TIC as a product and 20th anniversary of GEWI as a company.
The conference was held in National Harbor, Maryland, near Washington D.C. The theme of the conference was “Smart Transportation, a future we can all afford”, which fits very well with new features of the TIC Smart Client.
Many current GEWI customers were on hand to see the latest TIC product developments, and great interest was shown in the Relation features of TIC (see the Traffic and Travel Event Video in this newsletter) as well as the mobile traffic data entry capabilities of TIC Smart Client for the iPad.
Joining the many ITS professionals who visited the GEWI booth was “Elvis” who uttered his famous phrase “thank you, thank you very much” when he was presented with a GEWI “whole new ballgame” baseball.
Next year’s ITS America Conference will be held next April in Nashville, Tennessee and GEWI is already making plans for next year’s exhibit in “Music City USA”.
New Product Videos on GEWI Website
GEWI’s web site now includes videos for several new TIC product features. The videos make it easy for website visitors to self-demonstrate part of the TIC system and to preview specific product features of interest to them.
Available videos include:
- Weather
- Parking
- Work Zone
- GPS
- Cameras
- Traffic & Travel Events
- Mobile Traffic Data Entry
Several more videos are being produced to provide an introduction to other TIC product features, so check www.gewi.com occasionally to view the new videos.
Download New TIC for Traffic Brochure
The TIC3 product allows you to perform many transportation related tasks simply by configuration of this commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software.
Click here to download a product brochure which describes the flexible TIC3 architecture which allows TIC to be used for many purposes including:
-Traffic & Travel Information Services
-Connected Vehicles
-Parking Information
-Navigation System Testing
-Data Harmonization and Exchange
-Work Zones
-Radio Data
-RDS-TMC
-TPEG
As a commercial off-the shelf (COTS) solution, TIC can be deployed much more quickly and cost effectively than custom build-your-own solutions while offering the most advanced features and functionality.
For more information, visit www.gewi.com.
GEWI Newsletter
May/Jun 2012
In this Issue
GEWI Technology: Location Referencing
David Marsh Awarded TISA Fellowship
Era2 Added as GEWI Authorized Partner
GEWI at ITS Canada
TIC Connects Travelers and Information
Video: Traffic & Travel Events
GEWI at ITS America
TIC Product Videos
Download TIC Brochure
GEWI Profile – Jürgen Terpe
Quick Links
TIC Videos
GEWI Website
TISA
ITS Canada
GEWI on FOX TV
Traffic News for Radio
GEWI Products
GEWI News
GEWI Newsletters
About GEWI
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GEWI Profile
Jürgen Terpe
Software Developer
When Jürgen was just 13, he had a fascination with astronomy. At the time he didn’t realize that this would end up shaping his future career.
Jürgen was interested in computing the positions of the celestial bodies, which required very complex mathematic calculations.
He discovered that computers would make this process easier, which lead him to learn some programming languages, starting with the basics, Pascal, Delphi, C++, Java PHP and C#.
His next step was to study Informatics Science and Physics at Martin-Luther University where he graduated with a degree in engineering.
What started out with an interest in computing the positions of the planets has evolved into a career as GEWI’s map and network expert, which involves describing positions on the ground in road networks.
In his 9 years with GEWI, he has worked to become one of the leading experts in map and network data which is the foundation for all of the location referencing that is done in the TIC Smart Client.
When Jürgen is away from the office he is an amateur telescope maker whose high quality tele-scopes allow him to observe faint nebula, star clusters and galaxies.
Jürgen brought one of his custom made telescopes to a GEWI workshop to let his coworkers get a view of some incredible sky views that none had ever seen before.
Jürgen’s expertise is key to the continued evolution of the TIC product and he is a valued member of GEWI’s product development team.
