When exchanging data between systems, many challenges exist, not the least of which is the harmonization of location reference data.

 

GEWI has been a leader in creating solutions for complex problems such as these which are made even more complex by the diverse sets of location references used around the world.

 

GEWI has devised a unique solution to the challenge of harmonizing location references between systems and data sets. With this solution, multiple location references can be harmonized.

 

Objects in TIC3 can be referenced by the most popular location referencing methods such as geographical position (lat, long), TMC location, distance marker, AGORA-C and OpenLR. TIC3 locations are used for the internal representation of each location to provide harmonization between the other location referencing methods.

 

This means, regardless of which location referencing system is used, TIC3 is able to cross reference this data. Each referencing method will be referenced to a TIC3 Location and back to each referencing method. This makes it possible to now cross reference between any one or more referencing methods.

 

The TIC3 product development team working on the harmonization of location reference data includes Thomas Rothe, and Sven Wiesenmüller.

 

For more information on TIC's data harmonization capabilities, contact info@gewi.com.

 

Visitors to ITS World Congress in Busan Korea will have an opportunity to view the latest developments in TIC3, the world's most popular platform for the management of traffic data.

 

GEWI will be located in booth B-36-1 in the exhibit area, and David Marsh (featured in this issue) will also be presenting a paper on the TPEG traffic data protocol during the exhibition.

 

The 17th ITS World Congress, Busan, 2010 is an excellent opportunity to learn, share knowlege and gain perspective into the state of the industry as well as technology trends.

 

If you'd like to schedule a fixed time for a demonstration of TIC3, contact info@gewi.com.

Feedback is a very important part of GEWI's product development process.

 

This November, GEWI will be visiting cities in the US and Canada in our first ever North America Traffic Technologies Tour.

 

The purpose of this tour is to exchange information on traffic solutions being deployed around the world, and listen to problems and challenges experienced in various market areas across North America.

 

The information obtained from this tour is then processed using GEWI's PROS process. (Problems, Requirements, Options, Solutions).

 

The Problems which are discussed during the tour are then turned into Requirements which GEWI will then analyze and present Options for Solutions. Those solutions are then incorporated into future releases of the TIC product.

 

All users of TIC worldwide benefit from the Traffic Technology Tour as those requirements become new TIC features, and are made available to licensed users of TIC for no additional charge beyond the standard support and maintenance.

 

If you have requirements you'd like to discuss, contat info@gewi.com. For more information on the Traffic Technologies Tour, visit www.gewi.com.

One of the ongoing benefits to GEWI clients is the continual improvement of the TIC product.

 

Every week, GEWI engineers release a new developmental version of the TIC3 software which includes new features. These releases are tested and then issued as new production versions about 4 times per year.

 

The items included in each of these releases are a summary of new features or enhancements that have been requested by TIC clients worldwide. These new features are available at no additional cost to licensed TIC clients beyond the standard support and maintenaince.

 

A few new features include: the ability to assign confidence levels to various types of data, deeper map zoom levels (useful for the user to recognize the traffic situation on special locations where many roads are within a small area), tile re-sizing and enhanced caching of network tiles to improve performance, and new labels for highway junctions (shown).

 

GEWI's 2010 global business and product workshop was held in September in Germany on the shores of Lake Tegernsee, about an hour south of Munich in Bavaria.

 

Teams from Product Development, Customer Projects and Sales and Marketing engaged in a week of intense review of product requirements, features, and process improvements.

 

As the saying goes, "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", so in an effort to keep the GEWI staff sharp, several fun events were planned including a sailing regatta which turned into a bit of a competition between the four sailboats manned by GEWI staffers turned deck hands.

 

The workhop format included plenary sessions, team specific sessions, and mixed sessions which generated several product and process ideas which will be implemented over the next weeks.

 

By any standard of measure, the workshop was extremely productive and very successful. Many ideas were generated for improvements to the TIC3 product as well as process improvements which will provide benefits both internal to GEWI as well as externally to our clients around the world.

GEWI is pleased to announce that Alpine Electronics is the latest device manufacturer to use TIC NavTest for navigation testing,

 

Alpine Electronics of America, Inc., is the industry-leading manufacturer of high performance mobile electronics. Alpine is the only manufacturer specializing in mobile multimedia, an integrated system approach incorporating digital entertainment, security and navigation products for mobile entertainment.

 

TIC NavTest is a software package used to construct data broadcasts in a test environment, typically when testing receivers and navigation systems.

 

Alpine joins many other auto and device manufacturers who use TIC NavTest to compare the response of navigation sets and digital maps with different traffic-data scenarios ensure the overall system is functioning properly.

 

AUDI, BMW, Bosch Car Multimedia, Daimler, Delphi, Mitsubishi, Sony, and TomTom are just a few of the many GEWI clients who use TIC NavTest as part of their quality assurance program.

 

TIC's capabilities for producing and testing navigation quality data have made it the preferred choice for automobile manufacturers, navigation device manufacturers and broadcast and connected service providers.

The TIC3 product allows you to perform many transportation related tasks simply by configuration of this commercial off-the-shelf-software (COTS).

 

Use the "Quick Links" section of this newsletter to download a product brochure which describes the TIC3 architecture. You can also download leaflets which demonstrate how TIC3 may be used for:

 

- ATIS, DOT and 511 Services.

- Mobile Devices.

- Navigation and Connected Services

- Radio & TV Traffic Reports

- Work Zones & Road Conditions.

 

As a COTS solution, TIC can be deployed much more quickly and cost effectively than custom built solutions, yet still offer the most advanced features and functionality.

 

Selected leaflets are available for download in the Quick Links section of this newsletter. All are available for download at www.gewi.com.

David joined GEWI in 2005, bringing his considerable experience in the fields of Telematics, sales, marketing & sponsorship, Broadcasting/Media, Information Services and Business Management and Development.

 

During a 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.

 

With the AA (UK Automobile Association) he was responsible for the development of databases and products for road traffic/weather and general lifestyle information by broadcast, and via new technology platforms, bringing their Roadwatch service to profitability. He represented the AA on the European RDS-TMC (Traffic Message Channel) working party in addition to earlier work on the Alert-A and Alert-B protocols for traffic message coding.

 

David was the first Chairman of the 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).