Metro, Caltrans improve regional traffic map, freeway camera video display for Regional Integrated Intelligent Transportation System (RIITS) Network

Wednesday August 18, 2010

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) have completed a series of improvements to the Regional Integration of Intelligent Transportation System (RIITS) Network, a multimodal planning and operations tool for public agencies in the five county Southern California region to meet mobility, sustainability and emergency management challenges.

The first of those improvements is a new base map that includes expanded geographic coverage of all five counties; Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange, new data sources and enhanced functionality.

The new map, which is 100 per cent Metro owned, offers advanced navigation and improved menu manipulation, allowing the user to access detailed multimodal transportation data at variable zoom levels. New features include freeway and arterial traffic flow conditions, closed circuit television images, freeway travel time estimates, layering capabilities to accommodate additional transportation modes and agencies, and the ability to set mapping preferences for each user’s own geographic area.

The map includes near real-time transit data from Long Beach Transit, Foothill Transit, Caltrans, City of Los Angeles arterial traffic congestion data; and traffic incident data from the California Highway Patrol.

Metro and Caltrans also collaborated with TrafficLand, the largest authorized service provider of live traffic video in the United States to serve live video from 347 Caltrans cameras to the Southern California Go511 traveler information system and to the general public website through the RIITS Network. The video will be made available to the media, public safety agencies, mobile applications providers, and other by fall 2010.

“This is an exciting partnership that brings advanced technology to our region by enhancing traffic management and addressing emergency needs,” said Metro Executive Director of Highways Program, Doug Failing. “The upgraded map and video technology will provide public agencies and the general traveling public a complete regional picture of conditions on the five county area highways. Providing reliable and timely information is key to meeting our core business objectives and we will continue to seek opportunities that will aid in delivering service to the public.”

The development of an Archived Data Management System (ADMS) to capture real-time data from the RIITS Network will begin in September 2010. This project, a partnership with University of Southern California’s METRANS Transportation Center and California State University Long Beach will establish a regional transportation data library to store and mine RIITS Network historical data.

The ADMS will provide a powerful analytical tool for regional transportation planning, operations evaluation, and transportation policy analysis. Using this database, transportation planners and engineers will be able to monitor and evaluate performance of major transit/mobility improvement projects at the regional, sub-regional, and local level.

About RIITS

Metro’s Countywide Planning Department has been managing the RIITS program since the Network was deployed in November 2004. A new map was needed due to the size of the data sources and information between public and private agencies accessing near real-time multimodal data. RIITS functions as a planning and operational tool for public agencies. In addition, it is the “Data Engine” that serves the Southern California Go511 traveler information system, information service provider (ISP’s), and third party data users for distribution of congestion data under separate formats for public consumption.

“This is a great example of transportation agencies working together to serve the traveling public,” said Caltrans Operations Deputy Frank Quon. “The more information can be coordinated and shared, the easier it is to provide a detailed picture that can assist commuters on a daily basis.”

The RIITS Network and program is expanding to interface with additional cities and transportation agencies including Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, Montebello Transit, Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT)/Metro Rapid Bus (incorporating real-time bus locations and performance data), Metrolink, Los Angeles County Department of Public Works arterial network, and the Caltrans CTNET signal and control system.

For more information on the RIITS Network program contact Desiree Portillo-Rabinov at (213) 922-3039, or e-mail at portillorabinov@metro.net, or visit the website www.riits.net.