Intelligent Transportation Systems - City of Oakland

design approaches can be developed while maintaining the benefits of a common
architecture. The National ITS Architecture provides a standard vocabulary, a
description of options to consider for local and regional ITS functions and activities, and
a general set of tools to assist with systems integration. In addition, it identifies and
specifies the requirements for the standards needed to support national and regional
interoperability, as well as product standards needed to support economy of scale
considerations in deployment. An architecture is not a design. Several different system
designs or implementations can fit within the same architecture. An architecture defines
the framework and functionality, while a design defines the specific plans for
implementation.
The National Architecture for ITS is essentially a tool to assist in the development of
specific architectures. The use of the National ITS Architecture reduces the time and
costs required to develop architectures by providing a framework and process to follow.
It allows for developing architectures in which future expansion, information exchange,
and integration of systems (both existing and future) are inherent.
There are two levels of architecture in the National ITS architecture model: regional
architecture and project-level architecture. The Architecture Conformity Final Rule
requires project-level architectures be developed for all ITS projects receiving federal
funding and the project architectures must be consistent with a regional architecture. As
mentioned in Section 2, MTC is currently in the process of developing the regional
architecture for the San Francisco Bay Area. Hence, all future City of Oakland ITS
projects should include a project architecture in the design documentation. Also, the
project architecture should be based on the existing regional architecture (if one exists)
and be provided to MTC so that the regional architecture can be updated to reflect the
new City of Oakland ITS project.
5.2 ITS USER SERVICES, SUBSYSTEMS AND MARKET PACKAGES
One function of the National ITS Architecture documentation is to provide a common
vocabulary for the development of individual system architectures around the nation.
The basic building blocks of this architecture are user services, subsystems and market
packages.
User services document what ITS should do from the user's perspective. A broad range
of users are considered, including the traveling public as well as many different types of
system operators. Thirty-one user services formed the basis for the National ITS
Architecture development effort.
Based on the results of the City workshop, the City of Oakland’s architecture will consist
of the following seven user services as detailed in the National Architecture:
• Pre-Trip Travel Information
• Traffic Control
• Incident Management
• Highway-rail Intersection
• Public Transportation Management
• En-Route Transit Information
• Emergency Vehicle Management
City of Oakland ITS Strategic Plan
56 September, 2003