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SpatialNews Press Release
ESRI Software Powers Bay Area's TravInfo Project; ITS
Offers Real-Time Traffic Information for Nine-County Area
REDLANDS, Calif., Oct. 31, 2000--ESRI, the world leader in geographic
information system (GIS) software and location- based services, has been selected to be part of the
PB Farradyne Inc., team that will design, build and operate TravInfo(R), the San Francisco Bay
Area's real-time traffic and transit information source.
Last month, PB Farradyne, a division of the Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglas Inc.,
engineering firm in New York, was awarded a $38 million, six-year contract by the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission (MTC), the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for
the Bay Area.
PB Farradyne's TravInfo(R) contract calls for providing the systems and services to collect,
disseminate and market timely, comprehensive, accurate and reliable travel information on major
roadways and public transportation in the nine-county Bay Area. The information will be accessible
via a Web site, a toll-free telephone number, kiosks, cell phones and handheld computers.
ESRI will provide software and services support to PB Farradyne for map display functionality on
the MTC TravInfo(R) project. "Having worked with ESRI on other projects to implement user
interfaces for advanced traveler information services, we are pleased to build on that experience and
expand our relationship," said Peter Dwyer, PB Farradyne project manager for TravInfo(R).
ESRI will develop two map display applications for two different environments. One will operate
independently on each TravInfo(R) workstation. The other is an Intranet-enabled application that will
give other agencies access to TravInfo(R) data without having to install the application locally.
With the map display, TravInfo(R) staff will be able to view and interact with transportation system
and event data. The map provides an intuitive interface to quickly look at and analyze diverse
information. It also provides contextual information for every event that might not be apparent from
other interfaces.
"The map viewer is an essential component of the system," said Wolfgang Hall, ESRI project
manager, "because dispatchers will use it on a day-to-day basis to interact with the system."
The workstation application will have display and edit functions, which enable users to navigate
maps and add or correct events in the database using the map interface. This is useful for visually
selecting the correct location of event data on a large-scale map.
ESRI will develop middleware for the Intranet-based application. Events will be stored in an
ArcIMS database along with the TravInfo(R) basemap. ArcIMS technology will be used as
middleware to manage the interaction between Intranet clients and the data server and between the
ESRI event management application and the data server.
"The MTC plays several roles in the Bay Area," said Michael Berman, the assistant project
manager for the TravInfo(R) project. "One of the benefits of using the GIS is that spatial data can be
used for more than one purpose. The investment we make in TravInfo(R) can be utilized by citizens
and travelers, traffic managers, as well as transportation planners down the line."
Efficient, seamless operations are a benefit of this kind of GIS integration into an Intelligent
Transportation System project. GIS enables visualization and is an important decision-support tool
because it puts timely, accurate information in a usable ergonomic form into the hands of traffic
incident managers, fleet managers and day-to-day commuters making transportation choices,
according to Ernie Ott, ESRI transportation industry manager.
"One of the most exciting benefits that GIS offers to transportation managers is a full feedback
loop," said Ott. "As traffic incident managers use real-time spatial data, it is also stored and retrieved
later by analysts for support in planning and improving transportation systems."
In addition to ESRI, the PB Farradyne project team includes U.S. Wireless Corp.; TrafficStation
Inc.; Technology Management Inc.; NextBus Information Systems Inc.; GIS/Trans Ltd.;
TRANSCOM Inc.; Z(3); Pacific Rim Resources; Wolfe/Doyle Advertising; Golden Screens
Interactive Technologies Inc.; MCI WorldCom; and VODAVI-CT Inc.
CONTACT:
ESRI, Redlands
Nancy Sappington, 909/793-2853, ext. 1-2198 (media)
press@esri.com
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