PD CEN/TR 16427:2013

Intelligent transport systems. Public transport. Traveller Information for Visually Impaired People (TI-VIP). | Status: Current

1 Scope This Technical Report is based on work undertaken to define the scope for a possible Technical Specification that would specify the information needed by blind and visually impaired people (VIP) when they are travelling. This information is primarily intended for users of road-based transport like buses, trolleybuses and trams, but it can also be used for subway, regional and inter-city trains. The Technical Specification that is suggested would aim to define the contents of the information required at an urban or regional level. Its goal would be to make consistent information for VIP who are travelling anywhere in Europe. It would define the nature and the structure of the information for VIP using public transport to make it familiar, homogeneous and consistent. The Technical Specification would be applicable to organisations and operators of facilities for Public Transport and related services, either urban or regional, who want to guarantee "accessibility for all" and comply with local laws and recommendations in that field. The suggested Technical Specification should comply with relevant laws and recommendations throughout European countries. Such a Technical Specification should define the information and remotely controlled functions that should be available for VIPs at stops, platforms, access areas and inside/outside vehicles. The provision and the updating of the available information would be undertaken by the Public Transport operators or their partners. It would have to be linked with existing information and management systems. A Technical Specification would identify the contents of the information, the events, the validity time periods and the information which should be offered by different classes of end-user devices. The Technical Specification would state which information is to be provided by each one of the different classes of end-user devices. "Traveller information for Visually Impaired People" is defined in a three layer top-down framework:

1. 1. "Contents of the information": this should be in accordance with relevant standards and other Technical Specifications (Transmodel, IFOPT, SIRI, TPEG, etc.) to achieve consistency of end-user information. All information has to be defined (including events for triggering, devices on which the information is presented and validity time periods). This will be based on use-cases;
2. 2. "Messaging and Dialogues": this part of the processing would have to comply with existing standards and Technical Specifications SIRI, TPEG, etc. to allow interoperability;
3. 3. "Hardware or physical media": this would define how to implement the messaging system specified above with different technical solutions to assure delivery of traveller information to the end-user. This could include collaboration with ETSI (layer for radio-communication).

The work to develop such a Technical Specification may identify additional information elements that need to be added to existing standards and Technical Specifications. It is suggested that the first part of the Technical Specification should encompass only the first upper layer "Contents of the information" — and it is on this layer that this report concentrates. A trip from one location to another location, often described as "door to door" (PLACE to PLACE), of a VIP involves going through several steps and phases (using various transport modes). The Technical Specification would define the information linked to each step and area crossed during a trip of a VIP. It would also define the information supply-chain for the VIP's traveller information and the updates needed. It would have to be based on the elements and objects which are described in Transmodel and/or IFOPT. The Technical Specification would need to take into account:

• — the various transport modes used during a PLACE to PLACE trip,
• — the information needed at each step in the PLACE to PLACE trip,
• — the different classes of end-user devices,
• — the constraints on the information layer imposed by the messaging layer,
• — the constraints on the information layer imposed by the hardware or physical media layer, and
• — glossary with all reference keywords needed for multilanguage support (XML tags).

The Technical Specification would need mainly to define:

• — use-cases for end-users which will demonstrate the information needed (as line number, destination, name of next stop, etc.) and the associated real-time constraints,
• — the nature of the information needed at each step of the PLACE to PLACE trip which may depend on the type of transport used,
• — the real-time constraints of the information which depend on its nature and its usage,
• — the different kinds of information available (different levels of service) which depend on the different classes of end-user devices, and
• — the relationships between this information framework (intended for VIP travellers on public transport), and other information systems for VIP (traffic light, indoor navigation, etc) will have to be clarified.

The first part of the suggested Technical Specification would not define the two lower layers of the framework (Messaging and Hardware/physical media) that would need to be considered in a subsequent part of a Technical Specification, as

• — acoustic announcement system;
• — acoustic passenger and driver information system;
• — automatic vehicle monitoring system;
• — digital acoustic announcer;
• — Integrated Board Information System (IBIS);
• — the technical means which are specified for communication between the information system and the user;
• — the information needed by VIP in fields other than public transport usage;

but it would have to take into consideration the developments which are being undertaken to meet other needs of VIP.