DATEX website re-launched

Date: 30/3/2006

Source: http://datex.eu.org/

The DATEX website was recently re-launched to report progress and keep up to date with developments in the DATEX II project (funded by the European Commission's DG TREN). DATEX was developed as a traffic and travel data exchange mechanism which standardised the interface between traffic control and information centres, and has been widely implemented across Europe as a pre-standard.

DATEX II is the successor to DATEX, and aims to provide a means of exchanging data between traffic control centres, traffic information centres, police and other organisations who are able to take advantage of the technology to support other services beyond traffic and traveller information. The aim is for DATEX II to be accurate, reliable, modern and future-proof.

The DATEX II specifications seek to provide a framework which can be extended and will allow for robust and reliable data exchange to support current requirements and market standards. The DATEX II platform-independent content model is accurate and includes new data, such as travel times and meteorological data, to meet the requirements set by European Union Member States.

The DATEX II exchange mechanism is based on an improved delivery mode: the periodic 'snapshot' of situations, in addition to the widely used delivery modes involving requesting data and event driven approaches. These three delivery modes, together with a new subscription mechanism, provide the basis for data exchange.

Dynamic modelling using UML (Unified Modelling Language) provides the basis for an accurate and unambiguous specification of the data exchange mechanisms.

The platform-independent modelling guarantees that new IT platforms can easily be integrated and a change in platforms can be dealt with on a limited budget. The specifications for the data exchange are clearly separated from the content, to avoid misinterpretation.

Due to the scale of improvements and changes compared to DATEX, DATEX II is not fully backwards compatible. This means that some restrictions have to be applied to the data to be exchanged between DATEX and DATEX II systems. For example, the range of information described in the Content Platform Independent Model (content PIM) of DATEX II may not be used to its full extent, meaning that, for example, not all features can be applied and not all defined elements may be used when connecting to a DATEX system.

Several deliverables from the project are available at: http://datex.eu.org/?q=node/21.

HA EUWATCH will continue to monitor developments.