UTMC compliant database to support technologies of the future

This paper will present the results of an in depth investigation of the standard database format defined by the Common Database project, UTMC10, funded by the Department for Transport on the mid 1990s applied to diverse datasets. It outlines the difficulties encountered in implementing the database platform to embrace different sources, (namely accident, pollutant concentrations, registration plate, journey time etc.) and to include both dynamic (vehicle tracking, tailpipe emissions, bus stop arrival times, car park occupancies etc) and static (public transport time tables, car parking charges etc.) data with different dimensions, sampling frequencies and accuracies. The paper will look at the requirements of Urban Traffic Management and Control compliant database infrastructure in the context of the delivery of wider policy objectives to those relating to traffic. In particular, to create the statistical processing capability that defines the current and changing status of the network, to provide the platform upon which to build a historic picture of the network to allow a statistical forecasting capability and to develop the foundations for model validation and evaluation. In this way the infrastructure needed to deliver policy objectives which not only embrace traffic management but also public transport, air quality, health impacts and climate change will be formulated.