Edinburgh Napier University

  The COMPASS Handbook of ICT Solutions puts together a set of 96 solutions applying to urban and
metropolitan mobility, long distance passenger transport and also innovative ICT solutions aimed at
increasing the quality of transport services in areas where demand levels are low, like rural or sparsely
populated regions.
The COMPASS Handbook of ICT Solutions is available in a paper edition and in an online internet
version accessible at http://www.fp7-compass.eu/.
The ICT solutions presented in the COMPASS Handbook are classified in the next five broad
categories:
1. Transportation management systems, solutions aimed at helping to plan and running
efficiently the transport system.
This section includes solutions for urban transport management (e.g. smart signal
management or signal priority for public transport), for road management (e.g. ramp metering
or congestion monitoring based on smart phones), for improving air operation (e.g. air traffic
control applications allowing planes to fly in direct paths point to point), rail operation (e.g.
ETCS or GMS-R) and maritime operation (e.g. quicker and more complete vessel
identification protocols via AIS).
2. Traveller information systems, in which the key characteristic is to assist the traveller with
several parts of information (travel time, routes, traffic conditions, etc);
This section includes solutions aimed at better guiding passengers through the transport
network (e.g. airport interactive maps on tablets assisting passengers around large transport
terminals, or augmented reality applications easily guiding public transport users to the closest
bus station), travel planners (e.g. door-to-door multimodal travel planners considering
congestion and transport service schedules), solutions aimed at delivering transport
information to travellers on real-time (e.g. cooperative P2P applications based e.g. on twitter
to monitor transport networks’ status and alert on eventual service disruptions) and other
smart phone apps designed to make journey planning easier for travellers (e.g. smart phone
based travel assistants grouping travel tickets, hotel bookings, boarding passes… or smart
seat allocation algorithms based on the traveller social network profile (e.g. facebook, linkdin)).
Smart ticketing and tolling applications, addressing new ways to get tickets and to pay for
using transport services;
This section includes upcoming solutions for road toll payment with low affectation on traffic
flow (e.g. free-flow transponder-based toll payment compatible in multiple countries),
automated access management (e.g. high occupancy vehicle identification at toll plazas
based on automatic camera occupation detection), and on innovative formats for paying public
transport tickets or parking charges (e.g. via SMS or smart cards).
4. Smart vehicles and infrastructure, including ICTs aimed at improving vehicle efficiency per
se and vehicle intelligence as a result of increased vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle
to vehicle (V2V) communications;
This section includes upcoming solutions enhancing vehicle safety and driving comfort and
accuracy (e.g. traffic jam assistants or self-parking cars), and for increasing vehicle
intelligence via communications between vehicles (e.g. vanet V2V networks, automatically
driven car trains), and via vehicle to infrastructure communications (e.g. information
transmission on weather and road surface condition from road infrastructure to rolling
vehicles).
5. Demand responsive transport (DRT) and shared mobility systems, which includes
transport solutions enabled by ICT solutions to set up innovative transport services adjusted to
demand and allowing users to share vehicles.
This section includes upcoming solutions aimed at addressing the more and more popular
concept of shared mobility (e.g. car sharing, car pooling, sharing car parks), and other
innovative solutions based on demand responsive systems, specially suited for delivering
efficient transport solutions when transport demand is too low for conventional public transport
services.
The handbook can be used in a number of different ways, but two main entry points are provided for
easy navigation.
A. All ICT solutions have been synthesised in section 0.5.2 in abstracts of less than 10 lines
each. This is intended for quick understanding of each of the solution’s concept and problems
that it addresses.
B. If the user has candidate solutions in mind, the synthesis of solutions by performance in
section 0.5.1 allows to quickly compare solutions and identify which one applies better.
Each of the Handbook’s solutions is identified with a unique numerical ID,
Ø Indicating the family and subfamiliy it belongs to;
Ø Indicating the chapter in the Handbook where the solution might be expected to be found in;
Ø Indicating the ID of the solution in the online Handbook accessible at http://www.fp7-compass.eu/
For each solution in the handbook, the following information may be expected in the systematically
established factsheet structure:
Ø A synthesis of the fundamental characteristics of each solution: name, family, subfamily, domain
of application (urban, rural, long-distance transport), technology behind, implementation status
(existing, pilot, concept)
Ø Links to all reference documents behind the reporting of each solution, and any other relevant
reference or interesting link.
Ø A brief description of the solution;
Ø A short description of the problems it seeks to address;
Ø A summary of its applicability described in terms of pre-requisites and barriers to implementation;
Ø The circumstances in which it would be particularly appropriate and the circumstances in which it
would be inappropriate or difficult to implement;
Ø A commentary on the scores recorded in the matrix for this solution;
Ø Comments on any other impacts that are particularly relevant for this particular solution; and
Ø Multimedia contents better illustrating the nature of the solution.
The online handbook allows, in addition, visualising multimedia materials illustrating the insights of
different ICT solutions. Users in the online handbook can also post comments to each of the
factsheets providing additional insights or questions to a particular solution, and rate them in relation to its interest.
All solutions are documented in the COMPASS Handbook based on existing examples of their
application.
Text in the reporting body of each solution factsheet may literally cite original sources. All references
to original sources are included at the beginning of each solution factsheet.
In chapter 6 of the Handbook, four business models are discussed for the applications listed below.
Business models are discussed on the basis of product, customer interface, infrastructure
management and financial aspects.
Ø Shared Bike Systems
Ø Share Taxis
Ø Mobile Traveller Information Systems
Ø Car Park Management Systems
Each model is presented in a schematic and easily readable format, in four sections defined on the
basis of the pillars mentioned above where the nine major elements of he business model are
described. Each model has been discussed with industry and academic experts, after the investigation
and design works.
A strategy overview is given by the SWOT analysis elaborated for each business domain, in order to
provide a full view of both the money earning and the strategic logic.