The Southern California Regional ITS Architecture assists in
defining high-level requirements in ITS design for specific
project development. During project development, stakeholders
should incorporate elements of the Southern California Regional
ITS Architecture, such as roles and responsibilities, standards,
and functional requirements in their detailed design documents.
This method of defining ITS projects for future deployment is
consistent with the National ITS Architecture, it lends
credibility to new projects, it limits duplicate efforts by
transportation stakeholders, and it supports a uniform regional
approach to both the planning and the deployment process.
If an agency wanted to build a transportation management center
(TMC) or incorporate ITS elements such as CCTV cameras or
changeable message signs in their project, the process for using
the Southern California Regional ITS Architecture is described as
follows:
1. Consult The Southern California Regional ITS Architecture
Inventories
The county-level architectures include inventories of existing
and planned ITS projects in each county. The ITS Architecture at
the multi-county level focuses on center-center integration and
regional services such as commuter rail and 511 that functions
beyond a county-level architecture. Reviewing the inventory is an
initial step in identifying partnerships with neighboring
stakeholders that could lead to opportunities for integration and
information exchanges.
2. Find Related Stakeholder Roles & Responsibilities
The Southern California Regional ITS Architecture includes a
listing of stakeholders, their activities and a description of
their responsibilities concerning the types of service delivered
and the information produced or distributed. The operational
concepts in the Southern California Regional ITS Architecture
relate the market packages pertinent to the stakeholder and
describe their roles and responsibilities. The purpose is to
reduce duplication, promote coordination and avoid gaps in
service and responsibilities.
3. Find Related Functional Requirements
The needs, desired services and the market packages reflect the
high-level goals and objectives for the region provided through
the category of ITS project types. The functions described for
each project type allow stakeholders to further define their
project to ensure that the project lends itself to meeting both
specific user needs and advancement towards the needs of the
region.
4. Review Information Flows & Interface Requirements
Context diagrams in the Southern California Regional ITS
Architecture describe how systems are integrated for sharing
data. Using this information, the agency decides which
connections and data exchanges that the project must accommodate.
At this point, the agency can contact the stakeholders referenced
in the diagram and coordinate data to be exchanged and the
standards to be used.
5. Identify Appropriate Standards
Using common standards that are agreed upon by the stakeholders
help facilitate the exchange of information among ITS
deployments. The standards deployed in the Southern California
Regional ITS Architecture are focused on supporting
center-to-center communications throughout the region. The agency
can consult a common data dictionary, to ensure that standard
interfaces that are agreed upon are used in the project to allow
information to be shared between systems.
6. Determine if Agency Agreements are Needed
Agreements might be needed among the stakeholders to fully
integrate the projects at a region-wide level. The agreements
help enforce the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder
and are based on the types of existing and planning projects in
the county. The architecture describes the data interfaces needed
for information exchanges and operational requirements needed to
operate and implement those projects.
