Integration improves traffic management in York, UK

City of York Council has been at the forefront of developments in the UK's Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) programme, which aims to exploit the latest developments in communications and information technology to improve traffic management in cities. A major focus of the programme is the employment of a common database to enable the sharing of data between information sources and applications. In York the common database is the heart of the system, not only used for data storage but for the implementation of control algorithms and data processing. The York approach provides an improved service to council officers responsible for network management, for other council officers and members, and for the public at large. The York UTMC system is fully integrated with other council information technology systems and assists in meeting wider e-government targets. The impact of this on the design is significant and raises issues not normally encountered in traditional traffic management systems, particularly in the areas of security and audit, while offering savings through the shared communications infrastructure. A comparison is made between the approach being taken in the UK and similar systems overseas.