An Integrated Traffic Information System

Most Traffic Information Systems (TIS), e.g. route finders or electronic schedules for air planes, trains, buses or trams provide an isolated view on only a single means of transport. These information systems are unable to deliver routes which combine multiple means of transport or means of transport from multiple operators. Users on the other hand demand information systems which deliver routes combining multiple means of transport, e.g. tram, train, airplane and another tram in the destination town, to go in a comfortable, fast and cheap way from one place to another. In this paper we categorize traffic information systems according the degree of integration. Further, we present design aspects of a prototype traffic information system for the city of Cottbus, that integrates information from multiple transport providers, while the information is held on multiple computers. The system which is currently implemented by our group, allows an integrated view over multiple means of transport. Finally, we focus on algorithms which allow the search in such a distributed traffic information system and describe our extensions in detail.