The implementation and use of conceptual standards - the case of the rds-tmc service

The topic of the paper concerns the implementation and use of standards. The standards which are in focus in the paper include conceptual models and descriptions of the functionality and information exchange which should be provided in order to deliver ICT-services. This implies that these conceptual standards are specifications and guidelines for the information systems used to provide ICT-services, and the intended users of these standards are the service providers. In order to investigate the implementation and use of these standards a case study has been performed at the Swedish National Road Administration (the SNRA) with a focus on the RDS-TMC service. The SNRA is the service provider for the RDS-TMC service in Sweden, and the RDS-TMC service is a mobile traffic information service based on radio communication, i.e. the RDS-channel. The implementation of the RDS-TMC service is based on two conceptual standards, the ALERT-C and Location Code standards. One goal with the case study has been to investigate how these standards have been implemented in the systems used to provide the service. Another goal has been to investigate how the standards affect the development, maintenance and usability of these systems, and the information exchange in the service delivering process.