Common Logical Data Model: Basis for Global ITS Innovation
microdegrees for latitude and longitude and
centimeters for elevation (when the source
data is provided in decimeters, it would be
reflected in reduced accuracy).
on the ISO 14812 (ITS Vocabulary)
document. The first version of this is
currently going through an approval process
even though we are likely to refine some of
the contents, and the document only
addresses 300 terms out of the more than
2,000 being used in the industry. The key is
that we envision the development effort to
continue after this release and recognize
that the document may take a decade or
more to complete.
Documenting the preferred format for
reporting geographic locations is useful,
even if preferred formats for other data are
not defined. It allows new standardization
(or even integration) efforts to adopt the
formats
and
thereby
minimize
transformations where they are not needed.
It also allows physical data models to
document exactly how to transform data
from its format into the common format.
Finally, it should be recognized that not all
data defined in one physical interface will be
needed across a different link—so each
piece of data that can be addressed in a
logical data model is advantageous for the
industry, even if we do not address all data
defined in any physical standard.
Recognizing this will allow the standards
community to focus its efforts where
agreement can be reached easily rather than
trying to address every detail. The result
should be a useful standard in a timely
manner—even if it does not solve every
problem in the industry.
W AY F ORWARD
Although many SDOs have been interested
in standardizing data sharing mechanisms
for some time, the progress has been limited
due to the tremendous amount of
collaboration efforts required by all the
stakeholders. Quite often, these efforts
would start with an interest in standardizing
one area such as “Digital Maps” and
ambitiously pursue that topic only to
discover that there are many more use cases
and user needs than originally envisioned.
The initiators of the project then determine
that it becomes very cumbersome to
address all scenarios and satisfy all the user
needs within budgetary constraints. In the
end, the initiator of the project determines
that it is easier and more economically viable
to either standardize in a smaller group or
for the initiator to retain rights to the design
and release it to others as needed.
P RODUCE I NTERIM P RODUCTS
It is also important to realize that the domain
of ITS data is massive. Even if we limit
discussions to the low-hanging fruit,
developing an all-encompassing logical data
model for ITS would likely take decades; in
the meantime, industry changes. The
development effort must be responsive to
the community and provide periodic
updates of an interim product. This is the
same approach that we are currently using
IIC Journal of Innovation
In order to break this “norm,” it is better that
organizations like the IIC jointly work with an
SDO such as ISO to get the ball rolling.
Automotive applications, ranging from
peripheral detection for safety (lane change
warning) and ADAS to Autonomous Vehicles
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