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TMC - The Digital Traffic Message Channel
The most successful transport telematics service in Germany and Europe
Contents
- What lies behind the Traffic Message Channel (TMC)?
- How does TMC work?
- TMC's advantages compared with conventional analogue traffic broadcasts: traffic information at your fingertips!
- Who are the TMC traffic service partners?
- Who coordinates the large number of partners involved?
- Can you use TMC when travelling to other European countries?
- Who are the initiators of TMC?
- What are the benefits of TMC?
- Where do we go from here?
What lies behind the Traffic Message Channel (TMC)?
TMC is a traffic information service that continuously broadcasts digitally coded traffic information by radio. Users with an appropriate receiver - motorists, other road users, or listeners at home - can listen to this information, view it on a display or store it.
How does TMC work?
TMC is a largely automated service. Traffic is monitored and analyzed with traffic detectors that are also used for traffic control systems on federal motorways. Information on traffic disruptions reported by the police is also broadcast, as are messages from "congestion reporters" of the German Automobile Club ADAC and of some radio stations. These messages have to be verified by the police prior to broadcasting them, however.
The messages are already digitally encoded at source, that is they contain information on the site of the disruption (for example the motorway number, the motorway section and the carriageway affected, the length of the section affected), on the type of disruption and on alternative routes (for example "a 3 kilometres traffic jam following an accident, the recommended diversion route is...").
The information is passed from the highway authorities' traffic control centres, the local police or the ADAC's communications centre to the police at the federal state level. From there, the messages are sent to the radio stations for broadcast. Both the police and the radio stations can go through the messages and edit them if necessary. To broadcast the TMC messages, the radio stations use Radio Data Systems Technology (RDS), allowing for ongoing radio programmes to continue without interruption.
Receivers, such as the navigation units that are becoming increasingly popular, then decode the messages and provide them to the users in a format suitable for navigation. In the case of traffic disruptions, recommended alternative routes may be broadcast, or the user may be shown where the disruption is in either text or graphic form on the display.
The radio stations also use the digital messages to feed information into other formats, such as the traffic broadcasts read by the newsreaders, traffic hotlines, their websites or their information services.
TMC messages can also be a valuable service for people who are not behind the wheel - TMC-enabled personal computers (PCs) can decode and show the messages and hauliers use them to optimize their freight routes.
The number of handhelds and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) is on the increase. Many of them are equipped with navigation software able to link up with GPS (Global Positioning System). They can use TMC messages to calculate and display the best route. TMC here plays a vital role - with its help, the route information stored in these units can be updated in the case of traffic jams and the like.
TMC's advantages compared with conventional analogue traffic broadcasts: traffic information at your fingertips!
With TMC you can access traffic information round the clock and from wherever you are in Germany and increasingly also in many other European countries. You can opt for the voice mode or let traffic information scroll across your display.
In contrast to conventional radio traffic broadcasts, you do not have to listen to any information that is not pertinent to you, since the only messages you receive are those that concern your personal route.
Who are the TMC traffic service partners?
TMC is a cooperation of public and private partners - primarily the highway authorities, the police, radio stations, the "congestion reporters" of the ADAC and of some radio stations, and last but not least equipment manufacturers and retailers.
Who coordinates the large number of partners involved?
The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development was asked to coordinate matters in order to ensure the smooth introduction and operation of the system. TMC has been operational all over Germany since 1997.
The Ministry is supported by the Federal Highway Research Institute whose task it is to regularly update the Location Code List (LCL) in cooperation with the relevant authorities in the federal states. The LCL currently contains around 30,000 locations for which traffic information can be obtained and is available from the Federal Highway Research Institute.
Can you use TMC when travelling to other European countries?
Yes.
More and more European countries are using Radio Data Systems Technology to broadcast traffic messages that you can listen to in your own language (in German when you travel to Sweden or the Netherlands, for example). The industry is preparing for an expansion of the technology across Europe and is producing equipment that provides TMC messages either in different languages or by way of symbols that are independent of language.
Aside from Germany, you can or will shortly be able to receive TMC in the following countries:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Italy
- Portugal
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- the Netherlands and
- the United Kingdom.
Who are the initiators of TMC?
The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, the highway and transport authorities of the federal states, the police, the public radio stations and some private ones as well as automobile clubs are working together with the German electrical, electronics and automotive industries (German Association of Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers, Association of the German Automobile Industry) to broadcast and promote this traffic information service and the development of suitable transmitters and receivers. The Federal Highway Research Institute also plays a key role in coordinating the various activities.
What are the benefits of TMC?
The benefits of TMC are obvious. It makes planning a trip much more convenient and provides better and more specific information to its users and thus significantly improves radio traffic services. Road users receiving comprehensive advance information on traffic jams and accidents on the road ahead can often bypass the site or opt for public transport instead.
From the transport policy perspective, this makes TMC a valuable contribution to road safety and to making traffic flow more smoothly.
Everyone involved in traffic broadcasting agrees that TMC, by virtue of being automated to a large extent, significantly eases their workload and is a prerequisite for further quality improvements in this field.
Where do we go from here?
TMC will become the number one traffic information provider in the foreseeable future. Another technology that will make inroads into the market is Digital Audio Broadcasting, or DAB digital radio.
At some point in the future, TMC will be then be broadcast via DAB digital radio. This technology is already available almost everywhere in Germany and is being or will be introduced in most other European countries as well.
