Provinces of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland: Optimising traffic management

The region

ITS Vienna Region was co-founded by the three provinces in 2006 as a cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems project within the regional public transport association (VOR). Partners of ITS Vienna Region are local and regional public transport providers, local and regional authorities, motorway and national railway operators (ASFINAG, ÖBB), the police, Vienna’s taxi fleets and the public radio’s (Ö3) traffic editorial office. Its mission is to collect dynamic traffic data, to support the administration in traffic management and e-Government, and to develop and implement a dynamic, intermodal traffic information system that responds to current and future mobility needs.

The challenge

The Vienna Region, encompassing the three provinces, covers an area of 23,500km2, has 3,6 million inhabitants and an estimated 300.000 commuters every day. The increasing volume of traffic has led the three provinces to take an interregional and intermodal approach to traffic management. 

Making traffic safer, smoother and more respectful of the environment are key objectives in and around Vienna. The main challenges are to reduce road traffic and congestion by encouraging the use of alternative modes of transport.

The satellite solution

ITS Vienna Region has been a key player in developing a joint nationwide geographic Graph Integration Platform (GIP) that provides an intermodal and permanently updated digital map of Austria´s transport network. The data sources referenced to the GIP are both static (road works, public transport timetables) and dynamic (traffic jams, public transport delays, etc.). One innovative solution is the inclusion of geo-localised information from GPS devices on board Vienna’s fleet of 3.500 taxis. With the technical support of the Austrian Institute of Technology, this information helps model the traffic situation in real-time, and increases the accuracy of the ITS services relying on the geographic information platform.

The results

The traffic information service AnachB has become a reference for citizens to calculate their ideal route from A to B, encouraging them to use environmentally friendly means of transport (public transport, cycling, walking or intermodal options such as Park&Ride).
The GIP allows public authorities to optimise their efforts in identifying and removing bottlenecks. A range of administrative services now use the GIP cartography and traffic information as a reference framework for the implementation of administrative procedures and planning decisions, such as authorisations for road works, road closures, or measures to improve traffic flow. These e-Government processes enable public authorities to increase their efficiency by interacting and coordinating their actions in real-time, on the basis of an up-to-date cartography and mutualised traffic information.

Since 2014, AnachB has been improved to better suite administrators’ and citizens’ needs. Routing calculation relies now on Traffic Information Austria (VAO), the new national collaborative traffic information service, while the platform interface has been optimised to be more user-friendly. Moreover, a brand-new App, “VOR AnachB”, has been developed to provide users with information to plan their trips directly on their mobile phones.

“The traffic model of ITS Vienna Region is linked with a dynamic traffic data pool. GPS based Floating Car Data (FCD) provided by 3,500 taxis is one of the key factors making accurate, real-time traffic information possible.”