Sparx Systems has entered into a collaboration with the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) communities in International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and European Committee for Standardization (CEN), to support the important work of standards development. Members of ISO/TC 204 and CEN/TC 278 will be able to use Enterprise Architect and Pro Cloud Server to create and maintain UML models.

Adding more intelligence to transportation allows people, goods and vehicles to move faster, safer and more efficiently. Road authorities and industry stakeholders know this and are eager to upgrade their road networks, creating a dynamic high-growth industry.

For several years, Sparx Systems and their Enterprise Architect software has been supporting the development of several families of ITS standards which are widely used. For example, with the aim to support sustainable mobility in the European road sector, the DATEX II family of standards (CEN16157 series) was developed for information exchange between traffic management centers, traffic information centers and service providers and constitutes the reference for applications that have been developed over that period. Enterprise Architect continues to be used as the core tool for technical maintenance of the standards. Enterprise Architect is also used to underpin other standards families including public transport standards and traffic and traveler information standards created in both ISO/TC204 and CEN/TC278.

Ken Harkin, Head of Strategic Relations at Sparx Systems said, “As the ITS sector evolves, our support for the standards development work being undertaken must be capable of supporting changing demand driven by increasing complexity. It must support collaboration.

The Pro Cloud Server supports team based model reviews and discussions and is globally accessible via the WebEA interface from any smart phone, tablet or computer. No longer bound by time, location or device, team productivity is unleashed.”

Maarten Peelen, Committee Manager of CEN/TC 278, said “This support from Sparx Systems is very welcome, as ITS standards development advances. The development of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) will allow road users and traffic managers to share and use information and coordinate their actions, which is key to significantly improving road safety and traffic efficiency.

C-ITS typically involves communication between vehicles (V2V), between vehicles and infrastructure (V2I) and/or infrastructure -to-infrastructure (I2I). A shared vision is essential to develop standards for complex C-ITS scenarios and in this sense, Sparx Systems technology will prove invaluable to our work.”

Dr Jon Harrod Booth, a ITS standards developer for more than 20 years, commented, ”The kind support Sparx Systems provides has helped several standards Technical Committees develop consistent and coherent UML models across many industry standards; and this strongly helps developer communities. This collaboration with the ITS standards communities provides a great boost to the work we are undertaking.”