October 20, 2026
ITS World Congress: Real-Time Traffic Information (RTTI) and its support for large-scale emergencies
How can we help travellers make safer decisions when natural disasters or civil crises disrupt road networks?
At the ITS World Congress in Gangneung, South Korea, TISA’s Stephanie Chaufton moderated session SIS003: Managing Road Traffic in Large-Scale Emergency Situations Using Real-Time Traffic Information (RTTI) Services — exploring how reliable, timely traffic information and emergency warnings can help protect lives.
Key insights from the session:
Emergency alerts that cross borders and language barriers
TPEG2 Emergency Alerts & Warnings (EAW), based on the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), supports interoperable, language-independent alerts compatible with common navigation systems. It can help connect travellers with relevant warnings from public alert feeds worldwide.
From detection to action
Grace Alex shared TomTom’s approach to combining information from multiple sources to support decision-making, issue alerts and provide rerouting advice. Examples included the 2022 New South Wales floods and the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, highlighting how high-quality RTTI can help mitigate the impacts of large-scale emergencies.
The role of digital mapping
Sarah-Jayne Williams presented the work of Google Maps Platform, and shared their 'North star goal: A world where no one is surprised by a natural disaster'.
Building trust through data quality
TISA Executive Director Matthias Unbehaun highlighted the challenges of reaching travellers during emergencies and the importance of data quality. TISA’s RTTI 5-Star Rating Framework aims to build trust between stakeholders across the RTTI provision chain.
Connecting public warning system with travellers in Germany
Kai Roddeck from Mecom Medien-Communications-Gesellschaft mbH shared insights into Germany’s established public alerting network, with more than 400 contributors at federal, state and district levels. Warnings are disseminated through multiple channels, including mobile phones, the internet, street signs, TV and radio.
Strengthening the RTTI supply chain
Bob McQueen from Bob McQueen and Associates, and Dwight Jordan from TriStar Innovations, LLC explored License Plate Recognition (LPR) as a valuable data asset for RTTI. They highlighted the importance of applying the TISA framework to support accuracy, completeness, timeliness, consistency and accessibility throughout the LPR data pipeline.
One question stood out in the discussion:
Is a good traffic message the same as a good emergency warning? If not, what is the difference?
The session reinforced a key message: high-quality data, interoperability and effective communication are essential to helping travellers make informed decisions when every second counts.
