ACI By Web, TV and Mobile

Publication date: 20 February 2008

Italy's auto club has set up a multimedia system which is revolutionising local transport.

The Automobile Club d'Italia (ACI) is providing a key public service with its transport information system. Known as Muoversi in Campania (Getting about in Campania), the leading IT project is being run alongside the Transport Department of the Campania Regional Council with technical assistance from Duel S.p.A.

Launched in March 2005, the project uses a special Service Centre to provide detailed, daily, real-time multimedia information on the whole transport system of Campania - one of the most important and active Italian regions.

Besides monitoring road conditions and traffic flows, the system has expanded to include information on all forms of mobility existing in the regional territory – surface, underground, air and maritime transport – and makes it available through radio and video broadcasts, teletext regional pages published on the RAI3 TV channel and a messaging service to mobile phones equipped with WAP technology.

Data acquisition is performed through different channels: information originating from traditional sources - such as the police, road management agencies and public transport agencies - are integrated with data on congestion provided by sensors and web-cams located on major road axes all over the region.

The data - collected by fax, sms, e-mail, telephone - flows into a database where it is processed, cross-checked and validated. Each piece of information is then given a level of priority and sent to the media participating in the project both for publication on the website (www. muoversincampania.it) and for radio and TV broadcasting. It is broadcast through 15 local radio stations including two webradios and the seven regional TV channels, using both real and virtual imaging and animation.

These activities are integrated with content in the regional teletext pages available on RAI3 (a channel of the national public broadcasting service), as well as a messaging service via sms to mobile phones and to palm handhelds equipped with WAP technology.

User figures reveal that there were 1.9 million hits on the website from launch to November 2007. And for 2007 alone, 1.4 million listeners tuned in to the radio bulletins, whilst 800,000 users watched the TV reports.

The experience gained from Muoversi in Campania enables ACI to offer, in partnership with Duel S.p.A, a totally innovative technology platform for mobility services. The highlights of the project are its proven versatility, due to the flexibility of a web-based system ensuring swiftness and precision and the ability to convert into a uniform format, organise and make easily usable, data originating from different sources covering the same traffic event or road section.

Relying on this nearly three-year experience in Campania, ACI can offer latest generation technology to local administrations nationwide, thus placing itself once more at the forefront of service to mobility