Service oriented computing for Ambient Intelligence to support management of transport infrastructures

Ensuring effective Ambient Intelligence based upon the wide range of static as well as real-time datasets required to manage a transport infrastructure such as a motorway, is a daunting task. This paper presents how this challenge has been faced through the development of a service-based networked infrastructure capable to make a wide range of Geographical Information (GI) available to the operators of a major Italian motorway. In doing so, the system has used open standards from ISO and Open Geo-spatial Consortium. Unlike current Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs), which address relatively static data in time slices, the work presented allows, similarly to traditional GIS, to manage true dynamic data available through geo-referenced sensors along the motorway. The main objective of the project described within this paper was to link existing systems and networks to deliver a comprehensive, coordinated and sustained intelligent infrastructure which can be used to improve management of the motorway as a system. This approach follows the vision of Ambient Spatial Intelligence, which explores how to better embed intelligent features to respond to spatio-temporal queries and to better monitor geographical events within built and natural environments. The combination of information available from different sources (GI, sensor networks, etc.) with information on traffic and vehicle situation is essential to provide context awareness to operators. The networked platform developed has extended the traditional concept of SDIs with an unprecedented volume of real-time geo-referenced sensor data, deployed along the motorway path, all characterized by high spatial and temporal resolution.