This paper describes and discusses the results of the one year European project Evidence (April 98-June 99) that tested the ILOC method, a promising new location referencing approach for map based ITS applications. The method uses a combination of WGS 84 coordinates and descriptive identifiers to reference locations (real world objects), and has an on the fly character, which means that location tables are not required. ILOC referencing was developed by the ERTICO Committee on Location Referencing (1995-97), following earlier work in the Socrates projects. The tests were carried out by implementation of the method by four participating map vendors in their differing hard and software environments, subsequent creation, exchange and interpretation of large sets of location codes for different types of road network intersections, and analysis of the results, in a partly iterative process to achieve improvement. The results are promising, especially between detailed map databases of the type generally used in ITS applications, although further refinement of the implementation is needed to increase its robustness. General rules and guidelines were established for use of the method in real applications. The results will be submitted to ISOTC204WG3 for standardisation. ILOC referencing has been adopted by TPEG as its premier location referencing method, and is seriously considered by GATS for future implementation. A follow up project has been proposed in the 5th Framework Programme, to further test the method in real applications. (A*)
Abstract