The development of the Trans-European networks and the formulation of a Common Transport Policy are essential elements for the economic and social development of the European Union. Such activities require significant information for the current status (passenger and freight transport volumes, congestion, environmental impacts, etc.) as well as reliable forecasts. The relevant information exists in dispersed, heterogeneous and autonomous databases Europe-wide as well as in pertinent transport studies. The under development European Transport policy Information System (ETIS) is intended to support decisions on transport policies and the trans-European network by accommodating policy-related information in a repository, which will be kept up-to-date through well-defined procedures under the control of experts and will be accessible through an internet-based software tool. A hierarchical structure of criteria, sub-criteria, indicators and variables is used to link policy questions to relevant datasets, which are populated by collected data /statistics or alternatively by data generated by use of models. The scope of the current work is to give an overview of the structure, functionality and current content (datasets, variables, indicators, etc.) of the above information system.
Abstract