For a very long time a great number of location referencing methods (LRM)have been designed adapted to different uses. Some of them are based on geographical data sources, as others remain independent. Appearance of new needs and of new services has implied new location referencing methods. Inreality instead of replacing the older ones, the new LRM coexist with them. This apparent paradox can probably be explained when adopting the road operator's point of view. To illustrate it, this paper presents the approach followed by the French Ministry of Transport during the design stage ofits new information system for traffic management and traffic information. It ends with some conclusions in terms of advantages and perspectives. For the covering abstract see ITRD E134653.
Abstract