Highway information terminal employing Intranet technology

摘要

Highway Information Terminal Employing Intranet Technology by Masashi Iwamoto, YutakaMiyake, Sadatarou Ueda, Masaaki Yoshii, Yoshihisa Nakatsuji On expressways, variousincidents often occur which affect road usability, e. g., traffic jams, accidents and traffic restrictions.In order to provide drivers with information on such incidents more quickly, thereby enablingsmoother road usability, the Japan Highway Public Corporation provides various types of road trafficinformation. These services are provided via a range of facilities, including highway telephonessupplying information from remote locations, highway radio broadcasts for drivers, variable trafficinformation board system and VICS. Highway Information Terminals have previously been installedat rest facilities such as service areas, in order to provide such information via monitors and guidancepanels. However, since the equipment for these Information Terminals is both large and expensive,such equipment has only been provided at a limited number of heavily used rest facilities. So, bydeveloping a basic design employing an intranet, which utilizes Internet technology for internalinformation systems, the Japan Highway Public Corporation has developed a basic HighwayInformation Terminal system which permits the rapid construction of low-cost systems. TheHighway Information Terminal has already been installed in the Tohoku and Kyushu Branches andthe Tokyo Third Operation Bureau of the Japan Highway Public Corporation. At the system'sintroduction at the Tokyo Third Operation Bureau, a review of user operability confirmed significantimprovements over the existing basic system. This report describes the bureau's system, whichcommenced operation in April 1997, and subsequent efforts to provide information during theNagano Olympics.