National ITS Architecture Glossary

Any ITS project that implements part of a regional ITS initiative that is multi-jurisdictional, multi-modal, or otherwise affects regional integration of ITS systems.

The geographic area determined by agreement between the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the area and the Governor, in which the metropolitan transportation planning process is carried out.

The policy board of an organization created and designed to carry out the metropolitan transportation planning process for urbanized areas with populations greater than 50,000, and designated by local officials and the Governor of the state.

The official multimodal, long-range transportation plan addressing no less than a 20-year planning horizon that is developed, adopted and updated by the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) through the metropolitan transportation planning process.

A document of the National Architecture that, as the first of the technical documents, covers a broad range of ITS related issues. It contains the overall mission of ITS deployment, as well as the operational concept, which deals with specific ITS goals and objectives; ITS user groups and other stakeholders; ITS user services; and potential sources for funding, operations and maintenance. The document also defines operational requirements at the system level, user requirements, performance requirements, and program requirements. These concepts are important aspects of the National ITS Architecture since they provide the overall direction for the ITS program.

Index of the ability of users of a system to move defined as [Ton-miles of travel] / [Vehicle-miles of travel * Average speed].

A specific form of transportation, such as automobile, subway, bus, rail, air, bicycle, or foot.