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What's New with the National ITS Architecture Version 7.0

This is where you can find out about all of the latest changes to the National ITS Architecture. You can view changes either by looking at the "Change" at a high-level along with all the areas affected by the change, or you can look at the "change" at a detailed-level sorted by the architecture area. Some of the more visible enhancements are listed in the summary below:

Summary of Version 7.0 Changes: Released January, 2012
	Planning View of the Architecture A focus of the Version 7.0 update was adding the aspect of 'Architecture Use' to the National ITS Architecture to describe how the National ITS Architecture is used to support transportation planning, programming, and project development. In this update planning factors, goals, objectives and strategies that are created through the transportation planning process are linked to the service packages in the National ITS Architecture, providing an entry point to the architecture that is oriented to transportation planners and grounded in the transportation planning process. The following are the included in the new Planning View of the Architecture: Performance Measures: In Version 7.0, performance measures from the FHWA Planning for Operations Desk Reference and several transportation plans were linked to the service packages in the architecture definition (through the Goals and Objectives tab on each service package page). Integration with Costs/Benefits/Lessons Learned: RITA maintains a suite of knowledge resources that present information on the benefits, costs, deployment levels, and lessons learned for ITS deployment and operations. The service packages in the National ITS Architecture were linked with these knowledge resources in Version 7.0 (through the ITS Applications tab on each service package page), providing a way to quickly access cost, benefit, and lessons learned information for each service package. Service Packages and Goals: As part of the new Planning View, a broad set of goals were created with one-to-one correspondence to the planning factors identified in 23 CFR 450. Each of the planning factors and corresponding goals were then mapped to objectives and service packages in the National ITS Architecture (through the Goals and Objectives tab on each service package page).
	Update Commercial Vehicle Operations Alignment Version 7.0 of the National ITS Architecture incorporates changes to bring it into alignment with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks (CVISN) architecture Version 4.0, which was published in April 2009. These changes included the addition of several architecture flows to support exchange of credentials information to support citations and sharing of border clearance status. This also adds support for Wireless Roadside Inspection (WRI) functions and interfaces.
	Active Traffic Management Active Traffic Management (ATM) is the practice of dynamically managing recurrent and non-recurrent congestion based on prevailing traffic conditions. Focusing on trip reliability, it maximizes the effectiveness and efficiency of the facility, and increases throughput and safety through the use of integrated systems with new technology. Version 7.0 of the National ITS Architecture includes new service packages that support ATM strategies: ATMS22: Variable Speed Limits, ATMS23: Dynamic Lane Management and Shoulder Use, and ATMS24: Dynamic Roadway Warning. Also as part of this change, ATM strategies were removed from ATMS04, which is now focused on traffic metering.
	Enhanced National ITS Architecture Web Site The National ITS Architecture website has been significantly upgraded in Version 7.0 to have a new look and the following new features. Hyperlinked diagrams: All of the service packages and physical architecture diagrams are now hyperlinked. The user can click on any subsystem, terminator, equipment package, or architecture flow that is depicted on these diagrams to navigate to the web page that fully defines the selected item. Architecture Use Page: A new 'Architecture Use' area was added to the National ITS Architecture website that describes how the National ITS Architecture is used to support transportation planning, programming, and project development. Institutional Layer: In Version 7.0, the Institutional Layer is presented in the National ITS Architecture website, providing a perspective of the architecture that includes the stakeholders and institutions associated with the surface transportation system. User Services database: The National ITS Architecture website includes all databases that are used to define the architecture. In Version 7.0, the User Services database (userservices.mdb) was added to the website.
	Synchronize with Canadian Architecture In Version 7.0, the National ITS Architecture was updated to be more consistent with the Version 2.0 of the ITS Architecture for Canada which was released in 2010. A number of features in of that architecture were incorporated into Version 7.0 of the US National ITS Architecture to improve the consistency between the two national architectures. The updated features included: Replacement of the term "market package" with "service package", Creation of two new service packages: APTS11: Multimodal Connection Protection, and ATMS26: Mixed User Warning Systems, which is an ITS service package focused on pedestrians and bicycles that operate on the main vehicle roadways, or on pathways which intersect the main vehicle roadways.
	Alignment with Connected Vehicle Program The National ITS Architecture was updated to be consistent with the connected vehicle program. The architecture was previously updated in Version 6.0 and again in Version 6.1 to be consistent with the predecessors to the connected vehicle program. All references to the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) program have been removed and replaced with the connected vehicle program's terminology. To some extent, the current direction of the connected vehicle program actually brings it into closer alignment with the National ITS Architecture as it incorporates multiple interfaces to vehicles and other devices that are included in the architecture. In Version 7.0, only minor changes were required to update terminology to match the connected vehicle program.
	Road User Pricing In version 7.0 support for alternative pricing of roadways, e.g., road use or vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee-based systems was added, including a new service package (ATMS25: VMT Road User Payment) and changes to subsystems to reflect inclusion of methods besides traditional toll collection.