A Review of European National Access Points for Intelligent Transport Systems Data

The rising complexity nested within the contemporary transport sector, due to the increasing number of stakeholders involved, has led to an increase in the amount of generated data. This constitutes an opportunity for finding new ways of utilizing previously wasted data. A perfect fit may be found in Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), a multidisciplinary and expanding area of research. ITS produce a number of benefits; however, such systems require continuous and reliable data streams. The challenge, therefore, lies in identifying underutilized data sources and creating efficient, consistent, and secure connections between data providers and consumers. This need has been recognized by the European Union, which suggests the creation of National Access Points (NAPs) for the distribution of ITS data. This paper aims to introduce the concept of a NAP and to review and analyze the various NAPs of European Union Member States in order to gain insight concerning their level of deployment. To this end, a series of proposed variables and their associated values were recorded for each Member State. Results show a trend for an increased rate of data exchange. However, they also reveal a heterogeneous design philosophy among the various platforms.