Boston's ITS party

After 10 years, the ITS America Meeting and Exposition has matured into the premier ITS-related gathering in North America.

Scheduled for May 1-4, 2000 at the John B. Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts, the site of this year’s event was an easy decision according to ITS America President and CEO John Collins.

"We looked at other locations around the country and we thought that Massachusetts, with the large amount of ITS-related technology involved in Boston’s Central Artery project, would be a very logical location as a good showcase for ITS technologies," he said.

Known as ITS 2000, this year’s event offers more to the attendees than ever before. A record number of exhibitors, booth spaces mixed with the attendees, technical sessions, committee meetings and site tours provide the right formula for all involved in the event.

"We are real excited that we got a strong commitment from our exhibitors because it reflects the maturing ITS world, and it’s not people just showing ideas anymore, they are showing products," said Collins.

According to ITS officials, 372 booths have been sold for approximately 165 companies and over 4,000 attendees are expected as of press time.

"We are looking forward to a record-breaking event and we are trying to build on the technical side, but also on the enjoyment side as well," Collins added.

Building on the shows of years past, ITS 2000 also has dialed up a program that includes the "Best of ITS" Awards Program, the ITS America 10th Anniversary celebration and the ITS Massachusetts 5th Annual Meeting.

ITS World takes a look at these happenings, as well as a brief overview of some of the other events scheduled during ITS 2000.

Again this year, ITS America has compiled a format consisting of 13 tracks, each of which focus upon a centralized area of ITS in order to guide attendees through the entire event ensuring that they get the most out of the entire program. Each track coordinates sessions, committee and task force meetings, exhibit hall time and tours on a daily basis.

Based upon similarities with some of the tracks, the number was reduced from last year but they still achieved the same goal.

"What we wanted to do was make the things more user-friendly by collapsing down some tracks that were very similar and package the tracks together," said Collins.

Kicking off ITS 2000 is the opening keynote speaker Alvin Toffler, author of "Future Shock", "The Third Wave" and "Creating a New Civilization: The Politics of the Third Wave."

According to ITS America, Toffler is a formidable business thinker and speaker who has the ability to identify trends of the future and can set these trends into a coherent intellectual framework, providing readers and listeners alike with powerful tools for thinking about and preparing for the future.

"We are excited to have Toffler set the stage for the event because he is an influential writer for me," said Collins. "I remember reading ‘Future Shock’ and being impressed with his vision of the future, and really that is what ITS is all about—making the technology future happen today."

Be sure to try and catch Toffler speak at the Opening Session/ Business Meeting slated for Monday between 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Making up the bulk of ITS 2000, the 111 daily training sessions embark upon the morning hours of each day and run in 1 1/2-hour increments until the evening hours.

For a full list of all Technical Sessions, please consult the ITS 2000 brochure or download the information from the Access ITS web site: www.itsa.org.

An additional Training Session entitled "Launching Successful Ventures: What does it take?" is scheduled Sunday, April 30th preceding the opening of ITS 2000.

In this three-hour session, attendees will learn to avoid common pitfalls, get the most out of a management team and how to package a successful ITS venture. The session comes complete with case studies featuring start-up ventures and established companies describing their experiences with investors and growth.

An important aspect of ITS 2000, the Committee Meetings involve a number of councils and task forces as well as committees involved with ITS.

The meetings cover 19 different topics and take place at a variety of times prior to and during ITS 2000, concluding with a Board of Directors meeting Thursday afternoon between 1 -5 p.m.

A total of five ITS-based facility Site Tours are planned during ITS 2000 and, according to Collins, the popularity of this particular aspect of ITS 2000 is evident.

"Some of the Site Tours have more than one session so we will be able to accommodate all of the interest," said Collins.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the tours:

Southeast Expressway Contra-flow HOV Lane
Known as I-93, the contraflow lane is designed to allow eligible high occupancy vehicles to bypass congestion on the general purpose lanes. Using a wide variety of ITS devices, the collection and processing of field data is performed using a computer network at the HOV TOC. Limited to 20 attendees, this particular tour takes place Monday between 12:30 - 2:30 p.m., with an encore presentation Tuesday from 9 - 11 a.m.

MIT ITS Office
The tour of the ITS Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology encompasses two research areas, MITSIMLab and DynaMIT.

The former incorporates research on traffic micro-simulation, while the latter deals with traffic prediction and guidance. This particular tour also is being held twice—Monday from 2 - 4 p.m. and Wednesday 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Both tours are limited to 15 people.

MBTA Control Center
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Operation Control Center enables real-time monitoring and control of the MBTA rail transit system.

Slated for 20 attendees, the MBTA Control Center tour is to be held one time only during ITS 2000: Tuesday from 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

SmarTraveler
A public/private partnership between Massachusetts Highway Department and Smart-Route Systems Inc. operates an ATIS that provides transportation information to the eastern Massachusetts area. Limited to 20 people, this particular tour is held Tuesday from 1 - 3 p.m. and Thursday from 9 - 11 a.m.

The Metropolitan Highway System Operations Control Center and the MassHighway Regional Traffic Operation Center
Located in the same building, a tour for 50 attendees, is scheduled for May 4, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

A highlight of ITS 2000 is the awards banquets which honors the technologies, programs and people who are saving lives, time and money using ITS.

ITS America announced a total of 59 high-tech transportation projects from across the U.S., and internationally have entered in seven "Best of ITS" categories.

Award categories include Awareness and Advocacy; Education; Research; Deployment Shown to Save Lives; Deployment Shown to Save Time; Deployment Shown to Save Monday; and Deployment Shown to Improve the Quality of Life.

As of press time, nominees were being screened in the seven categories through a multi-disciplinary committee process with final selections voted on by members of ITS America.

According to Collins, the winners of this year’s awards program will be provided with more than just a symbol of success.

"We are going to follow up the actual winners with publicity for them back in their own media markets. When we set up the new categories, we wanted categories that are understandable to people without them becoming lost in abbreviation land," said Collins.

In honor of ITS America’s 10th Anniversary, a traditional outdoor New England clambake is to be held Wednesday evening from 6 - 10 p.m. at the New England Aquarium. Located on Boston’s Central Wharf, attendees can celebrate completion of ITS 2000 with peers.

The 5th Annual Meeting of the Intelligent Transportation Society of Massachusetts will take place on Wednesday from 8 - 10 a.m. at the Boston Sheraton Hotel located behind the Hynes Convention Center.

The breakfast meeting provides an opportunity for attendees to hear about projects and programs and to learn about the direction of ITS in the state of Massachusetts.