This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'APIs for Traffic England'.
TCC-TIH-0037 
NTCC TIH Publisher 
Version 5 
 
NTCC TIH Publisher 
1 Introduction 
1.1 Overview 
The Travel Information Highway (TIH) community publishes a set of Principles for 
exchanging travel information. The National Traffic Control Centre (NTCC) has a TIH 
Publisher conforming to these Principles to make Highways Agency data on the English 
trunk road network available to third parties. 
This interface uses CORBA to deliver data over the Internet. The data is presented and 
described by an Interface Definition Language (IDL) file for use by the client during 
development.  
TIH Principles primarily recommend XML services delivered using HTTP. Where these are 
for OTAP or DATEX II services, for instance, data is converted at source following the 
relevant schemas. 
1.2 Purpose 
This technical document gives details of the NTCC TIH services to help potential subscribers’ 
engineers to develop an interface and start using the data.  
If you are looking for a gentler introduction to the TIH concept and how it works, try the 
Travel Information Highway website (www.tih.org.uk) and, in particular, the TIH Flyer in the 
Marketing Information section.  
If you have any questions that are not answered in this document, or you would like to 
discuss which service would best suit your needs, free advice is also available. See section 5 
for details.  
 
 
 
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TCC-TIH-0037 
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1.3 
Table of Contents 

Introduction .......................................................................................................................1 
1.1 
Overview ....................................................................................................................1 
1.2 
Purpose......................................................................................................................1 
1.3 
Table of Contents.......................................................................................................2 
1.4 
Abbreviations .............................................................................................................3 

TIH Receiver Design .........................................................................................................4 

Offered Services ...............................................................................................................5 
3.1 
CORBA Services .......................................................................................................5 
3.1.1 
Enhanced Data Services ....................................................................................5 
3.1.2 
XML Client ........................................................................................................11 
3.1.3 
UTMC ...............................................................................................................11 
3.2 
XML Services...........................................................................................................11 
3.2.1 
OTAP ................................................................................................................11 
3.2.2 
DATEX II...........................................................................................................12 
3.2.3 
RSS ..................................................................................................................12 
3.2.4 
TPEG ................................................................................................................12 
3.3 
Service Description ..................................................................................................12 
3.3.1 
CORBA .............................................................................................................12 
3.3.2 
XML ..................................................................................................................13 
3.4 
ORB Interoperability.................................................................................................14 

Sizing Study ....................................................................................................................15 
4.1 
CORBA Services .....................................................................................................15 
4.1.1 
XML Client ........................................................................................................15 
4.2 
XML Services...........................................................................................................15 
4.2.1 
DATEX II...........................................................................................................15 
4.2.2 
OTAP ................................................................................................................15 

Help and Assistance .......................................................................................................17 
5.1 
TIH Technical Authority............................................................................................17 
5.2 
Helpdesk ..................................................................................................................17 
5.3 
Frequently Asked Questions....................................................................................17 
 
 
 
 
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1.4 Abbreviations 
AIL 
 
Abnormal Indivisible Load 
CCTV   
Closed Circuit Television 
COBS   
Control Office Base System 
CORBA 
Common Object Request Broker Architecture 
CSV 
 
Comma Separated Values 
DATEX II 
Data Exchange 2 – European specifications for language independent 
exchange of traffic information 
GZIP  
GNU 
Zip 
HTTP 
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol 
ID 
Identifier (unique NTCC database reference) 
IDL 
 
Interface Definition Language 
IIOP  
Internet 
Inter-ORB 
Protocol 
IOR 
 
Interoperable Object Reference 
IP  
Internet 
Protocol 
ITS 
 
Intelligent Transportation Systems 
MIDAS 
Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling 
NMCS2 
National Motorway Communication System v2 
NTCC   
National Traffic Control Centre 
ORB   
Object Request Broker 
OS  
Ordnance 
Survey 
OTAP   
Open Travel data Access Protocol 
PCO  
Police 
Control 
Office 
RCC   
Regional Control Centre 
RSS  
Really 
Simple 
Syndication 
SSL 
 
Secure Sockets Layer 
TCC CS 
Traffic Control Centre Central System (referred to as TCC Instation software) 
TCCI 
Traffic Control Centre Interface 
TCP 
Transmission Control Protocol – A core protocol of the Internet Protocol suite 
TIH Travel 
Information 
Highway 
TiS 
 
Traffic Information Services (TiS) Limited 
TPEG   
Transport Protocol Experts Group 
UML   
Unified Modelling Language 
URL 
 
Uniform Resource Locator 
UTMC   
Urban Traffic Management and Control 
VMS   
Variable Message Sign 
XML  
Extensible 
Markup 
Language 
XSLT   
Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation 
 
 
 
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2 TIH 
Receiver 
Design 
If you want to design a client application to use the NTCC TIH Publisher, the following guides 
will be essential: 
The  TIH Directory of Services  is located in the private section of the TIH website at 
www.tih.org.uk. Users must register to gain access to this area but this is free. 
The Directory lists all of the data services available from the organisations that follow TIH 
Principles including IDLs for each CORBA service. Schema for each XML service and UML 
models for all services can be found by using the link to the ITS Metadata Registry or directly 
at www.itsregistry.org.uk. 
 
The NTCC Project Network Model CSV is supplied to all subscribers to the NTCC CORBA 
Services and a new copy is distributed each time there is a change in the Highways 
Agency’s network of motorways and trunk roads. The file contains location references used 
within the NTCC and its CORBA Services and their text equivalents as understood by end 
users. 
 
 
 
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3 Offered 
Services 
3.1 CORBA 
Services 
NTCC CORBA services are available from a single IP address (195.188.249.181). In line 
with TIH Principles, IP Address Discrimination is not used. 
The NTCC TIH Publisher supports both Callback and Blocked Pull communication methods. 
The ORB used by the TIH Publisher supports bi-directional operation enabling the same 
outgoing CORBA connection to receive callback objects, which is especially useful where 
firewalls are used. Basic Authentication is required with SSL encryption also supported. 
The Naming Service, which provides connection reference objects to the Services, is 
available on Port 6544. The Callback services are received on Port 20240 and the Blocked 
Pull services through Port 20241. The following should be added to the connection request to 
obtain the Naming Service IOR: 
 
-ORBInitRef NameService=corbaloc::195.188.249.181:6544/NameService 
 
Callback and Blocked Pull connections will resolve the NameService object for 
ClientFactory” and UTMC connections for “UTMC::TCC/SessionManager”. The object 
returned for Callback and Blocked Pull services will be ClientObjectFactory and the client will 
then call the method CreateClient() for an SSL encrypted connection or CreateNamedClient() 
to provide username and password. 
 
3.1.1 
Enhanced Data Services 
The NTCC TIH Publisher provides four data services: 
• Events 
• VMS 
settings 
•  Matrix Signal settings 
• Traffic 
data 
The latest version of each of these is described more fully in the tables below with earlier 
versions registered at the ITS Metadata Registry (see Section 2). Latest versions will be 
registered in due course. 
All dates and times are reported in the prevailing local time (BST or GMT as appropriate) 
using ISO8601 format. 
Services also provide a ‘heartbeat’ object, transmitted at regular intervals in the absence of 
any other data to allow connections to be monitored. 
The data is published using the “First In, First Out” rule. It should be emphasised that the 
quantity of data can be large when subscribing to traffic data services (see Section 4) and if 
the user cannot receive the data sufficiently quickly then the currency of the data will reduce. 
 
 
 
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3.1.1.1 
Enhanced Event Service v2 
Attribute 
Data Type 
Description 
Event ID 
Number 
Unique Event identifier 
Event Version 
Number 
Version of Event beginning at 1 
Event Name 
String 
Unique Event identifier used by NTCC Operations staff 
Event Type 
Number 
Enumeration of Roadworks, Accident, Weather, AIL, Other 
Road Name 
String 
Road name 
Direction 
Number 
Enumeration of Northbound, Southbound, Eastbound, 
Westbound, Clockwise, Anti-Clockwise, Roundabout, Multi-
Directional Slip, Carriageway Connector 
Primary Location 
Number 
Unique identifier of Primary Location Link 
Extent Affected 
Series of 
Series representing Affected Link IDs 
Numbers 
Extent Location 
Series of 
Series representing Location Link IDs 
Numbers 
Latitude 
Number 
Latitude of mid-point of Primary Location Link 
Longitude 
Number 
Longitude of mid-point of Primary Location Link 
Input Time 
Number 
4 digit year 
(Year, Month, Day, 
Number 
Month of year 1-12 
Hour, Minute, 
Number 
Day of month 1-31 
Second, Offset Hour,  Number 
Hour of day 0-23 
Offset Minute) 
Number 
Minute of hour 0-59 
Local time 
Number 
Second of minute 0-59 
Number 
Hour offset from GMT 
Number 
Minute remainder from GMT 
Start Time 
Number 
4 digit year 
(Year, Month, Day, 
Number 
Month of year 1-12 
Hour, Minute, 
Number 
Day of month 1-31 
Second, Offset Hour,  Number 
Hour of day 0-23 
Offset Minute) 
Number 
Minute of hour 0-59 
Local time 
Number 
Second of minute 0-59 
Number 
Hour offset from GMT 
Number 
Minute remainder from GMT 
Anticipated End 
Number 
4 digit year 
Time 
Number 
Month of year 1-12 
(Year, Month, Day, 
Number 
Day of month 1-31 
Hour, Minute, 
Number 
Hour of day 0-23 
Second, Offset Hour, 
Offset Minute) 
Number 
Minute of hour 0-59 
Local time 
Number 
Second of minute 0-59 
Number 
Hour offset from GMT 
Number 
Minute remainder from GMT 
Remaining Capacity 
Number 
Percentage remaining road capacity 
 
 
 
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Event Description 
String 
Description (disseminated Generic Default Plan) 
Level of Disruption 
Number 
Enumeration of None, Moderate, Heavy, Unknown 
Event Category 
String 
DATEX2 Category Code 
Event Status 
Number 
Enumeration of New, Updated, Deleted 
Active Start Time 
Number 
4 digit year 
(Year, Month, Day, 
Number 
Month of year 1-12 
Hour, Minute, 
Number 
Day of month 1-31 
Second, Offset Hour,  Number 
Hour of day 0-23 
Offset Minute) 
Number 
Minute of hour 0-59 
Local time 
Number 
Second of minute 0-59 
Number 
Hour offset from GMT 
Number 
Minute remainder from GMT 
Active End Time 
Number 
4 digit year 
(Year, Month, Day, 
Number 
Month of year 1-12 
Hour, Minute, 
Number 
Day of month 1-31 
Second, Offset Hour,  Number 
Hour of day 0-23 
Offset Minute) 
Number 
Minute of hour 0-59 
Local time 
Number 
Second of minute 0-59 
Number 
Hour offset from GMT 
Number 
Minute remainder from GMT 
Event Source 
String 
Event Information Supplier 
 
 
 
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3.1.1.2 
Enhanced VMS Setting Service v2 
Attribute 
Data Type 
Description 
VMS ID 
Number 
Unique VMS Identifier 
Address 
String 
Description of VMS equipment location 
Latitude 
Number 
Latitude of VMS 
Longitude 
Number 
Longitude of VMS 
Displayed Message 
Series of 
Current VMS message 
String 
VMS Type 
Number 
Enumeration of type_101, type_104, type_110, type_111 
Timestamp 
Number 
4 digit year 
(Year, Month, Day, 
Number 
Month of year 1-12 
Hour, Minute, 
Number 
Day of month 1-31 
Second, Offset Hour,  Number 
Hour of day 0-23 
Offset Minute) 
Number 
Minute of hour 0-59 
Local time 
Number 
Second of minute 0-59 
Number 
Hour offset from GMT 
Number 
Minute remainder from GMT 
Current Faults 
Series of 
Current VMS faults 
String 
*Control Office ID 
Number 
Unique Control Office Identifier 
Implementation 
String 
VMS setting reason 
Reason 
* Control Office ID 
10 North 
East 
RCC 
20 North 
West 
RCC 
30 Eastern 
RCC 
40 
West Midlands RCC 
45 
West Midlands ATM 
50 
East Midlands RCC 
60 
South West RCC 
70 
South East RCC 
71 Dartford 
PCO 
It should be noted that the ID reported will be that of the Control Office which reported the 
setting to NTCC via the TCCI and not necessarily that which originated the setting. 
 
 
 
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3.1.1.3 
Enhanced Matrix Setting Service v2 
Attribute 
Data Type 
Description 
Matrix ID 
Number 
Unique Matrix Signal Identifier 
Address 
String 
Description of Matrix equipment location 
Latitude 
Number 
Latitude of Matrix Signal 
Longitude 
Number 
Longitude of Matrix Signal 
Aspect Displayed 
String 
Current Matrix aspect displayed 
Timestamp 
Number 
4 digit year 
(Year, Month, Day, 
Number 
Month of year 1-12 
Hour, Minute, 
Number 
Day of month 1-31 
Second, Offset Hour,  Number 
Hour of day 0-23 
Offset Minute) 
Number 
Minute of hour 0-59 
Local time 
Number 
Second of minute 0-59 
Number 
Hour offset from GMT 
Number 
Minute remainder from GMT 
Control Office ID 
Number 
Unique Control Office Identifier (see Section 3.1.1.2) 
Implementation 
String 
Matrix Signal setting reason 
Reason 
Implementation 
Number 
Enumeration of UpdateInitialisation, Clear, PartClear, 
Reason Code 
Accident, Congestion, RoadWorksConing, Obstruction, 
Debris, Incident, Animals, Pedestrians, LargeLoad, 
Unconfirmed, Fog, OncomingVehicle, Test, 
ClosuresDiversions, Visibility, Rain, Other, Ice, Wind, 
Security, TidalSetting 
 
 
 
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3.1.1.4 
Enhanced Traffic Service v2 
Attribute 
Data Type 
Description 
Timestamp 
Number 
4 digit year 
(Year, Month, Day, 
Number 
Month of year 1-12 
Hour, Minute, 
Number 
Day of month 1-31 
Second, Offset Hour,  Number 
Hour of day 0-23 
Offset Minute) 
Number 
Minute of hour 0-59 
Local time 
Number 
Second of minute 0-59 
Number 
Hour offset from GMT 
Number 
Minute remainder from GMT 
Link ID 
Number 
Unique identifier of Link 
*Journey Time1 
Number 
Journey Time of Link in seconds 
*Delay against Ideal 
Number 
Delay against Ideal conditions in seconds 
*Delay against 
Number Delay 
against 
profiled conditions in seconds 
Expected 
*Classified Flows 
Number 
Number of vehicles of length <= 5.2 metres in vehicles per 
(Category 1, 2, 3, 4) 
 
hour 
Number 
Number of vehicles of length >5.2 and <=6.6 metres in 
 
vehicles per hour 
Number 
Number of vehicles of length >6.6 and <=11.6 metres in 
 
vehicles per hour 
Number 
Number of vehicles of length >11.6 metres in vehicles per 
hour 
*Average speed 
Number 
Average speed of Link in Kilometres per hour 
*Occupancy 
Number 
Percentage of time that detector is occupied by vehicles 
Speed Limit 
Number 
Speed limit of Link in Miles per hour 
*Total Flow 
Number 
Total number of vehicles on Link in vehicles per hour 
Number of Lanes 
Number 
Number of lanes on Link 
 
* Please note a value –1 indicates that data is not available and –2 indicates that data is not 
applicable for the Link. 
 
                                                 
1 Journey Times are determined between two network intersections (known as Journey Time 
Sections) which are serviced by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras. Journey 
Times are then apportioned to each Link within the Journey Time Section according to length of Link 
and speed limit. When there are delays due to an incident, for example, which does not affect all the 
Links in a section, the Link journey time may be an under-estimate or an over-estimate, depending on 
whether or not the Link is included in the extent of the incident. NTCC therefore proposes to phase out 
the reporting of Link-based Journey Times and will introduce a new service based on sections. 
 
 
 
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3.1.2 XML 
Client 
This application has been developed using Borland’s Visibroker for C++ ORB. It uses bi-
directional encrypted communications using Callback to connect to NTCC. The application 
converts data services (described above) received by CORBA into XML format, either writing 
to a local disk or forwarding to a TCP/IP socket for silent processing.  
This application can significantly reduce end-user development times. 
3.1.3 UTMC 
UTMC -10 was originally a DfT research project that produced a Technical Note containing a 
proposed specification for a UTMC common database. The results of all the research 
projects resulted in the official UTMC specification, currently TS003 and TS004. 
NTCC expects demand for this service from Local Highway Authorities, many of which have 
made a substantial investment in UTMC-based systems. The UML model and IDLs are 
available from the ITS Metadata Registry and have been re-used but not reproduced by 
NTCC. 
This service currently supports the following tables from the UTMC-10 specification. 
• ACCIDENT_DEF 
• INCIDENT_DEF 
• EVENT_DEF 
• ROADWORKS_DEF 
• LINK_DYNAMIC 
• NETWORK_ZONE 
• VMS_DEFINITION 
• VMS_CONFIGURATION 
• VMS_DEVICE_HISTORY 
• VMS_FAULTS 
The traffic event tables (ACCIDENT_DEF, INCIDENT_DEF, EVENT_DEF and 
ROADWORKS_DEF) provide dates and times in local time (BST or GMT as appropriate) 
whilst all others are reported using GMT. 
 
The traffic data table LINK_DYNAMIC contains columns CurrentFlow, ProfileFlow, 
AverageSpeed and LinkTravelTime2 that will report NULL values where data for the Link is 
not available or not applicable. 
 
The service also provides a ‘heartbeat’ object transmitted at regular intervals in the absence 
of any other data to ensure that connections can be monitored. Its table name is: 
• TIH_HEARTBEAT 
 
This service uses Basic Authentication and is received from port 20242. 
3.2 XML 
Services 
3.2.1 OTAP 
This service supports OTAP v2 (incorporating TPEG-Loc location referencing) to provide 
facilities to receive Event information using an HTTP GET of XML from web servers 
connected to the Internet. The URL for this service is http://otap.tistrafficinfo.com with access 
credentials (Basic Authentication) provided on request. 
Details of the specification can be found at http://www.itsproj.com/otap with the model 
registered at the ITS Metadata Registry (see Section 2). 
                                                 
2 See previous note regarding Journey Times. 
 
 
 
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3.2.2 DATEX 
II 
This service, operational during summer 2007, is the preferred service following TIH 
Principles and provides details of Events, VMS and Matrix Signal settings, and speeds, flows 
and journey times from web servers connected to the Internet. Due to its complexity, a 
separate User Guide (TCC-TIH-0049) is available from the TIH website. 
Details of the specification can be found at http://datex2.eu/. A XSLT conversion tool from 
OTAP to DATEX II has been produced by WSP and SSL which can be provided free of 
charge. Details can be obtained using the contact details provided in section 5. 
3.2.3 RSS 
RSS provides a summary of Events and is aimed at end-users rather than for system-to-
system interfaces. Details of supported services are available at 
http://www.highways.gov.uk/traffic/11278.aspx  
3.2.4 TPEG 
While tpegML follows TIH Principles, it is intended for delivery to end-users rather than for 
system-to-system interfaces. This service is currently being trialled. 
3.3 Service 
Description 
NTCC has installed a Traffic Control Centre Interface (TCCI) at each of the Police Control 
Offices and Regional Control Centres in order to interface with the various subsystems of the 
Control Office Base System (COBS). This equipment provides access to CCTV, MIDAS 
traffic data and High Occupancy Alerts (HIOCC), the ability to set VMS and also to receive 
VMS and Matrix Signal settings via the Message Sign and Signals Subsystems. 
3.3.1 CORBA 
3.3.1.1 Server 
start-up 
When the TIH Publisher is started at NTCC, any existing CORBA connections will be 
dropped. The Naming Service is restarted followed by the application software to manage 
CORBA connections and provide services. The software providing Callback, Blocked Client 
Pull and UTMC services repopulates the Naming Service with an object reference to each 
service. 
3.3.1.2 Client 
start-up 
When a client successfully connects to NTCC it will receive the initial state of all objects it is 
subscribed to. If an object has been recently created in the NTCC database it will be 
described as NEW by setting the EventStatus attribute with Event_New (or by setting the 
action attribute as INSERT for UTMC) and subsequently referred to as Event_Update (or 
UPDATE for UTMC) once modified. When the initial state has been provided, all 
modifications will be pushed or made available to be pulled (as UPDATE), as they become 
available. When objects cease to be current they are published as Event_Delete (or DELETE 
for UTMC). 
3.3.1.3 Data 
description 
The data provided by NTCC’s Callback and Blocked Pull services will be objects of type 
‘Any’. Each object will be: an Event; a VMS setting; a Matrix Signal setting; Traffic data or a 
Heartbeat as specified in the published IDLs. 
3.3.1.4 
Update frequency and packaging 
The packaging of CORBA data has several configurable settings. The most important are: 
 
 
 
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•  Call back – Server buffers 1 object and waits 0 seconds before flushing queue. Number 
of objects and wait period configurable at the server 
•  Blocked Client Pull – Server packages max 1000 objects 
•  UTMC – Server returns max 1000 rows per message 
3.3.1.5 Faults 
If a client does not keep up with the data being made available by the TIH Publisher, the data 
is queued at the server. If the age of the data exceeds a configurable time period (currently 
1000 seconds), the client connection is terminated. 
If the TCCI link fails to a PCO or RCC, the current state of all devices connected to the TCCI 
is republished by NTCC on reconnection. 
3.3.2 XML 
3.3.2.1 Access 
The OTAP service currently publishes Event information for England as five separate types 
with the following URLs: 
• Unplanned 

http://otap.tistrafficinfo.com/England/UnplannedEvent/content.xml 
•  Current Planned -  http://otap.tistrafficinfo.com/England/CurrentPlanned/content.xml 
•  Future Planned - http://otap.tistrafficinfo.com/England/FuturePlanned/content.xml 
•  Current Roadworks - http://otap.tistrafficinfo.com/England/CurrentRoadworks/content.xml 
•  Future Roadworks - http://otap.tistrafficinfo.com/England/FutureRoadworks/content.xml 
 
In each case, the schema for the content file can be found at 
http://otap.tistrafficinfo.com/Schemas/Publication.xsd, the schema for the metadata file is at 
http://otap.tistrafficinfo.com/Schemas/metadata.xsd. All other schemas can be found at 
http://otap.tistrafficinfo.com/Schemas/. 
3.3.2.2 Update 
frequency 
 
Update frequencies for each OTAP Event type are: 
•  Unplanned = 5 mins 
•  Current Planned = 4 hours 
•  Future Planned = 12 hours 
•  Current Roadworks = 4 hours 
•  Future Roadworks = 12 hours 
A metadata.xml file is provided for each URL (as per the specification) to indicate the time of 
last update and next scheduled update of the content files. 
It is possible for Events to appear in more than one folder as it becomes active and moves 
from Future to Current. Absence of Event details in a XML file denotes its clearance. 
The OTAP service supports the HTTP 1.1 ‘If-Modified-Since’ request header which provides 
a response if the data has changed since the date supplied in the request but otherwise 
returns a ‘304 Not Modified’ response. 
 
 
 
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3.4 ORB 
Interoperability 
The ORB used in the NTCC TIH Publisher is Borland Visibroker for C++. This configuration 
has been tested thoroughly with the following ORBs and programming languages in client 
applications to ensure interoperability: 
•  SunORB – Requires Sun Java v1.4 or higher 
•  JacORB - Java 
•  OMNIORB – C++ 
• MTDORB 
– 
Delphi 
•  ACEORB – C++ 
 
 
 
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4 Sizing 
Study 
The storage requirements for TIH Receivers will depend on the method used to receive data 
and the programming languages used for development. 
4.1 CORBA 
Services 
The IDL for each Service describes the data types defined for each data item available from 
NTCC. The IDLs are language independent, so the size of data objects transmitted using 
IIOP will be constant. However, end-user storage requirements will be language dependant 
as, for example, an integer may require 4 bytes in one language and 8 bytes in another. 
As a guide, the size of Event objects with IIOP overheads will be, on average, 1000 bytes 
and others approximately 500 bytes. 
On connection, the NTCC Publisher will push all current objects to the TIH Receiver. As a 
guide, this will include around 8000 matrix signal settings, 7500 links reporting traffic data, 
2000 VMS settings and 200 Events. 
Traffic data will continue to be provided at a rate of approximately 7500 data objects every 5 
minutes. 
Event objects will continue to be provided as new events are generated and all object types 
updated as changes occur. 
For CORBA services, some geographic filtering of subscriptions is possible at the server 
end, which may help to reduce the quantity of data received. 
4.1.1 XML 
Client 
The XML Client can be configured to write files onto a local disk or it can be configured to 
output to a socket. This client will generate approx 500 bytes for each VMS, Matrix Signal 
setting and Traffic Data object and, on average, about 1000 bytes for each Event. If saving 
XML files to disk, storage requirements will also depend on the cluster size of the disk. 
4.2 XML 
Services 
4.2.1 DATEX 
II 
The following table lists the information products provided, their update frequencies and 
estimated payload file size. 
 
Information Product 
Premier Update 
Standard Update 
Estimated 
Frequency 
Frequency 
Payload Size 
Current Roadworks 
2 minutes 
10 minutes 
1 M bytes 
Future Roadworks 
6 hours 
6 hours 
2 M bytes 
Current Planned Events 
2 minutes 
10 minutes 
10 K bytes 
Future Planned Events 
6 hours 
6 hours 
200 K bytes 
Unplanned Events 
 
2 minutes 
10 minutes 
50 K bytes 
Variable Message Signs 
2 minutes 
10 minutes 
3 M bytes 
Matrix Signals 
2 minutes 
10 minutes 
9 M bytes 
Traffic Data 
5 minutes 
10 minutes 
30 M bytes 
Predefined Locations 
On occurrence 
On occurrence within 
25 M bytes 
within 5 minutes 
5 minutes 
4.2.2 OTAP 
NTCC events are published in the following information products, each listed with the update 
frequency and approximate payload file size: GZIP compression is supported. 
 
 
 
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Product 
Estimated Size 
Unplanned Events 
50 K bytes 
Planned Events – Current 
10 K bytes 
Planned Events – Future 
200 K bytes 
Roadworks – Current 
1 M bytes 
Roadworks – Future 
2 M bytes 
 
Note: Planned Events include sports events, entertainment events (such as big exhibitions 
and concerts) but exclude roadworks. Unplanned Events include accidents, congestion, 
emergency roadworks, etc. 
 
 
 
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5 Help 
and 
Assistance 
NTCC can provide help and advice to anyone wishing to subscribe to the data services and 
would encourage everyone considering this approach to discuss their requirements with us 
before embarking on development. Individual subscriptions can also be created to tailor the 
data to the users’ needs where required. 
5.1 
TIH Technical Authority 
The TIH Technical Authority should be approached, through the helpdesk, for assistance 
when interfacing to NTCC.  
Subscriptions will be set up on an individual basis and all access to NTCC data will be 
recorded. Specific connection details and user credentials will be provided as part of the 
subscription process. 
5.2 Helpdesk 
24-hour support is available from the NTCC Helpdesk on 0121 245 4688 or by email to 
[email address]. 
5.3 Frequently 
Asked 
Questions 
1.  Compiling my Java code throws an error. Is there a problem with the IDLs? 
There is a bug in Sun’s Java Development Kit v1.4.2_10, which does not handle structures in 
IDLs that use data types more than once, but v1.4.2_11 and 1.4.2_12 have been tested 
successfully on Windows and Linux. 
2.  How do I relate NTCC network Links to actual locations? 
The NTCC Project Network Model is supplied as a CSV file and provides Ordnance Survey 
Grid References for the start and end of each Link. Further static data identifying WGS84 
locations and upstream/downstream junctions can be provided if required. 
3.  What are the commercial arrangements –  is the data free of charge? 
NTCC has produced an Acceptable Use and Operational Policy describing the conditions of 
use, which is available from the TIH website. 
4.  The XML Client appears to be producing output with incorrect dates –  what is 
wrong?
 
The client contains a registry setting to configure the current timezone. It is hoped that this 
will be removed in future versions of the client so that it reacts automatically to daylight 
saving changes. 
 
The registry key is: 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Serco\Tcc\TIHClient\TimeType = bst (or gmt) 
 
 
 
 
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