Keeping an overview of Germany’s waterways
IVU develops national navigation mark database
Waterways have stop signs, speed limits, and parking restrictions just like roads and railways. Fixed or floating marks are installed to ensure that internal waterways and coastal waters can be navigated safely. In Germany’s capital city Berlin alone there are more than 2,500 of these navigation marks, and in order to maintain a nationwide overview, the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) and the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS) put out a call for tenders for the development of a modern database with catalogue administration system. The tender submitted by IVU Traffic Technologies AG was accepted. On the basis of IVU.locate, a database web application has been developed to register and administer all navigation marks on Germany’s inland waterways. Pilot operations started in October.
In the past, information was recorded and administered decentrally on paper or using a variety of data formats, but it is now possible to access data from a unified central system. With the aid of the navigation mark database from IVU, all fixed and floating navigation marks on inland waterways under the responsibility of WSV can be registered quickly and easily, along with all their relevant attributes. Subsequently, the navigation marks are available on the WSV intranet. In addition to being utilised for administration purposes, the data will also form the basis for the production of the German electronic navigational charts for inland waterways (Inland ENCs) and the Digital Federal Waterways Chart (DBWK2).
A particular challenge has been the development of the catalogue administration system with dynamic data structure for the flexible administration of all relevant types of objects. An additional offline system also allows data registration outside the waterway and shipping offices. Despite the offline registration and the dynamic data structure, the IVU engineers were able to ensure the continual consistency of data and data structures.
Currently, the old datasets are being migrated to the new system. Training has successfully been concluded for the first offices, so that they have been able to begin pilot operations. The remaining offices will follow step-by-step, and in future all 39 water and shipping offices and the seven waterway construction authorities will be able to employ the Web application.
“This has fully satisfied our expectations – both in terms of the functionality and the project implementation,” comments project co-worker Wieland Haupt on the work of the IVU engineers. In order to keep the client fully informed about the development of the final product and its handling, IVU regularly reported on the status of the project and mid-development checkpoints were set up. Haupt sums up the situation as follows: “I already feel at home with the system, and I look forward to being able to work with it soon in real-life operations.”
Madlen Dietrich
Corporate Communications
IVU Traffic Technologies AG
Bundesallee 88, 12161 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 30 85906-386
E-mail: Madlen.Dietrich@ivu.de
www.ivu.com
IVU Traffic Technologies AG has been working for more than thirty-five years with some 350 software engineers to ensure that transport in the world’s major cities operates reliably and on time. People and vehicles in expanding cities are continually on the move – a logistical challenge which calls for intelligent and reliable software systems. The standardised software products of the IVU.suite and tailor-made IT solutions are used to plan, optimise and control the scheduling of vehicle fleets and personnel. Other systems support the choice of branch locations or ensure that election results are determined correctly.
IVU. Systems for vibrant cities.
