Architecture Use

ARC-IT is a reference architecture that provides a common basis for planners and engineers with differing concerns to conceive, design and implement systems using a common language as a basis for delivering ITS, but does not mandate any particular implementation. The National ITS Architecture was developed over 25 years ago in order to:

• Provide a National "Vision" for ITS
• Guide Sound ITS Planning and Investments at the State and Local Level
• Identify and Scope Need for ITS Standards

In order to provide a connection between transportation planning and ARC-IT, the website provides a connection between planning attributes defined by the USDOT and the views of ARC-IT. This connection is described on the ARC-IT Connection to Planning pages. The planning attributes for which this connection is defined are:

• Planning Factors: There are seven planning factors defined by the most recent Transportation authorization bill, Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST), that metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and states should consider when developing their transportation plans.
• Goals: Transportation planning begins with a set of broad goals that reflect the desired outcomes and the transportation vision for the region. The representative goals included in the ARC-IT mapping to planning are closely tied to the planning factors.
• Objectives: Each of the goals in a metropolitan or statewide transportation plan is supported by one or more 'objectives' that define what needs to occur to accomplish the goals. A range of objectives are included in the ARC-IT mapping to planning, gathered from a variety of references and recent transportation plans, that reflect the spectrum of objectives that are used in current practice.

In order to guide the investments in ITS at the state and local level, 23 CFR 940 requires the creation of a Regional ITS Architecture, which is defined by the regulation as "a regional framework for ensuring institutional agreement and technical integration for the implementation of ITS projects or groups of projects". The definition of the components of a Regional ITS Architecture and an approach for the update or development of these architectures is provided Regional ITS Architecture Definition and Development.

A regional ITS architecture can effectively bridge the gap between strategic planning for an integrated surface transportation system and the ITS projects that support that strategic vision. The principal value of a regional ITS architecture is that it provides a context for projects that include ITS so that each project can build a piece of a larger system. The regional ITS architecture can be used to visualize and articulate the overall ITS system for the region so that all the stakeholders in a region spend their money compatibly instead of competitively. A discussion of the ways to use a Regional ITS Architecture are found at Regional ITS Architecture Use.

Additional information on how the components of ARC-IT support architecture use can be found at: More details on Architecture Use