BATTELLE HELPING TO MAKE ATLANTA
VISITOR-FRIENDLY FOR SUMMER OF '96

Battelle's Transportation Division is developing a major interactive information system that will make the city of Atlanta more user-friendly during the Summer Olympics in 1996.

The system, the Traveler Information Showcase, will enable users to find their way around Atlanta Ñ to locate emergency service, Olympic events, restaurants and stores, to view maps, and pick routes based on up-to-the-minute reports on accidents and detours.

Jerry Pittenger, a vice president of Battelle's Transportation Division, said the 17-week showcase demonstration, which is being funded by the Federal Highway Administration, will give users of the system real-time updates of road and highway conditions, enabling travelers to easily chart a course to their destinations. The system also will provide the traveler with instructions on how to use the public transit systems.

The demonstration will begin June 1 and end Sept. 30. The total cost for the demonstration is $14 million.

The system will have five ways to distribute information to travelers.

Personal communications device. This battery operated, hand-held device will pick up radio signals to deliver real-time information to the user. It also will contain maps, a list of events occurring in Atlanta, rail schedules and fare data, as well as a Yellow Pages-type directory that would include information on stores, restaurants, and hospitals. "Let's say you've just come out of an Olympic event and you want southern barbecue," Pittenger explained. "You can get a directory of barbecue restaurants in the area. You pick one, and the device will give you specific directions, from your current location, to the restaurant. And if there's been an accident along that route, it will advise you to pick an alternative route."

• In-vehicle devices. This device will sit in the dashboard and give information similar to that received with the hand-held device. Some information will be received via radio signals, while other information will be stored on compact disks within the vehicle. The device will provide the driver route guidance information.
• Interactive TV. The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Atlanta will equip 300 rooms with interactive televisions that will give guests similar capabilities as the hand-held device. In the future, as the hand-held device and the interactive television become more sophisticated, users will be able to use them for such things as store purchases and make reservations at restaurants.
• On-line service. Researchers will have current transportation information with maps placed on the Internet for access by personal computers.
• Cable television. This will be a station broadcasting round-the-clock information dedicated to transportation. The programming will provide maps and real-time traffic video.