General Information Platform of ITS based on Web Service

General information platform of ITS (intelligent transportation systems) is the key part of ITS. Its basic function is to integrate distributed transportation related data and share the data in different departments. It also provides upper level of transportation information services for the public. It is an upper level of common information platform of ITS. The realization of the two functions needs data communication not only between clients and servers, but also between servers, even between centers and fields. Web service is a powerful and promising technology for data interoperability in distributed systems. It can meet the needs of the platform. In the paper, it first analyzes the characters of GIPI (General Information Platform of ITS). Then it demonstrates that web service is a better way for GIPI to realize its functions. Technologies of WebGIS and the second generation of internet are discussed as contrasts. Next, the paper discusses the structure and key techniques of web service for GIPI. Techniques of XML/GML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI are talk about as key techniques. The methods to make application model of web service for GIPI are studied. The structure of the solution is given. And some views of discontent of the solution are briefly summarized. The mechanism of the semantic interoperability under Web Service environment is also discussed. Some countries with terrible transportation, including China, are in the construction of GIPI. Our study is carried out for Beijing. And some future work has been summarized in the end.