Contents■ Report on Smartway Open Field Test Demo2006 –To realize the next-generation ITS services–■ Implementation of Support Measures for the Development of Port Logistics Hubs
■ Development of Dynamic Hazard Maps (advancement of hazard maps utilizing IT)■ Development of Accident Countermeasure Database■ The 2nd International Workshop on Natural Ventilation■ TECHNICAL NOTE of National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (December, 2004)■ “2006 Annual Report of NILIM” is now on our website(in Japanese only, for the time being)

No.17June 2006

News LetterISSN 0389-4150■ Report on Smartway Open Field Test Demo2006 –To realize the next-generation ITS services–Intelligent Transport System Division
1. Introduction
In August 2004, the Smartway Project AdvisoryCommittee (chairman by Syoichiro Toyoda) made a
proposal titled “ITS Enter the Second Stage”. InFebruary 2005, 23 private companies and the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (NILIM) started a “Joint Research on System to Provide Next-generation Road Services”,
which aims to carry out technical researches on ITS
on-board units and roadside systems to create anin-vehicle environment permitting the use of diverse services to be delivered by a single ITS onboard unit by 2007. As part of this joint research,“Smartway Open Field Test Demo2006” was implemented for 3 days from February 22 through February 24, 2006.
2. Outline of Demo2006
Through Demo2006, which was held at the test
course (about 6km) at the NILIM, about 1000 people tried out three new services that had been discussed in the joint research: 1) Information Provision Services along Roadways 2) Information Connection Services such as at Roadside Rest Areasand 3) Public Parking lot Settlement Services.
3. Principal Services① Information Provision Services along Roadways
This service uses DSRC antenna to transmit traffic information such as congestion and low visibilityon the road ahead. The information is provided asaudio-texts or still images, which can be played either immediately after being transmitted or accu-mulated until a specific incident occurs before it isplayed (see Photo 1).
By using this service, parking cars and other obstacles on the road beyond a blind curve are detected, and information to support safe driving is provided through images and voice before reaching thecurve (see Photo 2).

Photo 1 Providing information byplaying accumulated still pictures(Warning of a Closed Lane beyond a tunnel exit)

Photo 2 Provision ofcautionary and warning
information to support safe driving

N I L I M

News Letter② Information Connection Services such as at
Roadside Rest Areas
This service provides vehicles parked in a Road
Station or other specific area with a variety of information about the local traffic situation, local environment, and sightseeing spots, for example. The
information is accessible by connecting to the internet via DSRC (see Photo 3).
③ Public Parking lot Settlement Services
This service uses ETC communication technology
to automatically attests vehicles, then opens andcloses gates to parking areas, and provides information through images and voice that guide vehicles to parking lots designated for those carrying
handicapped people.
4. Conclusion
This Open Field Test, which was conducted aspart of building the System of Providing Next-generation Road Services, showed that the technology of
the DSRC-based system applied to ETC is now at apractical level and highly useful.

In the next stage, based on the results of the joint
research, standardizing and specifying works will
be launched while carrying out tests on actualroads, thus working toward delivering next-generation ITS services.

Photo 3 Information connection services at roadside rest areas etc.

■ Implementation of Support Measures for the Development of Port Logistics Hubs
Port Systems Division
To deal with economic globalization, enterprises
are practicing supply chain management (SCM).
The supply chain is a value-adding chain thatserves to procure materials, manufacture components, manufacture finished products, and distribute the finished products to final consumers (seeFig. 1). Enterprises optimize value-adding places ona global basis to minimize costs. As international
distribution centers, it is possible that ports offer
such value-adding places as Logistics Hub(LH) . In
Asian major seaports (Port of Shanghai: Shanghai
Waigaoqiao Bonded Logistics Zone, Yangshan deep-Raw
Parts
Material

Finished
Goods

water port in Shanghai, Busan New Port, Port ofKaohsiung, Port of Singapore, etc.: see Fig. 2), large
scale LH have been developed. Also the Japanese
government has been introducing support measures for developing LHs such as the Effective Overall Logistics Law and NILIM has been conducting researches to support this policy making. Now manufacturing/distribution activities tend to extend
across more than two countries, meaning that port
LHs in the world are required to cooperate to eachother. NILIM will continue our effort in order to support global operations.

Material Flow
Information FlowDistribution

China: Port ofShanghai(Waigaoquiaoarea, Yangshan
Area)

South Korea:
Busan New Port,
Port of Gwangyang

Japan: Port ofNagoya

Consumer

Raw
MaterialProductionof Cloth

MakingT-shirts

Fig. 1 Concept of the Supply Chain

Chain of Valueadding Activities
Supply ofAssortment
Inspection, etc.
ProductsSingapore:‘Distriparks’Taiwan:Port of Kaosiung,
Port of Keerung

Fig. 2 Examples of Port Logistics Hub in Asia

■ Development of Dynamic Hazard Maps (advancement of hazard maps utilizing IT)
Coastal Disaster Prevention Division
To prevent and reduce human losses and casualties caused by tsunamis and storm surges, it is essential that each resident be made keenly aware of
the risks faced and how to evacuate from such disasters. Ordinary hazard maps printed on paper
may give residents a stereotyped idea of disasters
and make them biased.
Focusing on these challenges we are developing a
dynamic hazard map. This map is an evacuation
simulation system on a PC, as shown in Fig. 1,
which can provide dynamically changing information such as areas inundated by tsunamis andstorm surges, obstruction of escape routes caused
by inundation, collapse of houses by earthquake,fires and so on. By using these practical dynamic
hazard maps, people can learn whether it is safe toevacuate or not, which is the best evacuation method, etc. through trial and error; and can input various conditions such as where and when to begin toevacuate and evacuation routes. This system is expected to make people more aware of proper evacuation and to enhance risk-communication between
residents and administrative staff.

After 3 minutes

Designated evacuation
shelter (schools, etc.)

After 4 minutes

Able to make dynamic
simulations on a PC

Safely evacuatedAfter 5 minutes

Fire breaking out(Check for thespread of fire)
Evacuation route(Check for road closure)Fig. 1 Image of a Dynamic Hazard Map■ Development of Accident Countermeasure Database
Advanced Road Design and Safety Division
In order to promote effective countermeasures for
traffic accidents, it is important to use the experience and knowledge on past countermeasures. An
Accident Countermeasure Database has therefore
been developed. This will enable relevant institutions
to share information from past studies and use it todiscuss countermeasures for traffic accidents.
In Japan, countermeasures are focused on 3,956
accident blackspots with many accidents resulting
in death or injury. These areas were designated as
Accident-prone Areas in 2003. The database contains data on road structures, traffic environment,
process of studies on countermeasures, effects ofcountermeasures and other relevant information forthe designated areas.
The figure shows a screen display of the database.
Most of the operations can be done with a mouse,
and the screen is designed to be easy to read. By using the database, necessary data such as areas withsimilar road characteristics and areas with the same

factors that can result in accidents, can be readily
searched.
This database has been used by road managers
throughout Japan since April 2006. We will continue
to make the database more user-friendly and add
more data.

Fig. 1 A screen display of the Accident Countermeasure Database■ The 2nd International Workshop on Natural Ventilation
Research Coordinator for Advanced Building Technology
The 2nd International Workshop on Natural Ventilation was held on December 1 and 2, to discusscurrent research on natural ventilation and generate interest in this research field among young researchers. Host organizations were the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management,
Building Research Institute, Tokyo Polytechnic
University The 21st century Center of Excellence
Program and Tokyo University of Science. The venue was AIJ Hall (Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo).
Seven foreigners and 125 Japanese participatedin the workshop; 15 researchers (6 foreigners and 9Japanese) lectured in each of the sessions on“Wind Pressure & Airflow Characteristic”, “State-ofthe-Art Review”, “Modeling”, “Heat Removal” and“Single-Sided Ventilation” for two days, and thenthe participants discussed the latest research results.
The panel discussion was held on December 2(on “Natural Ventilation for Passive Cooling and its
Regional Feasibility”, with Prof. Shuzo Murakami ofKeio University as coordinator). In the panel discussion, 1 Japanese designer and 6 foreign researchers reported on case examples of naturalventilation in each country, and participants discussed appropriate methods to design the opening
size for natural ventilation, involvement of the user
in natural ventilation, and the cost of natural ventilation.

Details of the workshop were published in a special edition of “The International Journal of Ventilation” by VEETECH Ltd., UK.

Dec. 2, 2005 Announcement for 2nd day
Akira Muragishi (Deputy Director-General of NILIM)

Discussion The discussion focused on three topics:
1) Appropriate method to design the opening size for natural ventilation (NV),2) How to link the user with NV, and 3) Cost of NV.

■ TECHNICAL NOTE of National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (December, 2004)
Names of Divisions

Title of Paper

No
179

Study on dynamic effects on bridges of large-sized vehicles(I)Bridge Division

180

Reserch on the dynamic responses of bridges which are caused by large size vehicles (II)Bridge Division

197

An Investigation of Technologies Recovering Energy from Waste

Coastal Zone Systems Division

198

The Model for Estimation of Fuel Economy of Container Trailer Running in Port Area and on Highway

Coastal Zone Systems Division

199

A Study on Functions by Port Logistics Hubs, With a View to Supporting Competitiveness of Japanese Manufacturing Firms

Port Planning Division

200

Port Calling League of World Container Ships(2004) –Analysis of the statistics concerning with port calling and Influence by the crane collapse
in port of Busan –Port Planning Division

201

An Analysis and Model Development on Port/Mode Choice Behavior of Bulk Cargo

Port Systems Division

203

Report of the Lecture Meeting of NILIM(2004)

Planning Division■ “2006 Annual Report of NILIM” is now on our website (in Japanese only, for the time being)
aaWe publish “2006 Annual Report of NILIM” to show our research activities and accomplishments, and you
can see its contents on our website, www.nilim.go.jp. English version will be available in the furture.

National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
Asahi 1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0804, Japan(Tachihara) Tachihara 1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0802, Japan(Yokosuka) Nagase 3-1-1, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 239-0826, Japan
TEL:+81-29-864-2675 FAX:+81-29-864-4322

News Letter

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