What is iTMC™ ?

iTMC™ is ITIS' national RDS-TMC service which has been in operation since January 2002. ITIS provides traffic information under a commercial licence, principally to automotive manufacturers, who integrate the services into their In-Vehicle Satellite Navigation systems ("IVSN"). The addition of real-time traffic information integrated into an IVSN terminal allows the routing to become "dynamic", by allowing the driver to select an alternative route around current traffic problems.

RDS-TMC ("Radio Data System-Traffic Message Channel") is an internationally-accepted standard for broadcasting traffic data over the RDS sub-carrier on FM radio. The technology and standards have been developed over the past twelve years by a broad cross-section of industry and public bodies. TMC is governed by an industry body, the TMC Forum, which is in turn operated and managed under the auspices of ERTICO, an industry body based in Brussels which is jointly funded by its members and the European Union.

The ITIS RDS-TMC Message Management System ("MMS") and transmission distribution servers are based at ITIS' Operations Centre in Altrincham, which is manned and supported on a 24 hour basis, 365 days per year. The TMC MMS is fully automated. The journalistic traffic content for the TMC service is provided by broadcast journalists based at the regional centres throughout the UK.