COMPASS, also referred to as Freeway Traffic Management System, is a system run by the

Ministry of Transportation of Ontario The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is the provincial ministry of the Government of Ontario that is responsible for transport infrastructure and related law in Ontario. The ministry traces its roots back over a century to the 1890s, when the pro ...

(MTO) to monitor and manage the flow of traffic on various roads (including

400-series highways The 400-series highways are a network of controlled-access highways throughout the southern portion of the Canadian province of Ontario, forming a special subset of the provincial highway system. They are analogous to the Interstate Highway ...

) in Ontario. COMPASS uses pairs of in-road sensors to detect the speed and density of traffic flow. This data is fed to a central computer at the MTO Downsview office and analyzed by operators, who also view the feeds of traffic cameras placed along the highways. Changeable Message Signs (CMS) then display messages to motorists on the highways, advising them of upcoming collisions, closures, detours and traffic flow.

Algorithms

The primary algorithm used by the Ministry is known as the McMaster algorithm, designed by Professor Fred Hall of

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

, in Hamilton, Ontario. Incident Detection algorithms have also been widely used throughout the COMPASS-enabled area. Research on new algorithm developments and evaluations is performed at the ITS Centre and Testbed (ICAT), at the Civil Engineering department of the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. The ICAT is equipped with direct fibre-optic links to the Ministry of Transportation, and received both traffic camera and loop detector data on a live basis. Visual data can be used to confirm the presence of incidents detected by the various algorithms.

COMPASS cameras

Images from most COMPASS cameras are available online via MTO website. COMPASS has some dedicated cameras used by MTO Enforcement Officers to monitor and manage truck queues at locations such as the Putman Commercial Vehicle Inspection Station. Images from these cameras are not available online. Highways with COMPASS cameras:

Queen Elizabeth Way The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario linking Toronto with the Niagara Peninsula and Buffalo, New York. The freeway begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels around the western ...
(QEW)

(Fort Erie, Niagara Falls to St Catharines, Stoney Creek to Toronto) * QEW from Thompson Rd to Bowen Rd (Fort Erie) * QEW from Mountain Road to 7th Street (Niagara Falls to St. Catharines) * QEW from Fifty Rd to Highway 427 (Stoney Creek to Toronto )

Highway 400

* Highway 400 from Highway 401 to King Rd (Toronto-King City)

Highway 401 King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one, is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provin ...

(London and Windsor, Milton to Ajax, Kingston, Ivy Lea). One of the highest-volume highways in the world * Highway 401 from Martin Street to Simcoe St (Milton-Oshawa) * Highway 401 from near Wellington Road South to near Old Victoria Road South in (London, Ontario)

Highway 402

(Vyner to Sarnia) * Highway 402 from Mandaumin Road to Front Street North (Sarnia)

Highway 403 The following highways are numbered 403: Canada * Manitoba Provincial Road 403 * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 403 * Highway 403 (Ontario) Costa Rica * National Route 403 Croatia * D403 road Hungary * Main road 403 (Hungary) Japan * Jap ...

(Hamilton to Burlington, Oakville to Mississauga) * Highway 403 from Aberdeen to QEW (Hamilton-Burlington) * Highway 403 from QEW to Highway 401 (Oakville-Mississauga)

Highway 404 The following highways are numbered 404: Australia - Victoria Canada * Manitoba Provincial Road 404 * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 404 * Ontario Highway 404 Costa Rica * National Route 404 Israel * Route 404 (Israel) Japan * Japan N ...

(Toronto to Markham) * Highway 404 from Highway 401/Don Valley Parkway to 16th Ave (Toronto-Markham)

Highway 405 Route 405 or Highway 405 may refer to: Canada * Manitoba Provincial Road 405 * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 405 * Ontario Highway 405 Costa Rica * National Route 405 (Costa Rica), National Route 405 Japan * Japan National Route 405 United Ki ...

(Niagara Falls) * Highway 405 from QEW to Queenston-Lewiston Bridge (St. Catharines-Niagara On The Lake)

Highway 406

* Highway 406 South of QEW (St. Catharines)

Highway 407 The following highways are numbered 407: Canada * Manitoba Provincial Road 407 * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 407 * Ontario Highway 407 Costa Rica * National Route 407 Iceland * Route 407 (Iceland) Italy * State road 407 Japan * Japa ...

* Highway 407 from Brock Rd to Highway 418 (Pickering to Clarington)

Highway 409

(Toronto) * Highway 409 from Highway 427 to Highway 401 (Toronto)

Highway 410 The following highways are numbered 410: Canada Manitoba Provincial Road 410 Newfoundland and Labrador Route 410 Route 410, also known as Dorset Trail, is an north-south highway on the northern coast of Newfoundland in the Canadian province o ...

(Mississauga to Brampton) * Highway 410 from Highway 401 to Clark Blvd (Peel Region)

Highway 412

* Highway 412 from Brock Rd to Highway 412 (Durham Region)

Highway 417 The following highways are numbered 417: Canada * Manitoba Provincial Road 417 * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 417 * Ontario Highway 417 Costa Rica * National Route 417 Iceland * Route 417 Japan * Japan National Route 417 United States * ...

(the Queensway, Ottawa) * Highway 417 from Ottawa Road 174 to 416/Richmond Road (Ottawa Region)

Highway 427 The following highways are numbered 427: Canada Manitoba Provincial Road 427 Ontario Highway 427 India National Highway 427 (India) Japan Japan National Route 427 United States * County Road 427 (Seminole County, Florida) * Indi ...

(Toronto) * Highway 427 from Gardiner Expressway/QEW to Finch(Toronto-York Region)

Non 400-series Highways

* Highway 58 from Pine Street to Thorold Stone Road (including Thorold Tunnel) (Thorold) * Thorold Stone Road * Wolfe Island Ferry Terminals - Kingston and Wolfe Island (2) * 1000 Islands Parkway - Ivy Lea * E.C. Row Expressway - COMPASS uses images from City of Windsor. *

City of Windsor Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...

- Images from both City of Windsor and COMPASS are available on MTO website via COMPASS interface.

False alarms

A false alarm for incident detection is not only highly undesirable, but seriously damages the confidence in the detection system. Therefore, a near 100% alarm accuracy is needed. This does not mean that 100% traffic parameter accuracy is required from the traffic sensors; however, the logical commands that analyze the change in traffic parameters need to be selected carefully in order to minimize the probability of false alarms yet detect all major incidents as well as a high percentage of all other incidents. Most importantly, confirmation of incident and evaluation of incident type by manual inspection of a video camera screen is probably the most significant incident detection technique.

References

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Explanation of the logical functioning of COMPASS
Automotive safety Road infrastructure in Canada Transport in Ontario Intelligent transportation systems