Advancing Authoritative Speed Limit Data: Highlights from the 1st TISGRADE’s Public-Private Technical Group Session

On 29 January 2026, TN-ITS and ERTICO brought together road authorities, service providers and technical experts for the first Public-Private Technical Group session under Task 3.1 of the TISGRADE project, focusing on Maximum Speed Limit (MSL) data. The session marked an important step toward improving the availability, reliability and validation of authoritative speed limit information across Europe.

Setting the Scene: Why Speed Limit Data Matters

Speed limit data is fundamental for road safety, traffic efficiency, emissions reduction and the performance of systems such as Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA). Yet today, the landscape remains fragmented. Participants highlighted several persistent challenges:

• Patchy availability of authoritative data across EU Member States
• Inconsistent quality and metadata, limiting “fitness for use”
• Technical barriers, including mismatched location referencing and exchange formats
• Lack of uniform lifecycle management for updates and corrections
• Governance gaps around validation, accountability, and trust

At the same time, map and service providers face increasing regulatory and consumer pressure – notably from ISA requirements and Euro NCAP – and are therefore highly motivated to access reliable authoritative data, provided it meets the necessary quality standards.

The Goal: A Practical Validation Methodology

The MSL Pre-Deployment Validation (PDV) initiative aims to establish a practical and scalable methodology that European road authorities can use to improve both data availability and quality, in close cooperation with service providers.

The objective is not only to test solutions at PDV sites, but also toidentify roadblocks, define best practices and support wider EU rolloutthrough TN-ITS, NAPCORE and other European initiatives.

Understanding Validation: From Manual Checks to AI

A central theme of the session was the multi-layered nature of validation. Validation can refer both to:

1. Checking that digital data reflects real-world conditions, and
2. Ensuring compliance with required data formats and standards

Participants reviewed a range of validation approaches and data sources, including:

• Manual and algorithm-based checks
• Surveyor observations and traffic sign databases
• Third-party and commercial sources
• Floating Car Data
• A public-private feedback loop for continuous quality improvement

To measure performance, the group discussed applying quality metrics such as completeness, accuracy, timeliness, latency, availability and trust, aligning with NAPCORE quality principles and the TISA 5-Star Rating approach for RTTI services. These metrics help move from ad-hoc assessments toward objective, measurable quality frameworksfor speed limit data.

Learning from Best Practices Across Europe

Several operational examples demonstrated how authorities are already tackling speed limit data challenges:

• The Netherlands (NDW) presented its use of automated algorithms to detect missing or inconsistent traffic sign data and its regular TN-ITS publications via the National Access Point.
• Flanders (Belgium) showcased Signalisatie Vlaanderen and the MOVIN’ app, enabling structured inventory, field validation, and daily TN-ITS updates derived from official sources.
• The ISA-FIT project illustrated how real-world ISA deployment depends heavily on high-quality, up-to-date map data and how feedback loops from vehicles can support continuous map improvement.

These examples reinforced a key message: authoritative data and service provider expertise are complementary, not competing, and must work together within a structured validation framework.

TN-ITS: The Backbone for Trusted Exchange

The session reaffirmed the role of TN-ITS as the reference standard and platform for exchanging updates on static road attributes such as speed limits. Recognised under the RTTI Delegated Regulation and becoming part of the DATEX II suite of standards, TN-ITS provides the technical and organisational foundation for harmonised data sharing between authorities and service providers.

Looking ahead, TN-ITS also outlined a broader strategic vision: helping to build a European “ground truth” for trusted mobility data. This includes exploring AI-supported tools for data generation and validation, stronger governance via National Access Points, and closer integration into European digital infrastructure initiatives.

Next Steps

The TISGRADE T3.1 session concluded with an invitation for additional service providers and authorities to join PDV activities and contribute to refining validation practices. Expanding participation will be essential to ensure solutions are practical, scalable and aligned with real operational needs across Europe.

As TN-ITS continues to strengthen its role in enabling trusted and standardised mobility data exchange, the outcomes of T3.1 will directly support safer vehicles, smarter services and more efficient transport systems.

TN-ITS contributes to the NAPCORE project by providing its knowledge and expertise in road
data sharing through the specification and further elaboration of the TN-ITS standard.