The recently delivered TISGRADE report ‘D3.1 Pre-Deployment Setup Report for Maximum Validation‘ represents a significant contribution to the ongoing efforts of the TN-ITS community to enable reliable, harmonised, and timely exchange of road attribute data across Europe. The pre-deployment set-up report is a product of the project Traffic management Information Services upGRADe Europe (TISGRADE), which aims to improve the availability, quality and interoperability of Real-Time Traffic Information (RTTI) across Europe. By focusing on the validation of Maximum Speed Limit (MSL) data across a diverse set of Pre-Deployment Validation (PDV) sites, the work directly supports key objectives of TN-ITS as well as compliance with the EU RTTI Delegated Regulation 2024/670, which requires high-quality, accurate, and up-to-date road and traffic data.
Accurate and reliable speed limit data is also essential for the effective functioning of Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), a key EU road safety measure. ISA systems depend on trustworthy digital speed limit information to support drivers in complying with legal limits, making data validation and quality assurance a critical prerequisite for their success.
The report is grounded in a comprehensive assessment of the current landscape. Through surveys, stakeholder engagement, and analysis of operational practices, it provides a clear picture of how MSL data is currently managed across Europe. The findings reveal a highly heterogeneous ecosystem. While some PDVs demonstrate mature workflows with automated validation, authoritative databases, and continuous updates, others still rely on fragmented processes, manual checks, or incomplete datasets. In many cases, governance structures are unclear, feedback loops are weak or absent, and discrepancies persist between legal traffic orders, digital databases, and physical road signage.
These challenges closely reflect those addressed within the TN-ITS community. In particular, the lack of harmonised production chains, inconsistent validation approaches, and limited integration of feedback from service providers underline the need for a coordinated European framework. The report confirms that achieving compliance with both TN-ITS principles and the RTTI regulation is not only a technical challenge, but also an organisational one—requiring clear roles, accountability, and collaboration between road authorities, National Access Points (NAPs), and service providers.
To respond to these gaps, the deliverable introduces a modular validation framework for MSL data that aligns strongly with TN-ITS. The framework recognises that no single “source of truth” exists; instead, it proposes a continuous validation process that reconciles legal traffic orders, digital datasets, and physical signage. It embeds validation throughout the data lifecycle, from data creation and transformation to publication and feedback integration. Core components include clearly defined roles and responsibilities, validation workflows and triggers, quality metrics such as KPIs and TISA 5-star ratings, and structured feedback loops with service providers.
Importantly, the framework is designed to be scalable and adaptable to different maturity levels across PDVs, supporting progressive alignment with TN-ITS data exchange mechanisms. In this context, it is worth noting that TN-ITS has been formalised as DATEX II Part 14, as unified under the NAPCORE initiative, reinforcing its role as the common European specification for exchanging static road attribute updates.
The report also outlines concrete actions to accelerate alignment: the introduction of automated validation tools, the establishment of structured feedback loops between service providers, NAPs, and authorities, the harmonisation of data processes, and the development of shared quality monitoring approaches. These steps are essential to ensure that speed limit data becomes consistently reliable, interoperable, and compliant with European regulatory requirements.
In this context, D3.1 provides both a diagnostic baseline and a forward-looking roadmap for the TN-ITS community. By addressing fragmentation and promoting a harmonised validation approach, it contributes to building a trusted European road data ecosystem that supports safety-critical services such as Intelligent Speed Assistance.
Finally, the role of the TN-ITS association remains central. Its members collectively represent more than 90% of the global digital map industry, placing the community in a unique position to drive large-scale adoption, ensure market relevance, and accelerate the delivery of high-quality road data services worldwide.