ISO/TR 17185-3:2015 PDF

Overview - ISO/TR 17185-3:2015 and journey planning systems

ISO/TR 17185-3:2015 is a Technical Report from ISO/TC 204 that standardizes use cases for journey planning systems and their interoperation. Part 3 of the ISO 17185 series focuses on high-level, user-centred requirements for public transport (PT) journey planners. It defines functional scenarios, actor roles and objectives to ensure passengers (including international travellers) receive timely, convenient public transport user information - while deliberately leaving specific data formats and interface specifications to existing regional standards.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Use case standardization: Describes method and categorization of use cases (user, administrator, and operational scenarios) to guide implementation of journey planning features.
• Roles & responsibilities: Defines primary actors - PT service operator, PT journey planning (JP) service provider, data provider, and PT user - and their interactions in JP systems.
• General requirements: High-level requirements for processing and delivering static and real-time public transport information to users to improve journey efficiency and convenience.
• Interoperation emphasis: Encourages use of currently available regional and national standards for data exchange and stop identification rather than specifying low-level interfaces.
• Terminology and data concepts: Clarifies terms (use case, data model, database, scheduling, operations monitoring) to provide a common conceptual framework.

Practical applications and who uses this standard

ISO/TR 17185-3 is practical for organizations involved in developing, procuring, or operating journey planning and public transport information systems:

• Public transport authorities and PT service operators designing passenger information services.
• System architects and software vendors building journey planners, mobile apps, or central trip planning services.
• ITS integrators working on interoperability between regional systems and international travel tools.
• Policy-makers and project managers defining high-level requirements and procurement specifications for PT information systems.

Benefits include clearer requirement definitions, reduced duplication by aligning with regional standards, and improved traveller experience through consistent use-case-driven design.

Related standards

ISO/TR 17185-3 is part of the ISO 17185 series and intentionally references regional and domain standards rather than replacing them. Relevant standards and specifications mentioned or applicable include:

• Transmodel (EN 12896) - public transport reference data model
• NeTEx (Network Exchange), SIRI (Service Interface for Real Time), TCIP
• NaPTAN, NEPTUNE and national/regional formats for stops, schedules and real-time feeds

Using ISO/TR 17185-3:2015 as a high-level requirements and use-case reference helps teams integrate these regional standards into interoperable, user-focused journey planning systems.