Intelligent Transportation Society of Maryland (ITSMD) is a non-profit association made up of both public and private organizations that collaborate on improving transportation technology in the state. We focus on using information processing, communications, control, and electronics technologies to enhance transportation systems, which can save lives, time, and money. This association is dedicated to improving the quality of life for Marylanders by constantly improving transportation through the use of advanced technologies. It serves as a forum for public and private organizations to collaborate and advance intelligent transportation technology in Maryland. ITSMD is a partnership that aims to increase the deployment of ITS technology and increase public understanding of the benefits of technology in transportation. Membership is open to anyone, and information about joining can be found on the membership page.
As the ITS Maryland organization has matured, and the Intelligent Transportation Systems industry has advanced, the chapter’s members have been agile, evolving the vision and mission to assure that ITS Maryland continues to be a relevant and valuable resource for Maryland’s ITS industry.
Although ITS Maryland prepared a Mission statement in 1995, the first official Vision statement appeared in the 1999 ITS Maryland Strategic Plan. It read:
“ITS Maryland will work with the public and private sectors to make Maryland the acknowledged leader in deploying a statewide intelligent transportation system that takes full advantage of appropriate technology to improve (1) the safety and convenience of travelers, (2) the efficiency of Maryland’s transportation system, and (3) our state and regional economies. As a result of ITS Maryland’s activities, the state’s intelligent transportation systems will be fully multi-modal, interoperable and integrated at the state, regional and local levels.”
This vision reflected the purpose of the State Chapter, its role in the continued development of ITS, and emphasized the work that the chapter had been supporting to encourage multi-modal solutions, and statewide system interoperability.
By 2014, ITS Maryland recognized the need to update their Strategic Plan as the industry began to define various ITS facets such as Transporation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO), Integrated Corridor Management (ICM), Adaptive Traffic Control Systems (ATCS) and Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV). Rather than attempting to increase the complexity of the ITS Maryland Vision Statement to accommodate these new sub-disciplines, the 2014 Strategic Plan simplified the Chapter’s vision to read:
“Having a safe, secure, and efficient surface transportation system that uses technology to improve operations for the movement of people and freight in Maryland.”
The specifics of how to achieve this vision were captured in the new mission statement and strategic goals.
In 1995, as part of the development of the ITS Maryland by-laws, the founders of the chapter authored the organization’s first Mission Statement:
“To support the implementation of safe and efficient intelligent transportation systems in Maryland by providing a forum for education, coordination, and communication among all interested organizations.”
This Mission Statement defined the organization’s commitment to act as a resource for the members, facilitating information sharing and growing the community of ITS professionals in Maryland.
As the chapter began to more clearly define its role in supporting Maryland’s ITS industry, the need for a formal Strategic Plan, with an updated Mission and Vision became apparent. In 1999, ITS Maryland drafted its first strategic plan, with an updated mission:
“ITS Maryland’s mission is to support and promote the deployment of safe, efficient, integrated, and intermodal intelligent transportation systems in Maryland. This will be accomplished by providing a forum for coordination, communication, education, training, and outreach among all interested organizations in the State.”
This version of the mission highlighted the important role ITS Maryland played in fostering integrated and inter-modal ITS projects and programs and added a focus on providing training resources and outreach to actively promote the advancement of ITS services and technologies.
By 2014, the ITS industry was rapidly growing and evolving which prompted the leadership of ITS Maryland to update the chapter’s Strategic Plan. During this iteration of the plan, the Mission Statement became more defined:
“Support and promote the timely deployment and effective operation of integrated, inter-operable, and intermodal intelligent transportation systems at the state, regional, and local levels by being a forum to coordinate among members; sponsoring programs, events and research for education and training; communicating with stakeholders, neighboring chapters and agencies; allocating in a responsible manner available chapter resources; and awarding volunteer efforts.”
This Mission Statement specifically identified a number of functions of a fully mature professional association, that hadn’t been previously documented for the chapter. These functions included sponsoring programs, research, training, allocating chapter resources and awarding volunteer efforts.
As the ITS Industry continues to advance, ITS Maryland will continue to grow as a critical forum for exchanging information. Consequently, the chapter’s vision and mission will be further updated in future versions of the Strategic Plan.
The 2014 Strategic Plan was also the first time the chapter drafted specific and defined strategic goals. These goals address not only the role of ITS Maryland in facilitating information exchange, but also include a focus on ensuring the wellbeing of the organization, actively promoting the ITS industry, working cooperatively with partner organizations and fulfilling training and educations needs of the members.
Specifically, the 2014 Strategic Plan identified the following five goal areas:
