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Location Code List / Event Code List

"Autobahn [Motorway] 4, Chemnitz-Dresden, there is a 2km traffic jam between Dresden-West and Dresden City." Listening to similar traffic reports on the radio happens every day.

In order to reach motorists as quickly as possible, the digital traffic message channel is used. The digital traffic message channel (TMC) in the Radio Data System (RDS), or RDS-TMC for short, enables a mostly automated traffic information service. Information on the current traffic situation is transmitted via RDS-TMC as a standardized traffic report.
A TMC message contains coded information on the location and the event of the traffic incident: the message does not specify a street or an intersection by its name or transmits a text message of the event but rather transmits a code for both With the help of the so-called Location Code List (LCL) and Event Code List (ECL), traffic reports are generated based on these codes.

In addition to motorways, the LCL also contains Federal highways, urban and inner-city roads. Important reference points, such as intersections or parking lots along these roads, are also defined as a point location in the LCL. Very often, TMC messages use reference points to describe where the traffic congestion begins and where it ends. In addition to reference points and roadways, areas, such as counties, are also coded in the LCL.

On behalf of the Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr ((BMDV) Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport) the annual update of the LCL as well as the update of the ECL is coordinated by Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen ((BASt) Federal Highway Research Institute). For this purpose, the individual lists that are maintained by the Federal states are combined and checked for quality.

The current German LCL and ECL are disseminated by the BASt. Those stakeholders who generate or process TMC messages require the LCL and the ECL to correctly code or decode the traffic messages. German state traffic information centers, broadcasters, but also terminal manufacturers, software houses, commercial service provider and digital map provider need the LCL and the ECL.

In the year 2022, the last revision and update of the LCL is expected to take place so that the last updated version will be available in early 2023.

Order the Location Code List

Additional Information

  • Federal Highway Research Institute
    (Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen)
    Brüderstraße  53
    D-51427 Bergisch Gladbach
    Germany
  • Ulrich Löhe
    E-Mail: LCL@bast.de