Drafted by Motionworks · for COMMB Research Committee review

A road-anchored observation layer beneath ROADMAP.

ROADMAP is the Canadian out-of-home currency. COMMB owns it. We are proposing an additive measurement substrate — face-level, hourly, independently observed — that sits beneath the currency without replacing the unit, the governance, or the bureau's role as authority. This page is a concept document, not a deliverable.

Status: Prototype concept Certification: None Audience: COMMB · members · agencies Decision authority: COMMB
01 / The bureau

COMMB sets the unit. Always has.

ROADMAP is the published currency for the top 41 Canadian markets, governed by COMMB, calibrated by member operators, and used by buy-side and agencies as the trade unit.

We are not proposing a new currency. We are not proposing to displace ROADMAP. We are proposing what a complementary, road-anchored observation layer could look like underneath it — and asking the bureau and its members whether that layer is worth piloting.

ROADMAP · the currency unit Owner: COMMB
Currency layer Face-level R+F
· Top 41 Canadian markets
· Face-level reach & frequency
· Weekly publication cadence
· Bureau-governed methodology
· Member operator inputs
· Bilingual reporting (EN / FR)
What this layer is: the trade unit. It is the number on every Canadian OOH plan, post-buy, and reconciliation.
02 / The road

What a substrate beneath the currency could look like.

A continuous, road-anchored observation surface across the Canadian highway and arterial network. Face-level resolution. Independent of the operator inputs that feed ROADMAP today.

The map at right is the Motionworks production Pathcast tile surface — the same tileset that runs in our US deployments — rendered over downtown Toronto. No numeric volumes are surfaced on this page; the gradient is the only signal. Any value worth standing behind would go through bureau review before publication.

Pathcast · road observation Toronto · downtown core
Illustrative concept. No measured volumes shown. Not COMMB-certified.
Road labels are public road names only. The visual gradient shows relative intensity from our production Pathcast surface. Numeric volumes are deliberately omitted at this stage of the conversation.
03 / The hour

Hourly is a planning lens, not a currency change.

ROADMAP today publishes at weekly cadence — the right cadence for a trade unit. A road-anchored substrate underneath could surface hourly structure for daypart-sensitive planning without altering the currency cadence above it.

Morning rush, midday plateau, evening rush, late-evening tail — the shape is recognizable to any planner. The point is the shape, not a published number. A pilot would determine whether the bureau and members find this lens useful as planning input.

Daypart shape · illustrative No vertical scale
HIGH LOW 6a 9a 12p 3p 6p 9p 11p
Weekday shape Weekend shape
⚠ Illustrative pattern · not measured volume · no vertical scale published
04 / The country

Coverage scope across Canada.

The Pathcast surface runs nationwide today. A COMMB-governed extension layer would inherit that footprint: every CMA on the ROADMAP map, bilingual (EN / FR) reporting from day one, no centre-of-the-country bias.

Quebec, the Maritimes, and the Prairies are first-class markets here, not afterthoughts. ROADMAP's national authority is the design constraint: anywhere ROADMAP publishes, a substrate would have to cover.

Canadian markets · concept scope EN · FR parity
TorontoGTA · Flagship
MontréalQC · EN / FR
VancouverMetro · Pacific
CalgaryAB · Prairie
EdmontonAB · Prairie
Ottawa–GatineauON / QC · Cross-border
Québec CityQC · FR primary
WinnipegMB · Prairie
HamiltonON · GTHA
LondonON · SWO
Kitchener–WaterlooON · SWO
HalifaxNS · Maritimes
St. John'sNL · Atlantic
MonctonNB · EN / FR
SaskatoonSK · Prairie
ReginaSK · Prairie
SherbrookeQC · FR primary
Trois-RivièresQC · FR primary
VictoriaBC · Island
+ 22 additional CMAsAcross the ROADMAP map
Bilingual from day one. Every output layer would ship EN and FR in parity. Quebec is not a translation step.
05 / The stakeholders

Three parties. One conversation.

A bureau-governed substrate only works if every party gets a clear, legible answer to "what do I give, and what do I get." Here is the proposed answer.

Bureau · COMMB

Owns the methodology gate.

  • Governance authority — every output passes a Research Committee review before publication.
  • Methodology transparency — Motionworks publishes the substrate model openly to the bureau.
  • Currency unit unchanged — ROADMAP remains the trade unit.
  • Sign-off rights — the bureau can pause, scope down, or veto any output.
Members · operators

Veto, contribute, audit.

  • Pilot methodology feedback in private review — no public commitment.
  • Optional face-cluster contribution under member-controlled aggregation thresholds.
  • Default contribution: none required. Substrate works without operator input.
  • Explicit veto rights at every gate before any output becomes buyer-facing.
Buyers · agencies

Sharper daypart planning.

  • Hourly daypart shape underneath weekly ROADMAP currency.
  • Road-anchored cross-check — independent reference figure.
  • Trade unit unchanged — ROADMAP remains the post-buy and reconciliation number.
  • Bilingual EN / FR planning input across all 41 CMAs.
What we'd ask of operators

Three asks. None of them require operator data on day one.

Operator participation is staged and reversible. Day-one pilot work does not require any operator-side data contribution. Member participation deepens only as members choose to deepen it, and only with explicit veto rights at every gate.

Ask 01

Methodology review in private session.

Read the proposed substrate model. Tell us where it's wrong, where it overclaims, where it doesn't match what operators see on the ground. No public commitment. Notes stay in the bureau working group.

Ask 02

Optional face-cluster contribution.

If a member wants tighter cross-check against their inventory: optional, member-controlled aggregation thresholds. Member decides what to share, when, at what granularity. Default is share-nothing.

Ask 03

Explicit veto rights at every gate.

No output that derives from a member's contribution reaches the buyer-facing surface without that member's sign-off. Veto is a first-class operation, not an escalation path.

Day-one default: Zero operator data required.
Suggested pilot note · Motionworks draft From: Motionworks · For: Member discussion

A note to members, drafted for review.

We are exploring whether a road-anchored observation substrate could sit underneath ROADMAP as a planning lens — not as a competing currency, and not as a substitute reading of inventory. We are bringing the concept to the bureau first, and to members at the bureau's invitation. Nothing in this concept is in market.

We are not asking for inventory data, posting data, or operational information on day one. We are asking for methodology feedback in a private working session. Anything beyond that is opt-in, scoped, and gated by member veto.

If a pilot moves forward, every output that touches a buyer's plan passes through COMMB Research Committee review first. The trade unit does not change. The bureau's authority does not change. We are bringing additional observation infrastructure to the table; we are not bringing a competing currency.

Drafted by Motionworks · Not COMMB-issued · Not approved · Subject to revision
Governance & privacy

Aggregated planning only. No individuals.

The substrate produces aggregated, planning-grade outputs. It does not produce, surface, or expose person-level movement. Canadian privacy review is a precondition; bureau review is the publication gate.

Privacy posture

Aggregated planning outputs only.

No individual tracking. No raw device IDs surfaced. No person-level movement published. Outputs are road-segment or face-level aggregates designed for planning.

Canadian privacy review

PIPEDA & Law 25 as preconditions.

Any pilot output is reviewed under Canadian privacy law (PIPEDA federally; Loi 25 in Quebec) before publication. Member privacy counsel participates in the working group.

Bureau review gate

COMMB Research Committee sign-off.

No output becomes buyer-facing without bureau Research Committee review. The bureau owns publication authority; Motionworks owns methodology transparency.

Member veto

Explicit, not implied.

If a member contributes data into a pilot output, that member can withhold sign-off and the output does not publish. Veto is a first-class step in the workflow.

Next step · go through the bureau

Request a member working session.

The right next step is a private methodology review with COMMB and interested members — not a direct vendor pitch. Use the channels below to schedule one, or to flag concerns we should address before the conversation goes wider.

Concept document. Not certified. Not in market. Subject to COMMB review.

The methodology brief is in draft. Requesting it routes you to a private working session, not a download. We'd rather walk through the model together than publish it before review.

If COMMB or a member would like the conversation to pause, route through, or replace these CTAs entirely, that's the conversation we want to have first.