Today’s mobile devices have taken over as the most cost-effective and scalable way to replace legacy hardware solutions, as well as paper solutions, that were both clunky and expensive for users. One taxicab company – Green Cab of Madison – has adopted Apple iPads as their vehicle meter and communication device in their Toyota Prius green cabs. Their iPads are outfitted with a mobile app built on Drupal that enables them to collect real-time vehicle location data, to alert drivers of new calls, and to complete credit card transactions.
How Drupal was leveraged for rapid development of the base dispatch application.
Why Drupal was the right choice for integrating with native and hybrid mobile apps.
Where Drupal can be used for enterprise mobile application
development.
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Objectives
How Drupal was leveraged for rapid development of the base dispatch
application
Why Drupal was the right choice for integrating with native and hybrid
mobile apps
Where Drupal can be used for enterprise mobile application
development
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Promet Source background
Company Background
Founded in 2003
30 + employees
Offices in Chicago IL, Sunnyvale, CA
Company Offerings
Promet Source
Web Development
Mobile Application Development
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Promet Mobile Work
M.DOT sites (Drupal)
Responsive Design and Theming (Drupal)
Mobile Application Development
Native development for:
IOS
Android
Hybrid development with Phonegap
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About Me
Presenter:
Andrew Kucharski
Co-Presenters
Chris Bartlett
Rachel Jaro
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Mobile Application Opportunities
By 2013, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most-common
Web access device worldwide
Transportation CIO’s made Mobility one of their top priorities for
next two years
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Project Background
Green cab of Madison
is an eco-friendly
taxicab service with a
hybrid vehicle taxi fleet
and shared ride service
Green cab needed a
dispatch solution for
their new fleet of cars
equipped with iPads
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Requirements and Challenges
Build a Dispatch system to establish two way ride
request communication with iPads in cars
Month and a half timeline before launch
Zone based ride calculation
Cars to provide up to date location to dispatch
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Green Cab business choices
Option 1 – go with
proprietary hardware
solution
Option 2 – build a
custom code application
Option 3 – build the
application using Drupal
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Our Approach
Use Drupal as Dispatch
Center
Use iPads as mobile
dispatch unit
Use PhoneGap as
application development
platform
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Benefits of Using Drupal
Fast development cycle
Services Module
Security built in
Immediate prototyping
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Application Functionality
Save Ride Request
Schedule a Ride Request for future time and date
Zone based ride cost calculation
Dispatch Taxi for Pick up
Drivers to Receive and Accept or Decline request
Update Driver during request with new information or cancel request
Display location of fleet on a map
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Call Screen
User can click on any call to view in entirety &
make revisions. Pull down menu allows Users to
assign calls to drivers.
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Dispatch's Driver map
Hold curser over orange dot to display cab
number.
All iPads have GPS tracking to
manage cab’s location.
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Receiving calls on ipad
When Driver arrives to the
pick up location, they will
touch ‘Load’ or ‘No Load’
based on whether Rider gets
into cab.
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Additional Benefits
Data Plan only – use skype for voice communication
Credit Card Processing via Little Square
Accept Credit Card information
Receive communication from dispatch
Vehicle Fleet management
Driver management
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Services to the rescue!
3 components of Services module
server modules – receive and render request
authenticatation modules – authentication
Extended authentication model to use both key and drupal authentication
services modules – process and return data
Extended the services module to minimize data transfer
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Challenges
Google Maps API limit
Oversight during development
Limit Wireless Traffic
Extended services module to make our own calls
Testing
Performance Issues
Performance improvement of 500% by limiting views
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Code distribution to iPads
Three ways to get code to your Apple device
IOS SDK
App Store
Enterprise Program
Enterprise program allows for over the air updates to devices
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Next Steps
Native Client App for iPhone and Android
Uses location to populate ride request
Ability track you taxi once ride is assigned
Ability to SMS customers
Automatic Driver routing
In-app navigation (fastest route, traffic avoidance)
Simulate metered functionality via GPS tracking
Financial Reporting
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iPad Application Case Study
Dispatch software built on open
source technology running on iPad
applications instead of proprietary
hardware. Featured by Apple and
AT&T
iPad powered location and fleet
tracking system - running the fleet of
cabs in Madison
Product featured in Wireless week
magazine:
http://www.wirelessweek.com/Articles/201