2. Introduction to Project
Identify service performance
Notify customers if there’s issues
Data mining with social media
Gain knowledge about specific causes of incidents
3. SEQ Commuter Info Service
Monitors social media feeds
Road authorities
Emergency services
Detects specific information details from public
Emails subscribers notifying them of interruption
Photo: Smart Transport Research Center
4. Project Definition
Android public transport information app
Add additional features to improve usability
Further integration of real time features
Send notifications of service issues directly to users phone
Collect data from social media feeds
5. Application Definition
Improve notification services provided by Translink application
Increase relevance to users specific case
General messages may be irrelevant and confusing for users
Integrate real-time features available from translink API’s further through the app
Use notifications to provide more information than Translink’s service
6. Backend and Analysis System
Collect data sent from users
Add to information available from Facebook and Twitter
Emergency Services
Translink
Information used for detecting service disruptions
Notifications sent to phones if issues will affect journey
View performance of Translink network
7. Development Progress
Analysis of Project
Verify feasibility
Find features to gain competitive edge
Define core functional components
Design of Application
Retrieving service information from translink (OPIA API)
Real time information from translink (GTFS Realtime)
Facebook post integration (Graph API)
10. Any Questions?
References
Smart Transport Research Center. Commuter Info Service. [Accessed on 21st March 2016] Retrieved
from http://seqcommuter.info/
Queensland Government. Translink GTFS Real-Time Feed. [Accessed on 8th April 2016] Retrieved
from https://gtfsrt.api.translink.com.au/
Queensland Government. Translink OPIA API.. [Accessed on 8th April 2016] Retrieved from
https://opia.api.translink.com.au/v2/
Twitter, Inc. REST APIs Twitter Developers. [Accessed on 8th April 2016] Retrieved from
https://dev.twitter.com/rest/public
Facebook. The Graph API. [Accessed on 8th April 2016] Retrieved from
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api
Editor's Notes
Hello and thank you for coming today. I’m Samuel Janetzki and for my project I’m developing the Translink Informer android application.
In evaluating and responding to issues that affect the performance of public transport, there has been limited methods implemented to utilize social media in the detection of these occurrences.
The aim of this project is to provide a platform for crowd sourcing this information and then using it to notify users of the network about these issues.
In crowdsourcing the data from social media feeds, specific information about incidents can be gathered which can be used to identify solutions to problems, so will provide more insight than a service such as Google Traffic.
An existing service that provides functionality similar to this project is the South East Queensland Commuter Information Service.
This system gathers information from translink and emergency services social media feeds about service disruptions or problems affecting the transport network.
Subscribers to the service register their transport plans and if an issue is detected before the trip from the official feeds, then information is gathered from the wider user base of twitter to detect if the issue has been resolved and if it hasn't then an email is sent to the registered account notifying them of the issue.
Translink Informer is designed to replace the Translink android application currently available on the Google Play store, improving on the functionality offered by the current application, Translink Informer will integrate the real time services offered by Translink further into the application to help with journey planning, and also provide notifications of service issues similar to the Commuter Information Service but delivered directly into the hands of the user.
The application will integrate with Facebook and Twitter social media feeds and use this information to generate reports on events that affect Translink services, this information will be anonymously sent to a server where it is collected and used to send notifications to other users of the application.
The Translink application has a notification system that informs users if there are issues at stops or stations that affect the routes or lines that they are taking in their journey, this however doesn’t take into account service problems that won’t affect the user's trip, such as delays or track closures that occur after the user hops off.
This application will implement such improvements so the information about service issues will be more relevant to what will affect the user, and this information will also be integrated into the journey planner to improve accuracy of trip recommendations.
The integration of Translink’s real time APIs will be used so that estimates of arrivals will be more accurate when compared to schedules that do not account for services that have been delayed.
The information in the notifications will contain specific details about the types of service interruptions that will affect their journey so will enable the user to better plan around the service problems.
The secondary component of the project will be implementing a server to collect the data sent from the user’s phone and combine this with information from road authorities and Translink social media feeds.
This information will be used to detect when notifications should be sent to users about issues affecting their journeys, and shall also have an interface to view the summary of service performance over various time periods..
The planning, analysis and design of the application has dominated the the current progress with developing Translink Informer.
This has allowed a well defined plan for how the code will operate in implementation, as well as how the application will appear and perform, to be created which will streamline the development of the code and reduce the amount of unforeseen bugs that will appear during implementation.
The analysis of the project centered around fully defining the functional requirements of the application to determine if the project was a viable system to be developed as well as selecting additional features that could be implemented to give Translink Informer a competitive edge over other applications available on the Play Store.
The design phase consisted of analysing the requirements and features that would be implemented in Translink Informer and coming up with conceptual plans of how the components of the application would be combined. The two primary tasks involved in this was the analysis of the APIs and transmission standards to be used and designing a prototype visual layout.
The APIs used to retrieve service information and real-time information from Translink use the Online Passenger Information Application API and the General Transit Feed Specification, Realtime Library.
Facebook integration of the application will be accomplished using the Graph API to detect new posts by the user and Twitter integration will use the REST API to detect new tweets.
The screen mockups show the initial idea for application layout, with emphasis on what the user of the app would see in regards to the real time data and enhanced issue reporting.
With the modelling of how the APIs will be integrated into Translink Informer, the design of processes within the application and the design mockups, the application development for the rest of the lifespan of the project will entail writing the code to make the various elements functional to the user and working seamlessly.
