Hi Nikhil, Been going over the presentation and first of all this is great work! Very systematic thinking. I have added some of my thoughts below. Not all of this is necessary in v1.0 of this Bus routes mgmt system, but thinking long term, these are features that i thought were important.
*Stop viewing* - Let users rate/comment on the state/quality of bus stop. - Give the users the timings (departure/arrival) for their starting bus stop to the stop they want to go to (some bus maps i've seen only show what time the bus leaves from its depot so the user does not know what time it will reach his/her own stop) Maybe you could have an option for 'Leave now' or 'Leave later' like Google maps *Route viewing* - Let users comment on the state/quality of the bus/driver/conductor. Something like the olacabs app. (only makes sense if more or less the same bus drives on the same route each day) - Let users see a tab showing the expected and actual arrival times of the bus (on average, for different days of the week) sort of like what the irctc website has for trains. This could be enabled with an app that records bus passenger gps data. I have an irctc app that does the same when i'm on a train *Route management* - If the system could somehow show live data for 'number of passengers' on each trip (based on ticket sales/avg distance travelled) that could form the basis for more responsive/flexible decision making on which routes need more frequent buses. It would also give insight into whether the use of buses in the city is increasing/decreasing, thereby giving policymakers incentive to improve the system (because metrics show concrete improvements) Besides the above points we could also have social media integration, so users can share any positive experiences. Also with this system the mobile app would be as important if not more important than the web interface, most internet traffic these days is mobile. I also had some thoughts on the discussion and proposal put forth by Adhiraj. As a separate initiative, it can very well be made the goal for a modelling exercise, seems like a problem that programmers could do well with. The goal would be optimizing the routes for 'time taken' and 'frequency' based on multiple inputs. Regards Craig On Tue, Jul 7, 2015 at 5:08 PM, Sarang Mahajan <sarangkmaha...@gmail.com> wrote: > Dear Nikhil, > A similar exercise was conducted by Mumbai Environmental Social Network > for the Bus route mapping of BEST buses. It was not a competition but a > project for MMRDA. It included pasting of maps on the bus stops which > contain related information of all the routes passing through that stop. It > has been a successful and recognised project by MESN. I am attaching a > photo for your reference. It also won the VOLVO sustainable mobility award! > Please let me know if any such method can be incorporated. > > Regards, > > *Sarang K. Mahajan* > > *Mobile: +91 9011954500 * > > On 7 July 2015 at 12:52, Nikhil VJ <nikhil...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hi Nisha, Srinivas, >> >> Thanks.. the idea started out with engaging a college's whole computer >> engineering department or a prof and his/her students for a full-fledged >> internship/mou project that extends over at least 3 months. And then I >> thought it would be better to throw the challenge out in the open instead >> of locking-in dependency... if the bus authority is the one issuing the >> challenge then it'll probably carry through and get taken up seriously. >> Professors usually complain about not having meaty projects for their >> students' internships. So let's meet that demand. >> >> So right now this is how I envision a possible contest timeline (I'm >> thinking to much ahead but here it is anyway): >> 1. Announcement with open sharing of data and design requirements (so >> really kicking it off with all resources made available) >> 2. Taking in registrations from teams >> 3. Forming an online community of all participating teams and airing out >> all doubts, clarifications etc there >> 4. Setting periodic "checkpoints" of select features that each team must >> achieve and showcase or else be dropped from the competition. (like >> achieving map display, achieving stops-editing, on-map editing, GTFS >> conversion, etc) >> 5. Final lap of 1 month to get everything together, and have to put up >> fully functional prototype loaded with data for public review by a set >> deadline. >> 6. Some surprises that I don't want to reveal right now, they'll work >> only if kept secret. >> >> And here's how I'm thinking of bringing the aspects of collaboration in : >> Teams can contact each other and merge into one, with no roll-back >> possibility. This will be easily done IF we haven't kept any prize money >> that needs to be split. This could lead to, say, a joint solution created >> by 2 or 3 colleges working together. >> >> I don't care if it doesn't work out at the end.. something of this sort >> will produce something or the other that's useful. After all, when you want >> to hit a target, you need to fire a few degrees upward to account for >> gravity. >> >> What I've visualized in the ppt is basically a visualization of the needs >> that the folks at PMPML have been telling us again and again over the last >> few months. 2 weeks back the newly appointed CMD also told us that they >> desperately need this kind of thing, and so I decided to flesh out the >> requirements so we have something detailed to go with. >> >> This would happen at the output end of an ongoing effort to (finally!) >> standardize the data that they have, bringing it to a format that is both >> human and machine compatible (and PMPML-approved.. their consent and >> commitment is critical). So it's taking shape here, please see the >> "swargate" sheet: >> >> https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ppFJeb7Dnj6-1yvniH2Q6exQFzK6fM0wsZNn4XZIvkI >> >> Base data prepared by an org named ITDP, this data is a few years old but >> is more recent that the GTFS file we have, and has had ground-truthing and >> stops rationalization done. So the plan is to populate this, and then guide >> the PMPML's transport managers through editing and updating it, and >> simultaneously we might launch the contest. >> >> >> >> -- >> Cheers, >> Nikhil >> +91-966-583-1250 >> Pune, India >> Self-designed learner at Swaraj University < >> http://www.swarajuniversity.org> >> http://nikhilsheth.blogspot.in >> >> >> >> >> On Tue, Jul 7, 2015 at 11:01 AM, Nisha Thompson <ni...@datameet.org> >> wrote: >> >>> Hey >>> >>> Wow! This is really interesting. I've added our transport committee >>> (Suvajit, Srinivas, and Tejas) to the mail. >>> >>> Where did this come from? Is this something Pune is interested in >>> hosting? Or you are asking them to? >>> >>> I would suggest for contests to look at a good example of working with >>> government sites - Design for America - >>> https://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2010/05/26/design-america-winners/ >>> >>> I would also say that doing the whole system as a contest is a lot of >>> work. Would they have to design the entire web interface or just parts of >>> it? >>> >>> Nisa >>> >>> On Sun, Jul 5, 2015 at 11:47 AM, Nikhil VJ <nikhil...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>>> Hi Friends, >>>> >>>> Kindly take a look at this and suggest if you have any ideas. I'll be >>>> pitching it to PMPML over the next few days. >>>> >>>> The subject line is quite long, here it is again: >>>> >>>> Draft requirements document for Design Contest for open sourced Bus >>>> Routes Management System for PMPML >>>> >>>> PS: In case the attachment got lost on the way, you can get it online >>>> here: >>>> >>>> https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FuLHS84uHuxQEsEquiWxcuiUdkv7Z8l29ImsYay5SHc/edit?usp=sharing >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Cheers, >>>> Nikhil >>>> +91-966-583-1250 >>>> Pune, India >>>> Self-designed learner at Swaraj University < >>>> http://www.swarajuniversity.org> >>>> http://nikhilsheth.blogspot.in >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more >>>> about us by visiting http://datameet.org >>>> --- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "datameet" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to datameet+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Nisha Thompson >>> DataMeet.org >>> ni...@datameet.org >>> skype: nishaqt >>> mobile: 962-061-2245 >>> -- >>> Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more >>> about us by visiting http://datameet.org >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "datameet" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to datameet+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "PTTF" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to pttfgen+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> To post to this group, send email to pttf...@googlegroups.com. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/pttfgen. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > -- Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more about us by visiting http://datameet.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "datameet" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to datameet+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
