Bus arrival predictor on the platform of Google Android

Abstract

Buses transportation system is one of the busiest systems in Hong Kong, according to Hong Kong Yearbook 2007, franchised buses takes up about 34% of the total daily transport volume, which carries about 4 million passengers per day. Although, it provides service with efficiency to citizens in Hong Kong, people still come across the time when they miss a bus and spend a long time queuing at the bus stops. Real time passenger information systems have been adopted for a decade in most parts of the Western Europe and Japan for providing bus arrival information. However, actual implementation schedule of those real time information systems in Hong Kong is still remain an uncertainty. Nowadays, a substantial number of smart phones have the multimedia ability and geo-locating ability. Some of the mobile phone users would use 2G technologies to get access to the Internet while they encounter weak connectivity and poor browsing experience. Furthermore, they lack the positioning device, the Global Positioning System (GPS). This project is aiming to implement a Bus Arrival Predictor on the platform of Google AndroidTM that can provide relevant bus route information with bus arrival time to users. The project explored the great flexibility and capability of the first Google AndroidTM powered mobile phone, HTC G1TM. Moreover, different development platforms and prevalent bus arrival prediction algorithms are briefly discussed, including Kalman Filter, Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and Automatic Passenger Counters (APC). In completing the project, different technologies like AGPS, location detection, route finding and estimated time of arrival will be examined. What’s more, inherited shortage of the evolving Google AndroidTM, such as the lack of walking directions, will be addressed and solution suggested. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide an inspiration of further development on future mobile real time passenger information system, and suggest ways to overcome current limitations.