Carmelo R. García

On Route Travel Assistant for Public Transport Based on Android Technology

A traveler assistant for public transport is described in this paper. The main purpose of this system is to provide to the passenger real time information about the route, for example: estimated time to the next stop of the route or estimated time to the traveler destination, also if desired, tourist information about nearby interesting points. The application is designed for all kind of passengers, but it is especially useful for travelers with special needs or for those who are unfamiliar with a public transport network, for example tourists. Based on Bluetooth and Android technologies, the assistant has a clear and intuitive user interface permitting to the users a friendly interaction with the system and breaking down the barrier to entry for those users not accustomed to work with mobile software applications.

Study on an Indoor Positioning System for Harsh Environments Based on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy

This paper presents a study of positioning system that provides advanced information services based on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technologies. It uses Wi-Fi for rough positioning and BLE for fine positioning. It is designed for use in public transportation system stations and terminals where the conditions are “hostile” or unfavourable due to signal noise produced by the continuous movement of passengers and buses, data collection conducted in the constant presence thereof, multipath fading, non-line of sight (NLOS) conditions, the fact that part of the wireless communication infrastructure has already been deployed and positioned in a way that may not be optimal for positioning purposes, variable humidity conditions, etc. The ultimate goal is to provide a service that may be used to assist people with special needs. We present experimental results based on scene analysis; the main distance metric used was the Euclidean distance but the Mahalanobis distance was also used in one case. The algorithm employed to compare fingerprints was the weighted k-nearest neighbor one. For Wi-Fi, with only three visible access points, accuracy ranged from 3.94 to 4.82 m, and precision from 5.21 to 7.0 m 90% of the time. With respect to BLE, with a low beacon density (1 beacon per 45.7 m2), accuracy ranged from 1.47 to 2.15 m, and precision from 1.81 to 3.58 m 90% of the time. Taking into account the fact that this system is designed to work in real situations in a scenario with high environmental fluctuations, and comparing the results with others obtained in laboratory scenarios, our results are promising and demonstrate that the system would be able to position users with these reasonable values of accuracy and precision.

An Intelligent Parking Management System for Urban Areas.

In this article we describe a low-cost, minimally-intrusive system for the efficient management of parking spaces on both public roads and controlled zones. This system is based on wireless networks of photoelectric sensors that are deployed on the access roads into and out of these areas. The sensors detect the passage of vehicles on these roads and communicate this information to a data centre, thus making it possible to know the number of vehicles in the controlled zone and the occupancy levels in real-time. This information may be communicated to drivers to facilitate their search for a parking space and to authorities so that they may take steps to control traffic when congestion is detected.

Provision of Ubiquitous Tourist Information in Public Transport Networks

This paper outlines an information system for tourists using collective public transport based on mobile devices with limited computation and wireless connection capacities. In this system, the mobile device collaborates with the vehicle infrastructure in order to provide the user with multimedia (visual and audio) information about his/her trip. The information delivered, adapted to the user preferences, is synchronized with the passage of vehicles through points of interest along the route, for example: bus stops, tourist sights, public service centres, etc.

A Social Robot in a Tourist Environment

In this paper, we have focused on applying robotics as a social element and an intermediary in tourism. To that end, a system has been developed that will benefit the tourist experience. To do this, every room of the hotel would have a low-cost social robot, a Karotz. This robot interacts orally with the tourist to provide him or her with news about the hotel and the best tourism activities for the user. The components of the robot were used during the development to make communication flows natural. This has enabled us to create a social robot that covers a need faced by the tourist industry. The developed prototype shows that this is a plausible field of application for social robotics.

Architecture of a Framework for Providing Information Services for Public Transport

This paper presents OnRoute, a framework for developing and running ubiquitous software that provides information services to passengers of public transportation, including payment systems and on-route guidance services. To achieve a high level of interoperability, accessibility and context awareness, OnRoute uses the ubiquitous computing paradigm. To guarantee the quality of the software produced, the reliable software principles used in critical contexts, such as automotive systems, are also considered by the framework. The main components of its architecture (run-time, system services, software components and development discipline) and how they are deployed in the transportation network (stations and vehicles) are described in this paper. Finally, to illustrate the use of OnRoute, the development of a guidance service for travellers is explained.

WikiDIS: A case of collaborative content management system for educative community

In this paper we describe a collaborative content management system based on Wiki Technology. This system, named WikiDIS, is designed to be used on a collaborative way by all persons who are part of an educational community (students, teachers, administrative staff, etc.) Functionalities of WikiDIS are friendly editing, editing and publishing workflows adapted to different types of users and communications facilities. The main functionalities and design aspects are explained in this work.

System Proposal for Mass Transit Service Quality Control Based on GPS Data

Quality is an essential aspect of public transport. In the case of regular public passenger transport by road, punctuality and regularity are criteria used to assess quality of service. Calculating metrics related to these criteria continuously over time and comprehensively across the entire transport network requires the handling of large amounts of data. This article describes a system for continuously and comprehensively monitoring punctuality and regularity. The system uses location data acquired continuously in the vehicles and automatically transferred for analysis. These data are processed intelligently by elements that are commonly used by transport operators: GPS-based tracking system, onboard computer and wireless networks for mobile data communications. The system was tested on a transport company, for which we measured the punctuality of one of the routes that it operates; the results are presented in this article.

Using Massive Vehicle Positioning Data to Improve Control and Planning of Public Road Transport

This study describes a system for the automatic recording of positioning data for public transport vehicles used on roads. With the data provided by this system, transportation-regulatory authorities can control, verify and improve the routes that vehicles use, while also providing new data to improve the representation of the transportation network and providing new services in the context of intelligent metropolitan areas. The system is executed autonomously in the vehicles, by recording their massive positioning data and transferring them to remote data banks for subsequent processing. To illustrate the utility of the system, we present a case of application that consists of identifying the points at which vehicles stop systematically, which may be points of scheduled stops or points at which traffic signals or road topology force the vehicle to stop. This identification is performed using pattern recognition techniques. The system has been applied under real operating conditions, providing the results discussed in the present study.

Context model for ubiquitous information services of public transport

The interoperability is the capacity of a system to work autonomously in different contexts, permitting the collaboration with other systems. To achieve this challenge it is necessary for the system to use a common context model. Therefore the context model is a key aspect of the ubiquitous system. In this work, a context model for public transport information system is explained; this model permits us to develop ubiquitous information services in a context of intermodal public transport networks. The main aspects of this context model are described: the ontology, the representation of the context entities and the main data involved. Using this model, ubiquitous information services, with a high level of functional scalability, context adaptability and accessibility, can be developed.