DUOLABS
Work

Bus information map service for new towns

We took part in building a bus information web map that a provincial government created for residents of its new towns. Residents check where each route's buses are and when they are expected at each stop, live on the map. The people using it were new arrivals still unfamiliar with local transit, so if routes, stops, and buses could not be read at a glance, there was no reason to use it. Our part was extending map technology developed for an oil refiner's web map to public transit, and carrying traffic data through to the map screen.

Launch
2008
Client
A Korean provincial government
Type
Maps & Geospatial
01 / 04

A map that shows where the bus is and when it will come

The new-town bus information map is a public service where residents check live bus positions and arrival times by route on a web map. In a bus information system, a terminal on each bus sends its satellite-tracked position to a control center, which uses those positions to calculate expected arrival times for every stop and shows them online and on display boards at stops. The web map is where residents check that information before heading out to catch a bus. Its main users were new arrivals who did not yet know the bus routes, so opening the map had to show stops and approaching buses right away. We took part in building these screens.

A map that shows where the bus is and when it will come
02 / 04

Routes, stops, and buses layered onto one map

Bus information is data where routes, stops, bus positions, and arrival times are all tangled together. A resident opening a bus information service usually wants two things: where the stop they need is, and how many stops away their bus is right now. Laid out as a table, residents get stuck just finding their own route. We drew all four together on the map so that which route's bus is near which stop can be read from a single map.

Routes, stops, and buses layered onto one map
03 / 04

Map technology stretched from an oil refiner's web map to public transit

The bus information map was built on map technology developed earlier for an oil refiner's web map and fuel-station locator. Map display, panning, zooming, and position rendering were extended to meet what the bus information service required. A map that had shown fuel stations standing still now showed buses moving along their routes.

Map technology stretched from an oil refiner's web map to public transit
04 / 04

A processing flow that carries heavy traffic data to the map

Bus positions and arrival times arrive as a continuous, large stream of traffic data. We set up the processing flow that takes in this data and turns it into the form the web map screen needs, and connected it to the map. Real new-town residents used the service and sent feedback, and it became the starting point for later work on public and map services.

A processing flow that carries heavy traffic data to the map

Highlights

01

Live bus positions and arrival times by route on the map

02

Web map technology extended for a public transit service

03

A processing flow carrying large volumes of traffic data to the map

Insights

Read the blog