Geo-informatics may not be the most preferred option for engineering aspirants but it definitely has scope to provide solutions to everyday problems.
S. Nivedita, a student of geo-informatics at the College of Engineering, Guindy is out to prove exactly this.
“Maps, combined with technology, can give you valuable information,” she said, as she demonstrated an app that enables a user to find out where buses are on a particular route. It also gives you information about the bus stops nearest to your current location, she added.
The app, which analyses data from GPS devices, has been developed for android platforms and the team is trying to adapt it for other platforms too.
“We studied the GPS devices fitted in all government buses. Most of them are functional but the data doesn’t reach the display boards but goes to some other server,” said Nivedita.
The team members said coding on open source platforms was an interesting and educational experience.
They also said they had developed code to direct the information to a server in CEG, Guindy from where the app would source the data. They have been in touch with Metropolitan Transport Corporation officials and are planning to release the app in a few days.
“We had requested data regarding the schedule of buses from the MTC. As of now, the functioning of the app is based on old data. Once we have the relevant information, we can release the app for use,” said M. Palaniappan, a computer engineering student who is part of the team.
So, will the app also tell users how crowded a bus is? “That is the next level of the app. We are trying to collate the number of tickets issued till the the query for that information,” Nivedita said.