Communications of the ACM
A Mobile Guide For Buses and Trains
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems are developing SMART-WAY, a smartphone application that will enable public transportation users to better navigate their way around a city.
SMART-WAY is a mobile guide that will help people use public transportation systems, such as trains, buses, and trams, to travel through Europe's city streets. "All you will need to do is to launch our SMART-WAY app on your cell phone and enter your destination," and the system will guide the user to the nearest station and explain how to get from destination to destination, says Fraunhofer researcher Andreas Kuster.
Users also can change their travel plans on the fly and the software will automatically recalculate a new route. "These positioning systems are supplemented by inertial sensors which register whether a vehicle is accelerating or braking in order to decide whether it is in motion or waiting at a stop," Kuster says.
The researchers also developed software that simulates a virtual city and a virtual public transportation system to test the SMART-WAY system. "The software gives us a real feel for how the application would work in real life," says Fraunhofer Institute's Michael Schroder.
From Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
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