We built an Android mobile app called Up And Go that helps the commuters to find the best way to work, back home, as well as plan any journey from location A to B within Victoria. The app used BOM weather data, VicRoads Freeway volume data, Road Works and Events Points Snapshot Data.
The idea is providing the user with the best travel route, which could be a combination of drive, park and ride a tram or train, the weather data from BOM also plays an import role in choosing the way of travel.
The initial screen is a Google map based journey planner, once you long click on the map, it drops a pin showing the from location, the latitude and the longitude shows in the from location. Again, long click on the location of the map to select your destination. Finally, tap find my way button, the smart analysis engine started. First, it fetches the weather data forecast in the next 3 hours from BOM, once the weather data is received, the engine will check if the temperature is below 10 degree, then driving will be the first option, normally people don’t want to catch the public transport in a rainy or freezing day. If driving is the option, in the next step, the engine will get the freeway volume data and road works data from VicRoads to check if there is any road works or high volume traffic on the way which will delay the travel. The app presents the result after our app’s selection engine with the aid of these data sets.
Also the app allows the user to set up the daily working travel routine, once the user has set up the home and work address, if they open the app before travel to work or back home, they will get the best advise to the trip.
