Travel chains in urban public transportation: Identifying user needs, travel strategies, and travel information system improvements

The implementation of a functional public transportation network has many benefits for a city, among other things, a way of sustainable mobility. Today, urban areas face the challenge of keeping up with technological trends and encouraging mobility activities using public transportation. For this reason, it is important to understand public transportation user behavior and, consequently, the motives and challenges related to urban travel. Research in the field of urban transportation mainly focuses on systematic and network-related issues to improve the travel experience. However, examining urban travel from a user’s perspective is equally essential to improving a city’s transportation network. With the help of twenty participants, an extensive travel study in the urban area of Zurich took place. The research design consists of a three-step mixed method approach. Data on travel behavior, mobility preferences, and information needs are obtained. The data is explored using an advanced travel chain structure, revealing results in the context of individual travel phases. The results show that urban travel relies heavily on the information apps provide, especially when planning. This need is mainly bound to spatial and temporal properties, for which app elements such as maps, dynamic timetables, and real-time information are most valued. Furthermore, travel using public transportation is approached by evaluating suggested routes according to the journey’s duration, efficiency, and complexity. However, decisions are often based on familiarity with the general area or interchange points. Uncertainties during urban travel are mitigated by walking when suitable, avoiding complex interchanges, and monitoring all phases with the help of an app. User results also indicate no serious issues regarding the City of Zurich as a public transportation provider. Nonetheless, measures could include integrating crowdsourced and context-aware data to meet the demands of adaptive and accurate travel information needs. The broader implications of the thesis outcome support cities and transportation service providers in understanding travel behavior. Consequently, this insight enables them to address specific needs and thus encourage sustainable mobility

Findings from measuring door-to-door travellers’ travel satisfaction with traditional and smartphone app survey methods in eight European cities

This study investigates how different travel satisfaction survey methods influence the reported level of door-to-door travel satisfaction among travellers. The travel satisfaction measurement survey tools tested consisted of two types of smartphone applications (a satellite navigation app and a game app), an on-line survey, a paper-based semi-structured questionnaire and a focus group. Each of the measurement tools comprised of a similar set of questions, but in different formats, aimed at exploring the pros and cons of each tool among different group of travellers. In total, 5,275 valid responses were collected during the survey period from eight European cities and five FIA (Federation Internationale de I'Automobile) national motorist networks. The analysis results, with ordered logit model of travellers' reported overall satisfaction, showed that the travel satisfaction reported by different survey methods and different travel modes and user groups, correlated with distinct groups of key determinants. The relationship between and within these key determinants, however, was far from straight forward. Some were more complex than others. Some issues, such as parking availability and security, that are mostly discussed by policy makers and users may not be the ones that directly correlate with the users' overall travel satisfactions. Consistent with previous studies, the travellers' mood and previous experience influenced the reported overall journey satisfaction

CT-Mapper: Mapping Sparse Multimodal Cellular Trajectories using a Multilayer Transportation Network

Mobile phone data have recently become an attractive source of information about mobility behavior. Since cell phone data can be captured in a passive way for a large user population, they can be harnessed to collect well-sampled mobility information. In this paper, we propose CT-Mapper, an unsupervised algorithm that enables the mapping of mobile phone traces over a multimodal transport network. One of the main strengths of CT-Mapper is its capability to map noisy sparse cellular multimodal trajectories over a multilayer transportation network where the layers have different physical properties and not only to map trajectories associated with a single layer. Such a network is modeled by a large multilayer graph in which the nodes correspond to metro/train stations or road intersections and edges correspond to connections between them. The mapping problem is modeled by an unsupervised HMM where the observations correspond to sparse user mobile trajectories and the hidden states to the multilayer graph nodes. The HMM is unsupervised as the transition and emission probabilities are inferred using respectively the physical transportation properties and the information on the spatial coverage of antenna base stations. To evaluate CT-Mapper we collected cellular traces with their corresponding GPS trajectories for a group of volunteer users in Paris and vicinity (France). We show that CT-Mapper is able to accurately retrieve the real cell phone user paths despite the sparsity of the observed trace trajectories. Furthermore our transition probability model is up to 20% more accurate than other naive models.Comment: Under revision in Computer Communication Journa

Smart Navigation for Modern Cities

Modern cities face a continuous growth of car population, at that, the number of drivers also grows and most of them use various navigation systems while choosing the best route as well as at the traffic situations’ assessment. .In this regard it is important to have a navigator that secures a quick and easy access to the required information and proposes alternative routes. Usability of the navigator depends on the simplicity of the graphic user interfaces and also on the available collection of maps. Usefulness of the information received by the users on their requests depends on how well the context of the request, like driver type, driver experience, used vehicle, weather conditions, road surface, is taken into account. When creating a new route it is necessary to consider the current situation on the road using operative data, the driver’s preferences and also to forecast the traffic density of the roads that are in the route. To solve the above listed it will be necessary to use in the navigator certain artificial intelligent tools as expert system and inference machine. The paper presents the smart navigator for modern cities developed based on intelligent geoinformation systems. Similar smart navigators have been already developed for solving problems of small navigation. It is suggested to create smart car navigators for modern cities using key solutions developed for small navigation

Playful AR - Playfulness and augmented reality in a route planning application

This thesis explores implementing playfulness into a route planning application using augmented reality. While AR in itself has been around since the 1960s, the use of it on smartphones is a quite new territory. The potential for AR as an everyday tool grows with the development of technology, and the use of the cameras in smartphones. Because of its newness there are still issues with the user experience and different opinions on how to best utilise it. The preliminary idea for this design concept was of a route planning application with AR, which helps the user map themselves in 3D space. Looking at past and present applications, many of them are games or have a lighthearted way of using AR. Implementing playfulness in design can make the user experience more pleasurable for the user. Adding playfulness as a means of introducing users to a new way of navigating, not only new applications and technology, but in the real world as well. The combining of the AR app and playfulness was achieved in this thesis with the help of the Playful Experience Framework (PLEX). A video prototype was made based on the design concept derived from the PLEX cards. The video prototype was then used in interviews where the design concept was explained. The aim of the interviews was to gauge the overall reaction to this type of application and answer questions such as: who would use it, how would they use it, and how they found the playful experience? The reception of playful aspect of the application played a part in analysing the responses in order to see how to proceed with the concept and whether it was a viable idea or not. The overall opinion of the design concept was positive with many wanting to test it out, which would be the next step in development after new iteration is complete, fixing the issues found in the current one.Denna avhandling utforskar implementationen av lekfullhet i en ruttplaneringsapplikation med hjälp av förstärkt verklighet (augmented reality / AR). Medan AR i sig har funnits sedan 1960-talet är användningen av det i smartmobiler ett helt nytt område. Potentialen för AR som ett vardagsverktyg växer i takt med utvecklingen av teknik och användningen av kamerorna i smartmobiler. Eftersom AR är en ny användarupplevelse, finns det fortfarande problem med den och åsikterna om hur den bäst ska utnyttjas varierar. Den preliminära idén för avhandlingens koncept var en ruttplaneringsapplikation med AR som hjälper användaren orientera sig själv i en 3D-värld. Många nu existerande AR-applikationer är spel eller utnyttjar AR på ett lekfullt sätt vilket kan göra användarupplevelsen mer njutbar för användaren. Lekfullhet kan användas som ett sätt att introducera användare till ett nytt sätt att navigera, inte bara nya applikationer och teknik, utan också i den verkliga världen. I denna avhandling förverkligades kombinationen av ar-appen och lekfullhet med hjälp av ett så kallat “Playful Experience Framework” (PLEX). En videoprototyp gjordes baserat på PLEX kortens koncept. Videoprototypen användes sedan i in-tervjuer där designkonceptet förklarades. Syftet med intervjuerna var att mäta den övergripande reaktionen på denna typ av applikation och svara på frågor som: vem skulle använda den, hur skulle de använda den, och hur den lekfulla upplevelsen upplevdes. För att se hur man skulle kunna fortsätta med konceptet och huruvida det var en genomförbar idé eller inte, var motta-gandet av den lekfulla aspekten av applikationen speciellt viktig i analysen av svaren. Det allmänna mottagandet av konceptet var positiv och många sade sig vilja testa prototypen, vilket skulle vara nästa steg i utvecklingen efter det att en ny iteration är färdig, med korrigeringar av de problem som identifierats i den nuvarande versionen

ENHANCING USERS’ EXPERIENCE WITH SMART MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

The aim of this thesis is to investigate mobile guides for use with smartphones. Mobile guides have been successfully used to provide information, personalisation and navigation for the user. The researcher also wanted to ascertain how and in what ways mobile guides can enhance users' experience. This research involved designing and developing web based applications to run on smartphones. Four studies were conducted, two of which involved testing of the particular application. The applications tested were a museum mobile guide application and a university mobile guide mapping application. Initial testing examined the prototype work for the ‘Chronology of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah’ application. The results were used to assess the potential of using similar mobile guides in Brunei Darussalam’s museums. The second study involved testing of the ‘Kent LiveMap’ application for use at the University of Kent. Students at the university tested this mapping application, which uses crowdsourcing of information to provide live data. The results were promising and indicate that users' experience was enhanced when using the application. Overall results from testing and using the two applications that were developed as part of this thesis show that mobile guides have the potential to be implemented in Brunei Darussalam’s museums and on campus at the University of Kent. However, modifications to both applications are required to fulfil their potential and take them beyond the prototype stage in order to be fully functioning and commercially viable

An Orientation & Mobility Aid for People with Visual Impairments

Orientierung&Mobilität (O&M) umfasst eine Reihe von Techniken für Menschen mit Sehschädigungen, die ihnen helfen, sich im Alltag zurechtzufinden. Dennoch benötigen sie einen umfangreichen und sehr aufwendigen Einzelunterricht mit O&M Lehrern, um diese Techniken in ihre täglichen Abläufe zu integrieren. Während einige dieser Techniken assistive Technologien benutzen, wie zum Beispiel den Blinden-Langstock, Points of Interest Datenbanken oder ein Kompass gestütztes Orientierungssystem, existiert eine unscheinbare Kommunikationslücke zwischen verfügbaren Hilfsmitteln und Navigationssystemen. In den letzten Jahren sind mobile Rechensysteme, insbesondere Smartphones, allgegenwärtig geworden. Dies eröffnet modernen Techniken des maschinellen Sehens die Möglichkeit, den menschlichen Sehsinn bei Problemen im Alltag zu unterstützen, die durch ein nicht barrierefreies Design entstanden sind. Dennoch muss mit besonderer Sorgfalt vorgegangen werden, um dabei nicht mit den speziellen persönlichen Kompetenzen und antrainierten Verhaltensweisen zu kollidieren, oder schlimmstenfalls O&M Techniken sogar zu widersprechen. In dieser Dissertation identifizieren wir eine räumliche und systembedingte Lücke zwischen Orientierungshilfen und Navigationssystemen für Menschen mit Sehschädigung. Die räumliche Lücke existiert hauptsächlich, da assistive Orientierungshilfen, wie zum Beispiel der Blinden-Langstock, nur dabei helfen können, die Umgebung in einem limitierten Bereich wahrzunehmen, während Navigationsinformationen nur sehr weitläufig gehalten sind. Zusätzlich entsteht diese Lücke auch systembedingt zwischen diesen beiden Komponenten — der Blinden-Langstock kennt die Route nicht, während ein Navigationssystem nahegelegene Hindernisse oder O&M Techniken nicht weiter betrachtet. Daher schlagen wir verschiedene Ansätze zum Schließen dieser Lücke vor, um die Verbindung und Kommunikation zwischen Orientierungshilfen und Navigationsinformationen zu verbessern und betrachten das Problem dabei aus beiden Richtungen. Um nützliche relevante Informationen bereitzustellen, identifizieren wir zuerst die bedeutendsten Anforderungen an assistive Systeme und erstellen einige Schlüsselkonzepte, die wir bei unseren Algorithmen und Prototypen beachten. Existierende assistive Systeme zur Orientierung basieren hauptsächlich auf globalen Navigationssatellitensystemen. Wir versuchen, diese zu verbessern, indem wir einen auf Leitlinien basierenden Routing Algorithmus erstellen, der auf individuelle Bedürfnisse anpassbar ist und diese berücksichtigt. Generierte Routen sind zwar unmerklich länger, aber auch viel sicherer, gemäß den in Zusammenarbeit mit O&M Lehrern erstellten objektiven Kriterien. Außerdem verbessern wir die Verfügbarkeit von relevanten georeferenzierten Datenbanken, die für ein derartiges bedarfsgerechtes Routing benötigt werden. Zu diesem Zweck erstellen wir einen maschinellen Lernansatz, mit dem wir Zebrastreifen in Luftbildern erkennen, was auch über Ländergrenzen hinweg funktioniert, und verbessern dabei den Stand der Technik. Um den Nutzen von Mobilitätsassistenz durch maschinelles Sehen zu optimieren, erstellen wir O&M Techniken nachempfundene Ansätze, um die räumliche Wahrnehmung der unmittelbaren Umgebung zu erhöhen. Zuerst betrachten wir dazu die verfügbare Freifläche und informieren auch über mögliche Hindernisse. Weiterhin erstellen wir einen neuartigen Ansatz, um die verfügbaren Leitlinien zu erkennen und genau zu lokalisieren, und erzeugen virtuelle Leitlinien, welche Unterbrechungen überbrücken und bereits frühzeitig Informationen über die nächste Leitlinie bereitstellen. Abschließend verbessern wir die Zugänglichkeit von Fußgängerübergängen, insbesondere Zebrastreifen und Fußgängerampeln, mit einem Deep Learning Ansatz. Um zu analysieren, ob unsere erstellten Ansätze und Algorithmen einen tatsächlichen Mehrwert für Menschen mit Sehschädigung erzeugen, vollziehen wir ein kleines Wizard-of-Oz-Experiment zu unserem bedarfsgerechten Routing — mit einem sehr ermutigendem Ergebnis. Weiterhin führen wir eine umfangreichere Studie mit verschiedenen Komponenten und dem Fokus auf Fußgängerübergänge durch. Obwohl unsere statistischen Auswertungen nur eine geringfügige Verbesserung aufzeigen, beeinflußt durch technische Probleme mit dem ersten Prototypen und einer zu geringen Eingewöhnungszeit der Probanden an das System, bekommen wir viel versprechende Kommentare von fast allen Studienteilnehmern. Dies zeigt, daß wir bereits einen wichtigen ersten Schritt zum Schließen der identifizierten Lücke geleistet haben und Orientierung&Mobilität für Menschen mit Sehschädigung damit verbessern konnten

Beacon technology for real-time informing the traffic network users about the environment

Informing the users about their environment is of extreme importance for their full and independent functioning in the traffic system. Today’s development of technology provides the user the access to information about their environment by using the smartphone device at any moment if there is a defined applicative solution. For this, it is necessary to define the user’s environment according to the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) concept, which understands adequate technology of gathering, processing and distribution of information. This paper presents the proposal of the solution for informing the traffic network users about the environment for the defined group of users based on the beacon technology. The mentioned solution is based on the results of two separate studies about the needs of users who move along a part of the traffic network. The aim of the proposed solution is to provide the user with precise and real-time information and to raise the level of safety during movement

BEACON TECHNOLOGY FOR REAL-TIME INFORMING THE TRAFFIC NETWORK USERS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT

Informing the users about their environment is of extreme importance for their full and independent functioning in the traffic system. Today’s development of technology provides the user the access to information about their environment by using the smartphone device at any moment if there is a defined applicative solution. For this, it is necessary to define the user’s environment according to the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) concept, which understands adequate technology of gathering, processing and distribution of information. This paper presents the proposal of the solution for informing the traffic network users about the environment for the defined group of users based on the beacon technology. The mentioned solution is based on the results of two separate studies about the needs of users who move along a part of the traffic network. The aim of the proposed solution is to provide the user with precise and real-time information and to raise the level of safety during movement. Document type: Articl