A shuttle bus tracking system for Sunway students and staff

A research team of the School of Computer Technology (SCT), Sunway University College has come up with an innovative solution that cuts down unnecessary waiting time for the Sunway Shuttle buses that ply the Sunway Integrated Resort City.

Using GPS data over an open framework of web services and a graphic display system, students can view the exact location of the buses in real time represented by the bus icons on a public display electronic screen. Further information is available such as estimated arrival times at a stop, when a user chooses to interact with the system via SMS, Bluetooth or the web from their mobile phone to a number displayed on the screen. A survey conducted during the research found that 82% of all respondents prefer to have arrival data available on their mobile phones.

A student reading the shuttle tracking system at the guard house of the Sun-U Residence

Currently the public display screens are located at the Sun-U Residence Guard House, the Staff Public Ubiquitous Display (SPUD) (which has a touch screen interaction) at the SCT and the plasma TVs (which can be requested by SMS) in the concourse. This facility is the research project of SCT lecturers Terence Le Grange, Daniel Leow and Lyon Laxman. The project comes under public display research in the areas of human computer interaction and ubiquitous computing. This research has been funded by an internal grant by Sunway University College.

Three students, Henni Ismail the chief architect of the system, who completed a Diploma in Information Technology, Newsha Nosrati, studying a Bachelor of Information Systems (Hons) from Iran and Nicholas Mbaria Kariuki Maina, pursuing a Diploma in Information Engineering from Kenya have been assisting in this project during their 3 month internship at the SCT.

From left to right, Nicholas Mbaria, Daniel Low, Newsha Nosrati and Terence Le Grange with the shuttle tracking system at the SPUD area in the SCT

The Sunway Shuttle bus system is a free service provided by the Sunway Group which makes multiple round trips from 7 am to 9.30 pm around the Sunway Integrated Resort City. It makes nine stops including at Monash University, Sunway Medical Centre, Sunway Resort and Spa, Sunway Lagoon Theme Park and Sunway Pyramid Mall. A complete route is approximately 6.5 km and the frequency of the bus is every 25 minutes. The average time differs depending on traffic conditions and the weather. Heavy rain and traffic are the major cause of delays.

Newsha said “It is good that we can help others using such an application. I hope more students will use the system so that they can plan their trips with greater accuracy”.