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tinydanceruk Occasional Visitor
Joined: Feb 06, 2008 Posts: 5
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:02 pm Post subject: GPS journey time dilemma - any help appreciated |
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Hi everyone, just signed up today and it seems like a good site, so hopefully you'll be able to help me with a query I have.
I run a small transport consultancy and as such we undertake journey time surveys - our client normally gives us a specific route (normally in London) and we identify points along the route - normally give ways, traffic lights, bus lanes starting and ending etc.
We used to undertake this with people using clipboards and stopwatchs who recorded the time as each point was passed and they also noted down how long in seconds the vehicle was stationary (either by traffic light, traffic jams etc).
However I'm looking into the possibility for using a GPS & PDA system that would allow me to identify each point (probably by logging it on an initial walk down the route). I would then hope that at the start of each run in a car, the route could be started as it passes the first point or manually started by an operator so that the time when each point is passed & any delay between points also being logged. From this, I would hope to be able to transfer say 30 runs of a route onto an spreadsheet, so I could then analyse the data.
I hope this makes sense and any help would be greatly appreciated with regards to the equipment and software I would require.
Thanks in advance,
Neil |
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Andy_P Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: Jun 04, 2005 Posts: 19991 Location: West and Southwest London
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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I've no experience of it myself, but if you end up using one of the TomTom products there is an add-on program called Tripmaster which might be able to do what you want.
The website is HERE and "roussillat", the author of the program, hangs out HERE |
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Oldboy Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 10643 Location: Suffolk, UK
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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There's an Event Logger Here that might also be of interest. _________________ Richard
TT 910 V7.903: Europe Map v1045
TT Via 135 App 12.075: Europe Map v1135 |
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robertn Frequent Visitor
Joined: Feb 06, 2005 Posts: 564
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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It sounds like you have some fairly specific requirements, and no commercial package will do what you need. The question I have (as a software developer) is how often will you do this? If it is a part of you core business, then some custom software developement may be worth while (big $$$), on the other hand, if it is just something you sometimes do, then you can combine a few products to get a solution.
What is avalible on a numebr of commercial products is an Application interface - if you went down the software development route, TomTom is a good option to start with.
I would look carefully at a PDA with Memory map, memory map provides trip logs, which can then be reviewed on the PC. You may then want a Car Nav system, such as TomTom, which provided the route calcuation and Guidence.
Also have a chat to the guys at navtech and TeleAtlas (They are the map data providers) - they may have ot know of something that does the job. |
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tinydanceruk Occasional Visitor
Joined: Feb 06, 2008 Posts: 5
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:00 am Post subject: |
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Thanks folks, I'll check out the links later today, though to be honest I'm a complete begineer when it comes to this but I'll see if I can make sense of it.
robertn - it's quite a core part of our work these days and the cost for a specific package would quickly be swallowed up the savings in costs over a year, so if you know of anyone that might be able to create a specific package, then I'm all ears! I'll also have a chat with navtech and TeleAtlas |
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GPS_fan Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: Jan 04, 2007 Posts: 2789 Location: Hampshire, UK
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:05 am Post subject: |
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There seem to be a few 'tracking' devices around, but it wasn't clear whether you needed a portable unit (ie one which can be moved from vehicle to vehicle) or a fixed one (ie unit stays in same vehicle for multiple journeys.
This kind of thing might be 'ready to use' straight from the box because it tracks and logs where the vehicle is, how long it has stopped and so on.
I also think that such devices are fairly affordable because some companies use them to monitor their fleets.
Here are a few such systems:
Track you
Vehicle tracking
Fleet management _________________ Andy
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Skippy Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: 24/06/2003 00:22:12 Posts: 2946 Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:40 am Post subject: Re: GPS journey time dilemma - any help appreciated |
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tinydanceruk wrote: | I run a small transport consultancy and as such we undertake journey time surveys - our client normally gives us a specific route (normally in London) and we identify points along the route - normally give ways, traffic lights, bus lanes starting and ending etc. |
You are on the right track (so to speak!) - a GPS system can log the time of day, position, speed and direction each second so this could easily determine the number of seconds you were stopped, average speed, journey time etc. You could have a PDA or laptop touch screen type system where the passenger (or perhaps the driver if you can overcome the potential health and safety risks / legal issues) presses a button on the screen for give way, stop, roundabout, traffic lights, congestion etc.
Another way to do it may be to do what Navteq or Teleatlas do.
You won't need anything as complex as their systems, but if you could get a laptop to record the data, a GPS receiver to log the position/speed/time/heading every second and a reasonably high quality webcam to record a "Police, Camera, Action" style movie of the journey. Add a microphone so the driver can do voice annotations from time to time to point out things that might not be picked up by the web cam and away you go!
At the end of the day, one of your people collects all the movies and post processes the data back at the office. This would mean you only need a driver (with minimal training) and the passenger who would normally sit in the car for hours with a clipboard could stay home at the office and review the videos.
With a decent user interface to the post processing software, they could easily fast forward the uneventful sections of road and just click on buttons for each event type. Journey time/distance/speed/congestion could be automatically calculated.
The software probably wouldn't take too much time to develop and the increase in productivity would be enormous.
Good luck! _________________ Gone fishing! |
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tinydanceruk Occasional Visitor
Joined: Feb 06, 2008 Posts: 5
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:52 am Post subject: |
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Hmmm, sounds like I'm getting somewhere now, thanks everyone!
It would have to be a movable device, preferably a Pocket PC to allow interchangability.
It would mainly be a person on a bus, so even the opportunity to have a touch screen palm where they can press a button each time they pass a point (traffic lights, give way etc).
Does anyone know who I could speak to in more depth regarding software development as it's something I would happily have developed to save money in the long term?
Thanks again for everyones time. |
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tinydanceruk Occasional Visitor
Joined: Feb 06, 2008 Posts: 5
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Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 12:59 pm Post subject: |
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Anyone know? |
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Skippy Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: 24/06/2003 00:22:12 Posts: 2946 Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
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Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:23 pm Post subject: |
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Hmm.
From what I've heard, you can add buttons and functions to TomTom units using their programming API (perhaps a bit like the way POI capture works?). Then you could give your staff a TomTom unit (doesn't necessarily have to be a PDA) with some extra buttons added to the user interface and send them on their way. Battery life will be a problem though.
Unfortunately I probably don't have the time to get involved in such a project at the moment but there must be someone here who knows! _________________ Gone fishing! |
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tinydanceruk Occasional Visitor
Joined: Feb 06, 2008 Posts: 5
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Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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Skippy wrote: | Hmm.
From what I've heard, you can add buttons and functions to TomTom units using their programming API (perhaps a bit like the way POI capture works?). Then you could give your staff a TomTom unit (doesn't necessarily have to be a PDA) with some extra buttons added to the user interface and send them on their way. Battery life will be a problem though.
Unfortunately I probably don't have the time to get involved in such a project at the moment but there must be someone here who knows! |
On you go, a wee weekend project?!
Thanks for the info, unfortunately this just isn't my forte, but I'm starting to piece it together - even Mr Roussillat is trying to help me, though he now has a 'proper' job :D |
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