Mapping Bus line 85

Michael AlexanderHoklan Hau

Motivation

• Public transportation provides many societal benefits

• Madison’s public transportation system is confusing to use– Lead to underutilization

Hypothesis

• By making navigation of the city of Madison’s bus service more accessible, we can increase participation

Methods

• Equipment– 3 handheld GPS recievers (Garmin etrex)– Digital Camera– GPS Software and PC

• Fieldwork– 3 waypoints for each bus stop – 5 min at each waypoint– Photo of each bus stop

Methods Cont.

• Data Analysis– Data download– Matlab

• Average coordinates• Statistics and error calculations

• Google Maps Integration– Import waypoints– Photo-tagging– Interactive timetable

OverviewGPS Receiver

GPS Waypoints

Matlab Analysis

Google Earth KMZ file with timetable and

photographs

Google Earth Metro Timetable

Digital Photos

Project Specification

• Absolute Accuracy of 6m– Bus usually stops within ~6m of sign– Rte. Markers usually within plain sight

• Interactive Google Map– Route– Picture– Timetable link

Results

• Average Error: 5.24m• Outlier: Lake and Langdon

– Error: 330.59m– Visual Inspection revealed two waypoints at a

considerable distance from ground position

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Waypoint: 8505Loc: Randall & Eng. DriveCoords: 43.07198 , -89.40916333NS Error: 2.95mEW Error: 0.79mAvg. Error: 1.87m

Waypoint: 8500Loc: Lake & LangodCoords: 43.0722967, -89.40352 NS Error: 327.14mEW Error: 334.77mAvg. Error:330.95

Final Bus Map

Google Maps

Conclusions

• Needed more waypoints and follow-up measurements to increase accuracy

• Allot more time to fieldwork• Silver Etrex is better and easier than yellow

Future Work

• Map all bus stops in Madison• Integrate with online timetable search

– Bus Stop IDs in metadata– Algorithm for directions / transfers

• Look at bus users before and after interactive bus map

Questions?