ProjectProposal-TakWong
From CS160 User Interfaces Fa06
Contents |
Traffic Information Generator
Target User Group
The main targets of this project are the commuters in the Bay Area that are often stuck in freeway traffic jams. These include the drivers, their passengers, carpoolers, and possibly bus riders if their bus uses the freeway. These commuters want to be able to predict their travel time to and from work or school so that they can budget their time better. The target group can also extend to commuters who need to travel once in a while. These users may gain less benefit since they will only use the set of Anoto pen and paper a few times, which they'll need to buy.
Problem Description
Currently, the commuters in the Bay Area have to allocate more time than they need to the drive to work or school because there might be unexpected traffic congestion. It is frustrating getting stuck in traffic not knowing how much longer it would take to get to work or school. If they get to their destination early, then it will be unplanned "dead time" that they could have used more productively. If these commuters can obtain more traffic information immediate before they leave for work or school, then they can make better use of their time than going to work early. Perhaps they can enjoy their breakfast at home longer, go run an errand, bring a book to read, prepare some work to do, or even catch a nap. If they know they will be late, they can give an advanced notice to their coworkers or push back their appointments.
Problem Context and Forces
Traffic congestion can be caused by traffic accident, road construction, bad weather, or simply more cars than the freeway can accommodate. The travel time can get more unpredictable if the commuter passes through one of the most congested freeways, during peak commute hours, and/or rainy weathers. Many of these commuters have high education and have high income. They usually spend more than 8 hours per day at work, so they want to make the best use of their 24 hours per day. Since they value their time a lot, they are willing to take a small chunk of their time to more accurately budget their time for the rest of their day.
There are many related solutions that already exist and they each have their drawbacks. The local news talk about traffic conditions, but they only update every 15 minutes or so and they may not cover the route you are taking. The 511 hotline gives traffic information, but it only provides information one segment at a time and their voice recognition system isn’t very effective. There is a traffic map on 511.org that users can easily click and check the road condition for each segment, but that requires turning on the computer and getting on the internet. Some cars come with the Global Positioning System, which provides information about which route to take, but it does not necessarily give the most updated traffic information. Plus, it requires the users to get in their car to see the information instead of getting them before they leave their house or workplace.
The idea of paper mapping application is also an idea of some Stanford students in HCI. They have the users trace any route on a map, then hikers can get information on their cell phones about possible obstacles. They also want to have features to let the drivers make sudden decisions such as taking an earlier exit to improve their driving time. However, this idea is not implemented yet.
Solution Sketch
The solution is to provide real time traffic information to the user, including traffic accidents, road constructions, weather alerts (such as high wind and storm advisory), estimated time of travel along congested routes, and the approximate overall time. The solution will be similar to the interface in 511.org, but instead of using the computer and the internet, it will use pen and paper and cell phone. The users will have a map on the special dot-patterned paper that looks similar to the following:
Source: 511.org
The users then trace the segments of the freeway that they plan to travel on. By checking a checkbox, the information is sent to some server, which will find out which segments of the freeway are traced through. The server will send out traffic alert information and the estimated total travel time and speed via text message to the users’ cell phone. The display on the user’s cell phone will look similar to the following:
