The First International Conference on IoT in Urban Space

Research Article

Micro-Navigation for Urban Bus Passengers: Using the Internet of Things to Improve the Public Transport Experience

  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/icst.urb-iot.2014.257373,
        author={Stefan Foell and Gerd Kortuem and Reza Rawassizadeh and Marcus Handte and Umer Iqbal and Pedro Marrón},
        title={Micro-Navigation for Urban Bus Passengers: Using the Internet of Things to Improve the Public Transport Experience},
        proceedings={The First International Conference on IoT in Urban Space},
        publisher={ACM},
        proceedings_a={URB-IOT},
        year={2014},
        month={11},
        keywords={bus navigation public transport smartphone application},
        doi={10.4108/icst.urb-iot.2014.257373}
    }
    
  • Stefan Foell
    Gerd Kortuem
    Reza Rawassizadeh
    Marcus Handte
    Umer Iqbal
    Pedro Marrón
    Year: 2014
    Micro-Navigation for Urban Bus Passengers: Using the Internet of Things to Improve the Public Transport Experience
    URB-IOT
    ICST
    DOI: 10.4108/icst.urb-iot.2014.257373
Stefan Foell1,*, Gerd Kortuem1, Reza Rawassizadeh1, Marcus Handte2, Umer Iqbal2, Pedro Marrón2
  • 1: The Open University
  • 2: University of Duisburg-Essen
*Contact email: stefan.foell@open.ac.uk

Abstract

Public bus services are widely deployed in cities around the world because they provide cost-effective and economic public transportation. However, from a passenger point of view urban bus systems can be complex and difficult to navigate, especially for disadvantaged users, i.e. tourists, novice users, older people, and people with impaired cognitive or physical abilities. We present Urban Bus Navigator (UBN), a reality-aware urban navigation system for bus passengers with the ability to recognize and track the physical public transport infrastructure such as buses. Unlike traditional location-aware mobile transport applications, UBN acts as a true navigation assistant for public transport users. Insights from a six-month long trial in Madrid indicate that UBN removes barriers for public transport usage and has a positive impact on how people feel about public transport journeys.