Bus Tracking info

[Kevin Hernandez]

Hello everyone, 

This is in regard to the bus tracking issue which you are trying to solve. I mentioned this app in our meeting today: Tiramisu. It has become a pretty popular solution among university students in Pittsburgh. It wouldn't be a small feat to replicate it but I think something similar would be a viable alternative to relying on government authorities and it would be extensible to all public transit in Miami. It incentivizes people to crowd source the collection of bus data by giving them access to the most accurate predictions of when busses will arrive. There are some publications which this group has made about crowd sourcing public transit information here. Maybe some of you guys would find some of this info helpful!

-Kevin

[Adrian Cardenas]

Thanks Kevin, do you know if the source code for the app is open source?

Also, wanted to share that Kim suggested that once we have the marketing plan that we contact Uber and/or Lyft about sponsoring it as they're interested parties & certainly have enough money.

Adrian R. Cardenas

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[Kevin Hernandez]

Accidentally didn't reply all before:

I doubt it but I know one of the professors involved in this so I sent him an email and asked what it would take to allow a group in Miami to port it for here. I know they have functionality for a few other cities but it may be something that only they choose. I'll keep you posted. 

How would everyone get a marketing plan solidified? Can we get the contact info of everyone interested in producing this to form a more directed mailing group or is that something that would only be picked at during weekly meetings?

UPDATE - 

I got in touch with the Tiramisu group and funny enough one of the leading members is a Miami native. I am hoping to get in touch with him soon to learn what kind of obstacles are standing in his way in bringing this to the Miami area. These guys have been dealing with transit data for a long time so it would be really good to get some expert advice.

[Adrian Cardenas]

I think for right now, until we start to get a better idea of what we're going to do, just following this thread should be good. I'm open to organizing something more specific if everyone thinks we're already there.

Incidentally I spoke with my advertising friends & this is what they had to say:

Gathering that kind of information from our vendors is pretty labor intensive…its not something that we have off hand since many factors come into play like locations, timeframe, sizes, routes of mobile advertisers etc.
We typically gather the information on a per client basis.
However, if Code for Miami would like to get a formal proposal let me know.
Maybe we can set up a meeting and discuss?

The company is AB&A Advertising if anyone is interested to know.

I think it's cute that they tried to sell me, but at least we have an idea of some of the leg work involved in this.

-Adrian

[Ernie Hsiung]

Thanks, Kevin!

So as you probably understand, working with open source code is the easiest for a brigade like us because then we can just fork, localize and then publish. (It also bypasses any possible awkward moments, especially in regards to licensing and contracts and stuff like that.)

In regards to getting a marketing plan or stuff, I definitely feel like it helps where you have someone(s) that are in charge of a specific project so it doesn't lose focus over the weeks. In your case, because you have a return-to-Pittsburgh date, knowing that helps too so we can know the scope of a project in advance and find developers or designers or other folk accordingly.

What do you guys think?

- E

[Kevin Hernandez]

No problem. I will most likely meet with one of the developers soon to get their perspective on how we can address transit problems. I know open source is best for the Code for Miami group and unfortunately this app is closed source due to becoming a spin off company from a research project etc. However, If adding Miami support is as simple as implementing a plugin I would be more than happy to do that for them so that we would have at least something in the interim of our marketing campaign taking any affect with the city. Additionally, after I meet with one of their developers I may be able to get a better idea of what we could do to better direct any marketing plan because it may be something they have dealt with before or are more knowledgeable on.

Me reaching out to the folks at Tiramisu is a tangent to the posed marketing plan. I would be more than happy to contribute to the marketing plan as well but I would definitely need more direction as to what exactly it is we are trying to accomplish with it. It would be great if everyone could get together and really form a direction of goals and reasonable time frames. A more explicit commitment from whoever within Code for Miami would like to be involved would also be great so that we can get an efficient division of labor going (this I believe is the most important thing). I am not exactly sure when I will be returning to Pittsburgh but I will keep you guys posted. I am more than happy to contribute virtually, though, and tinker in this group at least until classes resume (this would probably remove most of my free time) on August 25th.

You guys have a lot more experience with this group so I am not exactly sure how these projects normally are approached and what is successful. Feedback for any of the above is more than welcome.