App for geocoding stops

[YG]

Hi,

Is there any mobile app which can be used for Geocoding bus stops? 

I would like to allow a passenger to board a bus and mark the location on the app whenever the bus stops. 

If another user has already marked the location, the user should be able to only Edit the name of the location or re-geocode the stop. The user may choose to skip editinig the existing stop.

The passenger should be able to mark a stop on the other side of the road on the return journey and link that stop with the first stop.

Sounds like a common requirement and there may already exist an app for this and hence wanted to check which app is most suitable.

-Yash

[Melinda Morang]

If you already have or are willing to purchase Esri software, ArcGIS Field Maps can do this: https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-field-maps/overview

(FYI, if I understand your need correctly, you want to "geotag" bus stops and log some information about them, not "geocode" them. "Geocoding" typically refers to parsing a text string (like an address) to determine its location on a map.)

Hope this helps.

Melinda Morang

Product Engineer, Esri

[Steven Judd]

There are some issues with location data precision and accuracy that usually make this hard to do with smartphones. You can possibly get a 1-5 meter accuracy outside with no obstructions and clear skies after waiting 1-5 minutes. However there are usually obstructions that prevent this from happening or if you have bus stops that are across the road from each other then a 5 meter accuracy is insufficient. Most of the agencies I've worked at usually have an in house method to collect data or just have a contractor collect it for them. There are several people on this mailing list who can help if you're interested in the contractor route.

If not, then I would recommend renting or purchasing a high accuracy GPS unit (e.g. Trimble, Leica brands) to collect the initial data points. There are some units that can connect to smart phones for under 1k USD and if combined with a laser . If there is a GIS/Geography Department in your local College/University they can possibly help point you in the right direction as to units and how to collect the data (this would make a great student project!).

If it's smartphone or bust I would consider looking into ArcGIS Field Maps (https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-field-maps/overview). Good luck with your project and let us know how it goes.

Cheers,

Steven

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[Sean Barbeau]

On the open-source side of things, on the awesome-transit list there is TransitWand, which is an open-source mobile app and web app to collect data to create GTFS feeds:

https://github.com/conveyal/transit-wand

Conveyal used to have a hosted version of this live, but it looks like that is no longer available.

Echoing Steven's post, there can definitely be accuracy and precision issues when collecting GNSS data from mobile phones. The manufacturer and model makes a huge difference - I've written more about this here:

https://barbeau.medium.com/measuring-gnss-accuracy-on-android-devices-6824492a1389

Sean