Bus GPS
The GPS navigation system in the bus that goes from Lisbon airport to the city center is an interesting device. Located in the front and at the middle of the bus, it allows customers to see where they are on a very basic map of the surroundings (a classical GPS map actually) along with a list of stops.
Of course, the most intriguing case occurs when the GPS signal is lost because 1) the street is too narrow (canyon effect), 2) the bus was under a piece of architecture that prevent the capture of GPS signal (”Lost satellite reception” as the error message says).
Why do I blog this? observing various use of location-based services when visiting new places. What is interesting here IMO:
- The shallow interface of this GPS display. The map itself is highly limited as shown by the crude representation of blocks. So far, the information printed there (apart from the list of bus stops) is mostly targeted at a driver (who would need to look for information about the street he/she has to take) and not at the passengers.
- For “users” there is the possibilities of a collective practice around the maps. There should be some intriguing field studies to be conducted around this artifact, especially to understand people discussions (tourists/locals, people knowledgeable/not with this technology).
This example draws the question of how to design a GPS-enabled navigation device for bus passengers that would offer a meaningful interface for different target groups (likely to be in this bus that goes to the airport). That said, I believe in the potential of such devices, there could be interesting services developed for single-users and groups
April 21st, 2009 at 7:14 am
Bus GPS ….
The GPS navigation system in the bus that goes from Lisbon airport to the city center is an interesting device….
April 21st, 2009 at 10:13 am
They should do a deal with Google earth. Most people simply need the map, plus some street names and perhaps famous tourist landmarks. McDonalds etc could sponsor highlighted positions of their restaurants.
April 22nd, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I don’t see much use for a map for going _to_ the airport. Showing ETA would be more useful (i.e., will I make my flight, or should I get on the cell to make contingencies now?) A map could be useful for going _from_ the airport in order to pick the bus stop closest to one’s ultimate destination (e.g., hotel). In addition to showing more landmarks that can be correlated with maps carried by the user, the map should probably be plan view rather than perspective view so that the user can better see the relative distances of stops to one’s destination. Also, maybe north-up would be a better orientation than track up so that users can recognize the region of the city better against their own maps or knowledge (although it might make it harder for the user to know where to turn to reach the destination after disembarking).
April 26th, 2009 at 12:22 am
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May 3rd, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Come and see the ATM GPS displays in Milan. Located on selected busses in the middle of them, the show the name of the street, the next couple of stops, the current time and, the intersection of other bus lines or metro lines on the next bus stop.
May 16th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
In Lisbon, they also have an interesting service called GoCar which is a GPS guided tour. These are small 3 wheeled cars equipped with GPS which helps tourist to get to interesting locations and get information.
http://www.gilka.co.uk/2009/05/14/gocar-gps-guided-tours/