Mar
25
As promised, today’s announcement:
If you want the summary, scroll down to “What it all means”
If you want the medium-sized recap, read this blog post.
If you want the full-length announcement, see this PDF.
The problem
As of this May, two of the three developers of the VT Bus Tracker will have graduated. So that begs the question we’ve been asking ourselves for some time, “Where to from here?”.
The first idea we had was to create a student group. Many concerns with this idea came up. Student groups fluctuate a lot from year to year, including the leadership. Every four years, no single face is the same. There is no consistency. Too little involvement one year would mean the minimum amount of maintenance and development required to keep the system running would not be met. Since students have so many other things to do, including class, jobs and other organizations, it would require a lot of students to pledge their time during the school year.
The solution
As we were trying to figure out how to sustain the project, all three of us were realizing just how much we enjoyed developing the system. The intricacies of solving unsolved problems, figuring out how to make live bus data useful to riders, and making our tools and interfaces the best that were out there all excited us. The only limitation of the fun was time and resources.
The solution that we came up with is to start a mobile software development company. Here’s our plan. The project that we had been working on was open source, which basically means that anyone can download the code and build more on to it. We’re going to be one of those anybody’s. We will take the open source code, spend the time and work that it would require to allow it to run at other universities and cities, then sell it. If we can sell it, then the project is funded, and we would have jobs, therefore we would be able to develop on it for the lifetime of the project, which hopefully, outlives us.
What it all means
So what does this mean for me? A solution to all of our problems:
- The BT does not have to worry anymore about if the project will continue, or who is the main contact (they are already on board with this new project).
- Lifetime of bug fixes, maintenance, support from a funded entity, with points of contact for you.
But even better, this solution means that we can continue to flesh out this system with the following:
- Native app for Windows Phone
- Desktop client for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and even Internet Explorer 7, 8, and 9!
- There will be a new version of all of our native apps which will be even better than what you had last August.
- The new mobile web app works on more than just iPhones and Androids – in fact, it works on every mobile device with a browser that can run Google Maps.
- ETA calculations will be run by machine-learning algorithms, which basically means that ETA’s will be spot on.
- Push. Currently, the clients check for updates every 10 seconds. With Push, they will receive bus updates the second they come in.
- You will be able to download and install the application from its respective store: App Store, App World, Android Marketplace, etc., for easier installation. (Plus: It will always remain free!)
- Support for new devices as they come out (for example, we’re already working on a version for the Blackberry Playbook)
- And finally, new features as fast as we can dream them up (for example, push notifications: “Notify me when the bus is 2 minutes away every M,W,F”, or “Notify me when the bus is 1 minute away from the empo”)
We’re excited to get this process rolling so we can show you what we’ve been working on.
Since the beginning of this year, we have been working with a marketing firm known as Snow. We’ve been trying to find out if this idea is possible; if it is feasible. The great people at Snow have helped us to begin this business and are helping us to market and sell the product that we are still working on. Getting the open source code from the VT Bus Tracker project to be able to work with multiple transit agency’s is no small task, and a lot of time also has to be spent on making all of our applications better (which everyone in Blacksburg will benefit from in a huge way, very soon). So right now we’re in the process of getting our first few transit agencies on board, after the Blacksburg Transit, and developing our new product. Once this phase is over, you will be able to download our project’s applications which will, besides being much smoother, faster, and more feature-filled, allow you to not only track Blacksburg Transit buses, but will also allow you to track those of the agencies we sign on. So if you open this app in another town or city, it will automatically start showing you those routes and buses instead!
We are extremely excited for you to get your hands on what we’ve been working on. This level of quality and advanced features just isn’t feasible from students volunteering part- time, but we’ve found the ideal solution to allow us to work full time on a project that provides you with the applications that you want.
If you want the full-length announcement, see this PDF.