bus and train maps on display screens

simply another layer on digital maps


The Quickmap system of electronically displaying bus and train mapping is one level up from street finder level detail on multilayered digital maps. It replaces the main road level when one is not driving. The aim is to display a bus and train layer on all internet and sat nav maps. It will be essential to have a user friendly layer for public transport in the future on Google Maps, Live Local, Tom Tom, etc.


making the user interface appealing


Moving images of bus service numbers and trains pulling in and out of stations appear to provide an engaging dimension to the heavy numerical side of bus numbers and timetables. The information ideally must have some user interface appeal and MapMovies are one way to offer this. This opens the way for applications like point to point route finding, visual journey planning and bus real time tracking. Quickmap always has a vision of buses and trains appearing in a positive light particularly when potential users are more likely to select a means of transport from computer generated information. How users interact with information needs to be Apple Computer quality.


digital integration


Defining and separating out a layer for internet map delivery requires a combination of a survey of place nodes and a way of interacting with mapping data held on a database.

Quickmap has the nodal approach well developed as a survey and graphic. The next stages are taking place in converting these into being database fed using GIS coordinates.

The new development in computing display information is to separate out the user interface code from the code which powers it such as a program or from a database. Open source graphic markup languages are starting to appear and Microsoft has taken the step to use these for the Vista display interface and is supported already within Internet Explorer.

The Quickmap nodal maps have been re-built to support this trend. Originally created as a graphic the nodal maps now are wholly re-built in vector components. For instance the width of a road with bus routes was originally constructed node to node with a line width to indicate frequency. This is now done by complete bus route lines running through the nodes which are placed side by side to indicate frequency. Bus line width can also be varied according to frequency.

A follow-on stage is to have two lines per route representing the two directions of travel. This is necessary to explain one-way routings.

Quickmap printed transport diagrams have a large amount of geometric compression. Similarly the hand built animations have a high degree of compression. It is straightforward to re-position the nodes and roads into a GIS compatible format.

The vector geometry can be exported and imported into vector graphic programs complete but more importantly new .xml user interface mark-up languages like .kml (Google maps), .svg (www.org) and .xaml (Microsoft) offer program independence. What's more they come with animation built-in. There is direct support for some types in current internet browsers. This situation is rapidly expected change where the most popular mark-up languages will become supported by all computers and mobile phones.

Our final test is to plug the data from an active database into the user interface. We are looking for a project to start implementing this data flow.

MapMovies

MapMovies on a mobile

Wiki definition of User interface

Andrew Sutton, David Sherriff
020 7813 3397
info@quickmap.com
Quickmap Limited

Document date 16/01/08
The Quickmap logo and the 'MapMovie' name are Trade Marks of Quickmap.

Quickmap Limited PO Box 12, London SE5 9PN tel.020 7813 3397
www.quickmap.com Reg Office: 178 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 4NJ Company No. 3732957
Quickmap Research The Hat Factory, 65-67 Bute Street, Luton LU1 2EY 01582 878104