Comments (0)

By viv, 26 January, 2012 8:00 am

In September 2011, GeoVation challenge winner’s liftshare began development of ‘myPTP- A Travel Plan Just for Me’; an innovative web-based tool, designed to provide personalised travel plans to individuals at a fraction of the current time and cost.

liftshare’s myPTP Project Manager, Katie Lumley, gives us a most up-to-date progress report on how the tool has been shaping up over the last 5 months:

Since September 2011, the liftshare project team have been working hard to develop and refine one of our most exciting projects – myPTP – funded through GeoVation and the Ideas in Transit project.  myPTP will uniquely combine public transport, walking, cycling, and car-share options for individual journeys, and have the potential to help any organisation or community effectively deliver personalised travel plans (PTPs) at a fraction of the current time and cost associated with traditional approaches.

myPTP encourages and enables users to make informed choices about the way they travel.

Development began with design, before working to build, test, and refine the new and innovative web-based tool. During November, our biggest hurdle; accessing data for all modes of transport (walk, cycle, car-share, bus and train) across the UK, was overcome, and work to integrate data for all transport options then began in December.

Users will input individual’s journey information and in return will receive clear information on all transport options available to them, including maps, local provision options such as community transport, and any incentives the organisation has put in place to change their travel behaviour e.g. a week’s free bus pass. Ongoing communication is then possible to monitor modal shift and follow up changes in provision etc. Below is a sneak-preview of the online myPTP results:

Over 38 organisations have already expressed interest in using myPTP to deliver PTPs to individuals, and of those three organisations have been chosen to pilot the tool this February. These initial tests will be carried out in collaboration with researchers from the University of West of England, through the Ideas in Transit project, and will help us to evaluate the usefulness and usability of myPTP from an end-user point of view (that’s me and you!), as well as assess its impact ongoing on travel behaviours. We are looking forward to hearing feedback from the test pilots so we can keep innovating and refining myPTP to ensure it is useful and effective for all.

We are very excited with the progress of myPTP so far; both internal development of the tool itself, as well as its seeming ability to appeal and meet individuals, organisations, and transport operator needs. If you would like to:

• Help individuals make informed smarter choices about their mode of travel, as well as improve accessibility.
• Better understand transport patterns of your organisation, to increase efficiency and save time and cost.
• Help Local Authorities determine shortfalls in provision and help local transport operators determine what services will best satisfy demand.
• Have on-going communication with individuals about their travel options to achieve real modal shift, and to relay any possible changes in provision.

myPTP could be your solution. For more information please feel free to contact me, Katie Lumley, on: (01953) 451166 or katie@liftshare.com.

Comments (1)

By viv, 19 January, 2012 8:00 am

If you’re wondering how our GeoVation Challenge winner, AccessAdvsr is getting on with development, then find out more below in an update from Neil Taylor:

Since our last blog we have been working closely with our software developers, Realistic Digital, to create and refine the AccessAdvisr website on the basis of the specification we drew up in the autumn.  As total newbies to the field of web-app development this has been a great experience for our team, and we have been learning a massive amount about the process (and pitfalls!) of working to create an innovative web-based project.

The great news is that we now know our webservices from our browser optimisation, and are almost ready to start proof-of-concept testing with real live people here in Nottingham.  This is also excellent news for our colleagues at ITP, who will soon be able to speak to us about the weather, sports, current affairs and other projects without fearing they may get drawn into a debate about ‘Where the search bar should go’, or ‘Should the favourites button be bigger’ (I still say it should…).

We are also looking forward to collaborating with colleagues at Loughborough University’s Design School through the Ideas in Transit project.  They have been helping us to draw up an evaluation plan that is rooted in various innovation and end-user behaviour theories to give us the lowdown on what people actually think about the concept, the site itself, and the way they use it.  This iterative process will be the first acid test for the site, and will no doubt pose us as many questions as answers.  Nonetheless we are really looking forward to hearing people’s thoughts and views.

Here is an ‘in-development’ screenshot for a sneak preview of how the site is shaping up:

If you want to learn more about AccessAdvisr, then please contact me, Neil Taylor at ITP on 0115 9886903, or email: taylor@itpworld.net.  Access Advisr is also now on Facebook, so you can ‘like’ us to keep up with all the latest project developments.

Comments (0)

By viv, 12 January, 2012 8:00 am

Since its launch at the end of August last year FixMyTransport, a site to report public transport issues,  developed by GeoVation Challenge winner, mySociety has grown considerably.  Myf Nixon from mySociety tells us more below:

It’s now  just over four months since FixMyTransport launched. It’s great to see so many people turn to us when problems arise with public transport – and that more and more users are reporting on-the-go. That is, of course, thanks to the mobile version of the site, which is GeoVation-funded.

Since launch, we’ve sent over 1,700 problems to transport operators, and our community of users has grown to over 3,000.
In the site’s early days, just 15% of visitors came via mobile. Since then, we’ve made a number of enhancements for those visiting via handheld devices:

• We’ve introduced geolocation, which means that the site can automatically pinpoint where you are – very useful for those travelling in unfamiliar places, and also a boon for those who don’t want to type too much on tiny mobile keyboards
• The same technology means that we can also invite users to see ‘issues near you’. This helps people engage with transport problems local to their own area. It’s also had an unexpected, but positive, effect: old problems get revived as people rediscover them. There’s now much less chance of a campaign fading away, forgotten.
• Maps are more user-friendly on mobile browsers now, and are scrollable just as they are on the desktop version.

Meanwhile, we have encouraged visits from commuters by putting out most of our social media messages during the rush hour: scrolling through Twitter and Facebook seems to be a very popular way to pass the time on packed trains.

As a result of all this, mobile activity now represents almost a quarter of all visits – 24%.

We’re continuing to work on the site as a whole in several small ways, as well.

Most significantly, there is now a new step in the reporting process. Before submitting a report, users are alerted to other campaigns on the same route or at the same stop. We hope this will cut down on duplicate reports and help consolidate existing campaigns.

For the new year, our most important new challenge is to refresh our data more frequently. Up until now, we’ve been relying on the public NaPTAN and NPTDR datasets to generate the 30,000+ routes and stops on FixMyTransport.

Routes change, and services change hands; some are even cancelled, especially in the climate of council budgetary cuts. Our helpful users are great at contacting us to let us know when our information is out-of-date, but checking and correcting this data takes a significant amount of our time.

The good news is that we now have access to much more frequently-refreshed data, and we’re working right now to integrate it. The result should be a more accurate FixMyTransport, and a happier support team.

Also in the pipeline are operator-specific pages which will allow for the browsing of every problem reported to each transport provider. There are plans for a blog so that we can discuss transport issues with what is becoming a vibrant and very engaged community. Meanwhile, we’re expecting mobile user visits to rise and rise – we’ll be watching that particular metric with interest.

Myf Nixon

Comments (1)

By viv, 23 December, 2011 8:30 am

Bikemapper.org.uk is new website looking collecting information to plan a revitalised London Cycle Network.  On the site you can upload photos and of parts of the network to build up a picture of what is working or not working and if anything is missing. Below Simon Parker tells us more:

I am pleased to be able to tell you about the launch of a new website, www.bikemapper.org.uk, which I hope you will be interested to visit.
The purpose of this website is to facilitate the study of a proposed design for a revitalised London Cycling Network. Primarily I am seeking to establish which sections of this network are functional and which are not, and from here it should be possible to build up a complete picture of the current cycling environment. It is hoped that, in turn, this would help to inform the debate about where future investments in cycling would be best placed.

The website is aimed mainly at people who have an interest in developing an amenable cycling environment in the capital, though naturally I would be delighted if the general public also felt inclined to contribute. In particular I ask that people upload any photos they may have of the London streetscape.

Bikemapper was made possible because of a number of people, beginning with Ben Irvine from Cycle Lifestyle, who is responsible for the London Cycle Map Campaign,, and who has done more than anyone to give my proposal a more polished edge. My sincere thanks to him, and also to a remarkably talented young man named Fela Maslen, who very patiently and competently has worked with me to develop the website.

I am extremely grateful to Martin Lubikowski from ML Design, Jon Haste from KOLB Illustration, Stuart France from Stuff Animated, Josh Coleman and James Nash from Bike Dock Solutions, and Willy and Guy Pearson from Pearson Cycles. Lastly I would like to thank my family for all their support over the years.

Simon Parker
simon@bikemapper.org.uk

Comments (0)

By dee, 18 November, 2011 8:30 am

Following the theme of National Days Viv and I have been running, I am pleased to announce it’s World Toilet Day (WTD) on 19 November.

The World Toilet Organization created WTD to raise global awareness of the struggle 2.6 billion face every day without access to proper, clean sanitation.

Whilst we are lucky here in the UK to have access to proper, clean sanitation, we still have issues with access to toilet facilities, especially for those with a disability, a cyclist or a parent with a pram.

Our GeoVation Challenge winner, AccessAdvisr, are looking to help to resolve some of these issues when they launch their Access Map.

I have had a look to see if any of our OS OpenSpace community have built any apps along this theme, but couldn’t find any, but for a bit of fun, why not track your flush with Domestos.

Or download the Toilet Map app to answer the call of nature. The app allows you to search for a toilet by cost (free or non-free), gender-specificity, disabled accessibility and, rather usefully, whether or not they are “open right now”.

Comments (0)

By viv, 4 November, 2011 8:30 am

GeoVation Challenge winner, London Cycle Map Campaign, is calling for a single,unified and easy to use cycling map of London -  the cycling equivalent of the London Underground Map.

In this months magazine, Cycle Lifestyle have produced an artist’s impression to help visualise what the streets might look like if Simon Parker’s London Cycle Map is adopted. They suggest signs and road marking to direct cyclists around the network of routes.

This could make cycling from anywhere to anywhere in London as simple as following a few signs and a trail of coloured dots on the road – rather than remembering hundreds of turn-rights and turn-lefts. Download a copy of the Cycle Lifestyle magazine (Issue 6) (PDF) and take a look at pages pages 8 &9 to see for yourself.

If you think, like we do, that this is a great idea and would like to help make it a reality then sign the petition

Comments (0)

By viv, 30 September, 2011 8:30 am

Cyclestreets won £27 000 in the ‘How can we improve transport in Britain?’ GeoVation Challenge to develop a toolkit for groups across the country to campaign for better cycling facilities.  Below, Martin from Cyclestreets updates us on developments:

Meet our developer team!
I’m pleased to say that we’ve appointed a developer team and work is  proceeding fast. The team comprises Andy Allan, Andrew France, plus myself (Martin Lucas-Smith) from CycleStreets as project manager. Andy and Andrew will be working in it on solidly for the next few months so that a large amount of development can be done.

We’ve also developed the spec further at a two-day developer meeting last week which kicked-off the work. Read more here.

This is an open-source project. The code is being developed at https://github.com/cyclestreets/toolkit We’ll be looking for volunteers towards the end of October to join in, once much of the initial base of the system is in place.

Design
We’re finalising a design brief and will be approaching designers very  soon. If you know of a really great designer or design company, preferably someone who might be willing to help out at perhaps a slightly discounted rate, please do let us have their details.

All in all, it’s been an extremely busy few weeks. The development of the toolkit has been possible thanks to our  GeoVation award, which secured us £27,000 of funding. GeoVation is an  Ordnance Survey initiative and forms part of the Ideas in Transit  project with funding from the Technology Strategy Board and the Department for Transport.

Martin Lucas-Smith, Cyclestreets

Comments (0)

By viv, 22 September, 2011 8:00 am

Did you know that today is World Carfree day and an opportunity to leave the car at home and walk, take a bus, train or cycle? All this can help to highlight congestion on our roads, pollution from exhaust fumes and the threat of dangerous climate change caused by cars.

Some of the winners of our‘How can we improve transport in Britain?’ GeoVation Challenge have some great ideas and tools for alternative ways to travel.

If you’re cycling,  Cyclestreets have a great journey planner.  Their website and mobile apps use OS Street View® map data from the OS OpenData™ datasets as well as  OpenStreetMap options for route planning.

Public interest in the London Cycle Map Campaign is growing with nearly 1500 signatures but they need 100,000 signatures in order for a petition to be debated in the House of Commons. So if you think Simon Parker’s London ‘Tube Map’ for cyclist is  a great idea  – sign the petition now!

Mission:Explore are working closely with Sustrans and Arla to create challenges and activities called ‘missions’ along parts of the cycle network to encourage families and new users to get out and cycle on the National Cycle Network

If you have problems travelling on public transport, why not report it on FixMyTransport a site for public transport users to report problems and get them fixed!

AccessAdvisr, another of our winners are busy building their proof of concept for a new website and smartphone app that intends to improve the quality and richness of information about accessible transport networks.

And if you really need to take the car, have you heard about liftshare week (3^rd – 7^th October 2011)?  liftshare Week is the UK-wide event which aims to encourage more people to discover the benefits of car-sharing.

What maps or apps do you use to help you to leave the car at home and plan your cycle, walk or journey by public transport?

Comments (0)

By viv, 20 September, 2011 8:00 am

Since the last update, GeoVation Challenge winners,  mySociety, have launched FixMyTransport a site for public transport users to report problems and they are already having loads of visits and issues reported.  Myf Nixon, from mySociety, explains:

Last time we updated, FixMyTransport had launched, quietly and unobtrusively: we didn’t want to make a song and dance about it until we were certain that it was running smoothly.

On August 30th, we announced our presence to the world: mentions in national and international newspapers, on the radio, in specialist press and across the blogosphere soon meant that word spread: on that day, we had over 10,000 visitors (and were very relieved to see that our server load testing had paid off).

Since then, we’ve been really pleased at how the site has been taken up: over 700 issues have been reported; knowledgeable users are weighing in with good advice for others; and we’re beginning to forge relationships with some of the transport operators who have been quick to see FixMyTransport’s potential for their customer relations departments.

This week we saw the first of our campaigns to gather over 100 supporters. It’s been interesting to watch patterns emerge, too: the issues that seem to most concern our users to date are access (to stations for those with limited mobility or children in tow); fare prices; over-crowding and delays.

But there have been maverick reports too: one person requesting fewer seats on commuter trains (much outnumbered by reports that ask for more seats, it has to be said) and another wondering whether a slide might ease passenger congestion at Canada Water.

From the developer perspective, it’s been an intensive period of bug fixes, functionality enhancements, and user support. We’re logging of all the many suggestions that come to us via the ‘feedback’ button; our users seem particularly clued up on how they’d like the site to work better for them, which is great.

It’s been really gratifying to find that the vast majority of the feedback is warm and welcoming, even when the user has experienced a problem – in fact, FixMyTransport is already starting to feel like a community. There have been quite a few enquiries from people in other countries wondering if they can replicate the site – our answer is of course, yes; as with all mySociety projects, FixMyTransport is built on open source code and we are delighted to see others use it and contribute their own improvements or variations.

GeoVation funding was specifically for the mobile version of FixMyTransport, always a priority for a site that’s about travel. It was clear that for launch, even though an app would not be ready at that stage, we would need modified version of the website to support mobile user, and we put a lot of effort into making the mobile experience as good as possible.

We’re now seeing this as a preferred route to our finished mobile product: this approach removes the extra step for the user of actually downloading anything- it should be quick and easy just to visit the site on a browser. It also allows us to target multiple devices, and means that as features are introduced to the main site, they are also immediately accessible on mobile.

During the last month, we have been working on features specifically to help mobile users: integrating geolocation, and finding faster ways for users to report the most common problems on phones without too many keystrokes.

Although there are still many improvements on our list, FixMyTransport now works well on the phone models our visitors most frequently use, and we’re working on extending support and adding features that will make reporting issues from a mobile quick and easy. We’re getting there!