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Dublin Bus Live - RTPI iPhone App

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    #32
    n97 mini
    Registered Users Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    The buses in question leave from Merrion Sq., and I think they're probably allocated a certain amount of time to get to the quays where I was, but they just got there a lot quicker as the traffic was light as it was late.


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    #33
    IrlJidel
    Registered Users Posts: 412 ✭✭IrlJidel


    BrianD wrote: »
    Speaking of maps ... one thing I noticed (that I haven't on other maps) is that the borders of the postal districts are marked in. Some of them really meander!

    Yes the rtpi map uses Openstreetmap.

    You can see a clearer view of our stab at postal distrincts here:
    http://maps.openstreetmap.ie/?zoom=12&lat=53.35213&lon=-6.24705&layers=B000FFTFFFFTFFFF

    There's a few area's that need refining - eg exact boundaries around the Robinhood/Ballymount Ind estates in Walkinstown and how far D24/D16/D18 goes into the Dublin mountains.

    Improvements welcome - but better not hijack this thread for that.


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    #34
    snappieT
    Registered Users Posts: 3,357 ✭✭✭snappieT


    Hi all,

    I've added some updates tonight to make it a bit more usable. Changes are:
    • List of 5 most recent stops you used are shown, so you don't need to remember the ID
    • Searching for stop by route number
    • Indicating when stops are known to be active or not
    • Redirecting you to another stop on your route that is active if yours is not yet
    • Count of active stops shown on front page
    Some new screenshots:
    db1.jpgdb3.jpg


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    #35
    ArmaniJeanss
    Registered Users Posts: 13,311 ✭✭✭✭ArmaniJeanss


    Good app.
    Is there any way you could make a distinction between a timetabled entry and an actual RTPI entry. Maybe by having it display a 'T' or an 'A' after the entry.

    Example for the stop on Leeson Street Lower heading towards City Centre you currently display both accurate information from buses which are travelling towards the stop, and potentially inaccurate information on buses (37/38/39/70) which are scheduled to leave the terminus 3 minutes away at a particular time.

    Hope that makes sense.


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    #36
    stop
    Registered Users Posts: 886 ✭✭✭stop


    snappieT wrote: »
    Hi all,

    I've added some updates tonight to make it a bit more usable. Changes are:
    • List of 5 most recent stops you used are shown, so you don't need to remember the ID
    • Searching for stop by route number
    • Indicating when stops are known to be active or not
    • Redirecting you to another stop on your route that is active if yours is not yet
    • Count of active stops shown on front page
    Nice work.
    Just noticed that when selecting a route, the alpha suffix is being ignored?

    When a route is selected, can the stops be listed in the order that the route follows them? My nearest stop might not have rtpi info active, but the next one might so it would be easier to navigate to rather than having to scroll the entire list a-z. Of course you'd probably then have to have a prompt after the route selection with a from/to choice.


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    #37
    Tarabuses
    Registered Users Posts: 724 ✭✭✭Tarabuses


    Those changes help a lot but also highlight how few stops are active.


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    #38
    snappieT
    Registered Users Posts: 3,357 ✭✭✭snappieT


    ArmaniJeanss wrote: »
    Good app.
    Is there any way you could make a distinction between a timetabled entry and an actual RTPI entry. Maybe by having it display a 'T' or an 'A' after the entry.
    That's a great idea, but I can only really go off the data that RTPI provide, and they don't provide that. Cross-referencing with the timetables myself wouldn't really be worth the effort I'd have to put into achieving that.
    stop wrote: »
    Just noticed that when selecting a route, the alpha suffix is being ignored?
    Good spot, thanks. Fixed now.
    stop wrote: »
    When a route is selected, can the stops be listed in the order that the route follows them? My nearest stop might not have rtpi info active, but the next one might so it would be easier to navigate to rather than having to scroll the entire list a-z. Of course you'd probably then have to have a prompt after the route selection with a from/to choice.
    Another case of "wouldn't it be nice". As of now, RTPI only provides stops in alphabetical order for a given route, so all I can do is go by stop ID or name. For some routes, stop ID makes sense, it looks like these were the 'base' routes that the stop ID numbering came from, but for many many more, there's no sense to the order of stop IDs. Once RTPI expose this information, I'll make sure DublinBusLive does too :)


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    #39
    ArmaniJeanss
    Registered Users Posts: 13,311 ✭✭✭✭ArmaniJeanss


    snappieT wrote: »
    That's a great idea, but I can only really go off the data that RTPI provide, and they don't provide that. Cross-referencing with the timetables myself wouldn't really be worth the effort I'd have to put into achieving that.

    Cheers, thought as much.
    *************
    One other thing which occured to me was whether you could store and display the data after a bus has left a stop.

    It could be useful as follows. I am waiting for the 59X bus at a stop which doesn't have RTPI. But I know there is a stop 3 miles nearer the start of the route which does have it.
    Currently I can see whether there is a bus due at that earlier stop but thats of limited use to me.
    If instead the app could tell me that a 59X left that stop 11 minutes ago, then I'd know it must be close to me.


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    #40
    jamesbrond
    Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭jamesbrond


    Very good work.
    I have a couple of suggestions for improvement though.
    Can it be made to auto refresh, say every minute.

    In the list of the last stops can the user enter a more descriptive term for them.
    like "83 Camden street Northbound"

    I would gladly pay for this app if it were in the app store. I think you could make some money here.


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    #41
    dionsiseire
    Registered Users Posts: 3,182 ✭✭✭dionsiseire


    Android have an App called Dublin Bus GPS

    It's 79c and it layers the route data of bus's over a google map, you pick a stop and it tells you the time for all buses coming to that stop.

    Would reccomend taking a look. Best 79c I've spent on Android

    https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dublinbusgps&feature=search_result


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    #42
    smackyB
    Registered Users Posts: 747 ✭✭✭smackyB


    Shameless plug here, I also made an Android app. Not quite as fancy but it's free! :DLinky. There's also a thread in the Android forum on it here


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    #43
    podgeandrodge
    Registered Users Posts: 5,762 ✭✭✭podgeandrodge


    smacky - great android app - I have a comment on your Android app of this which I will post there thanks


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    #44
    snappieT
    Registered Users Posts: 3,357 ✭✭✭snappieT


    ArmaniJeanss wrote: »
    One other thing which occured to me was whether you could store and display the data after a bus has left a stop.
    Very nice idea. However, I only pull data in from RTPI whenever a user requests it. To be able to implement that, I'd need to constantly be monitoring all stops myself, which would generate a huge number of requests to the RTPI system, something I don't want to do.
    jamesbrond wrote: »
    Can it be made to auto refresh, say every minute.
    Done, time list now refreshes every 30 seconds.
    jamesbrond wrote: »
    In the list of the last stops can the user enter a more descriptive term for them.
    like "83 Camden street Northbound"
    Again, would be lovely, but I only have what RTPI gives me to go on. The only way of being able to list whether it's northbound or not would be to
    • Manually go through each stop and assign a direction myself
    • Allow users to tell me the direction (open to abuse)
    • Show the destination of the next bus on the stop selection screen (huge number of requests to RTPI)
    I'll definitely think it over, it's an interesting one...


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    #45
    stop
    Registered Users Posts: 886 ✭✭✭stop


    snappieT wrote: »
    Again, would be lovely, but I only have what RTPI gives me to go on. The only way of being able to list whether it's northbound or not would be to
    • Manually go through each stop and assign a direction myself
    • Allow users to tell me the direction (open to abuse)
    • Show the destination of the next bus on the stop selection screen (huge number of requests to RTPI)
    I'll definitely think it over, it's an interesting one...
    PM sent!


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    #46
    kirving
    Registered Users Posts: 5,911 ✭✭✭kirving


    It works in Chrome on the PC when I press enter, but not on the N8 with Opera Mobile or Nokia's Browser when I finish entering the route number.

    A "go" button would be great help, I'd used this a lot!

    Keep up the great work!


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    #47
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,497 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    snappieT great app, thanks for all the great work.

    Might I make a small suggestion, would it be possible to include the stop name and reference number on the result page, like the RTPI text site does.

    The reason being if you bookmark a couple of results pages, you might not know which bus stop you are looking at.

    Perhaps you could include the bus stop name in the first line above the results. The stop reference number could come at the end of the page.


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    #48
    Tarabuses
    Registered Users Posts: 724 ✭✭✭Tarabuses


    Any more developments?


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    #49
    snappieT
    Registered Users Posts: 3,357 ✭✭✭snappieT


    bk wrote: »
    Might I make a small suggestion, would it be possible to include the stop name and reference number on the result page, like the RTPI text site does.
    Stop name is now in the title of the page :)
    Tarabuses wrote: »
    Any more developments?
    Several!
    • The stop names are now a good bit more descriptive, I've pulled them from Dublin Bus directly rather than RTPI (guess what, RTPI know about almost 100 more stops than DB do, and some actually have departures :P).
    • "Recent Stops" has been extended to 10 stops (from 5) by request.
    • There are many more stops running now - 785, up from 308 when I launched.
    • And the big one: "Nearby stops". It grabs your GPS location (with permission) and lists the 5 nearest stops to you:
      db4.png

    I update the DubBusLive twitter account as I add new features :)


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    #50
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,497 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    snappieT wrote: »
    Stop name is now in the title of the page :)

    Thanks, but on iPhone it still isn't clear.

    With the iPhone safari browser, the title isn't displayed, you only see the title when you click on the tabs button and even then you see:

    Dublin Bus Live ::: Upper Dru...

    For the Upper Drumcondra Road stop.

    Also if you use any of the alternative iPhone browsers which have proper tabs like Atomic Browser, Safari, etc., then you can't see the stop name at all, as they only display the first few characters of the title (e.g. "Dublin Bus..." for the above stop in Atomic Browser).

    Ideally I think it should be on the actual page, just below Dublin Bus Live and Refresh button.

    BTW this is no criticism, just some friendly feedback from a person who is very happily using your great app every day :D


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    #51
    dazmetron
    Registered Users Posts: 71 ✭✭dazmetron


    snappieT wrote: »
    Stop name is now in the title of the page :)


    • The stop names are now a good bit more descriptive, I've pulled them from Dublin Bus directly rather than RTPI (guess what, RTPI know about almost 100 more stops than DB do, and some actually have departures :P).
    • "Recent Stops" has been extended to 10 stops (from 5) by request.
    • There are many more stops running now - 785, up from 308 when I launched.
    • And the big one: "Nearby stops". It grabs your GPS location (with permission) and lists the 5 nearest stops to you:

      I update the DubBusLive twitter account as I add new features :)

    I saw the updates yesterday and was delighted. Its a great improvement on what was already a great site. Well done. The stop descriptions were badly needed; the RTPI descriptions were very lacking in detail - eg. Stillorgan Road is not the most helpful of stop locations!
    The nearest stop location also works well especially when the code for the stop isn't the most visible. I regularly put in the Adshell 4 digit code for the stop instead of the rtpi code

    One additional feature that I would find useful is perhaps if it would be possible to split the stops when searching by route into to and from city centre (or equivalent). I am not sure how easy this would be to do so feel free to ignore it!

    Oh and bk, you make a good point although to add to this, the full name of recently viewed stops and nearby stops is shown in full on the dublinbuslive.com home page so this might make it easier to select the right stop. I do agree that repeating the page title at the top of the main body of the page would be a good idea as well though


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    #52
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,497 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    dazmetron wrote: »
    Oh and bk, you make a good point although to add to this, the full name of recently viewed stops and nearby stops is shown in full on the dublinbuslive.com home page so this might make it easier to select the right stop. I do agree that repeating the page title at the top of the main body of the page would be a good idea as well though

    You are right, but I keep my top two or three most frequently used stops opened as tabs, which is why I was looking for this.


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    #53
    snappieT
    Registered Users Posts: 3,357 ✭✭✭snappieT


    bk wrote: »
    Thanks, but on iPhone it still isn't clear.

    With the iPhone safari browser, the title isn't displayed, you only see the title when you click on the tabs button and even then you see:

    Dublin Bus Live ::: Upper Dru...

    For the Upper Drumcondra Road stop.

    Also if you use any of the alternative iPhone browsers which have proper tabs like Atomic Browser, Safari, etc., then you can't see the stop name at all, as they only display the first few characters of the title (e.g. "Dublin Bus..." for the above stop in Atomic Browser).

    Ideally I think it should be on the actual page, just below Dublin Bus Live and Refresh button.

    BTW this is no criticism, just some friendly feedback from a person who is very happily using your great app every day :D
    Oh, I hear you. Will look into it :)
    dazmetron wrote: »
    One additional feature that I would find useful is perhaps if it would be possible to split the stops when searching by route into to and from city centre (or equivalent). I am not sure how easy this would be to do so feel free to ignore it!
    Actually, I have this data now! I'll see if I can find some time next weekend to get it in as you suggested.
    bk wrote: »
    You are right, but I keep my top two or three most frequently used stops opened as tabs, which is why I was looking for this.
    Stealing my bandwidth with constant refreshes!?! But sure, I'll add the stop name first (again, next weekend when I actually get a chance)


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    #54
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,497 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    snappieT wrote: »
    Oh, I hear you. Will look into it :)

    Stealing my bandwidth with constant refreshes!?! But sure, I'll add the stop name first (again, next weekend when I actually get a chance)

    Thanks very much snappieT great work. BTW the tab only loads when I click on it :)


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    #55
    LXFlyer
    Registered Users Posts: 17,558 ✭✭✭✭LXFlyer


    Excellent app Snappie T - especially the feature showing which stops are live.

    One stop that I use every day is not live, but the one before it is so it's very handy!

    A really useful app!


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    #56
    Tarabuses
    Registered Users Posts: 724 ✭✭✭Tarabuses


    Are you seeing much improvement in the number of live stops?


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    #57
    CoolDudesJunk
    Registered Users Posts: 32 ✭CoolDudesJunk


    I know that the official app is out and that's great! Buuut.. I've just gotten a Pebble Smartwatch and through my jailbroken iPhone I'm able to HTTP Request (Get). I know that the live tables work this way to some degree, but have yet to find a way to get this info.

    I did find this PDF but it's instructions don't seem to work: http://www.dublinked.ie/datastore/local/RTPI/RTPI_REST_API_specification.pdf

    It came from this site, Dublinked, which won't let me acess any other files without a username/password.

    I'm wondering if the information is public anymore, and if it is, how would I go about getting it on the watch? How great would it be to just be able to look at my watch and tell when the next bus to/from college is!


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    #58
    Finmix
    Registered Users Posts: 258 ✭✭Finmix


    CoolDudesJunk wrote: »
    I know that the official app is out and that's great! Buuut.. I've just gotten a Pebble Smartwatch and through my jailbroken iPhone I'm able to HTTP Request (Get). I know that the live tables work this way to some degree, but have yet to find a way to get this info.

    I did find this PDF but it's instructions don't seem to work: http://www.dublinked.ie/datastore/local/RTPI/RTPI_REST_API_specification.pdf

    It came from this site, Dublinked, which won't let me acess any other files without a username/password.

    I'm wondering if the information is public anymore, and if it is, how would I go about getting it on the watch? How great would it be to just be able to look at my watch and tell when the next bus to/from college is!

    Hey there, I recently created an app for Dublin Bus Times for the Nearest stop and just at the weekend included the ability to save recently accessed stops. Might be what you are looking for url]http://www.cloudservicesireland.com/?p=206[/url app can be seen on the web at url]http://pblweb.com/pas/54b2a8296357cebb9a000081[/url.


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