Review of Android Bus Tracking Application for Bangkok, Thailand

This literature review examines the potential of implementing an Android Bus Tracking Application in Bangkok, focusing on improving public transport service quality. It provides an overview of Bangkok's public transport system, highlighting challenges such as traffic congestion and the need for better information dissemination. The review considers passenger perspectives on bus service quality, emphasizing the importance of frequency, punctuality, and safety. Modern mobile services, including mobile applications and smartphone operating systems like Android, are discussed, along with existing bus tracking applications like ViaBus. The review also covers mapping technologies using Google Maps API and location services like GPS. Human-computer interaction principles, particularly Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics, are explored to ensure user-friendly application design.

Running head: ANDROID BUS TRACKING APPLICATION IN THAILAND
Android Bus Tracking Application in Thailand
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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Abstract
The project is prepared by android bus tracking application by the use of GPS and Android
location network provider. The application allows bus users to track live information about
bus arrival and departure timings and also the route followed by each bus numbers. With this
application the bus drivers will update all information related to the bus timings and thus
helping the passengers to plan any trip by choosing their suitable bus routes.

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Table of Contents
1.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
1.2 Overview of Public Transport in Bangkok..........................................................................3
1.3 Passengers Perspective towards Bangkok Bus Service Quality..........................................4
1.4 Modern Mobile Service........................................................................................................5
Mobile Application................................................................................................................5
Smartphone Operating System...............................................................................................6
1.5 Current Existing Applications.........................................................................................7
1.6 Mapping..........................................................................................................................7
1.7 Location Service...................................................................................................................8
1.8 Human Computer Interaction........................................................................................10
Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics............................................................................................................10
1.9 Conclusion:........................................................................................................................12
References:...............................................................................................................................13

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Literature Review
1.1 Introduction
The key objective of this literature evaluation is to examine the usefulness in the
implementation of Android Bus Tracking Application in Bangkok. The research focuses on
the overview of the transport system in Bangkok and the attempts to establish a live bus
tracking application that would benefit the service quality by its advanced features.
Thailand always pays special consideration to its transportation for both land and rail
(Jaensirisak et al., 2016). The government of Thailand projected a policy to provide
convenient transportation facility to its people and maintain the safety standard in
transportation system. Public transportation is an important key factor in any large city and
thus the implementation of android bus tracking system would improve the safety standards
as well as provide the people to track any bus at any point of time.
The project aims at building an application system that would record the arrival and
departure information of the bus in the bus terminal. GPS technology in public transport will
not only function as tracking application but would make the drivers more cautious about
driving and the road safety measures, knowing that the vehicle is constantly monitored in
every step.
1.2 Overview of Public Transport in Bangkok
The city of Bangkok extends to about 900 square miles and has about 9.7 million
automobiles. The number is getting increased by 700 additional cars and 400 motorbikes per
day (Pomlaktong et al., 2014). Numerous transport options are available in the city which
includes, MRT Subway, taxis, songthaews, express boats and buses. People in Bangkok can
choose any suitable public transport to get to their destination. The underground MRT rail
system connects the shopping mall and other business area of the city while express boats can

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be used for visiting historic sites of attraction located at the river sides. Tuk-tuks one of
Bangkok’s biggest attraction in transport system, are worthwhile ride in terms of comfortable
transport (Wu & Pojani, 2016). The entire transport system in Bangkok relies mainly on road
network (Tuan, 2015). The metropolitan area which is a capital of Thailand is surrounded by
five provinces. As the BMR of the city is gradually increasing, more people are getting
attracted from the country wide and thus the number of vehicles are increasing there. Due to
unplanned land network structure insufficient public transport is one of the major challenges.
Water transport system in Bangkok plays a minimal role in public transportation system due
to its limited area.
1.3 Passengers Perspective towards Bangkok Bus Service Quality
Traffic congestion problem is one of the main challenge in the city of Bangkok and
public transportation system has being playing avital role in providing solution to it. The bus
services in Bangkok is provided by the Mass Transit Authority of Bangkok ( BMTA) under
the control of the transport ministry. According to report about 3,655 buses are operated by
BMTA which serves a total 106 routes covering a service distance of more than 867,039
kilometres per day (Kenworthy, 2017). It is estimated that about 2.2 million passengers use
the transportation service per day.
Establishing an acceptable bus service quality in Bangkok is one of the challenge for
the transit engineers (Nair, Wen & Ling, 2014). From passenger’s point of view the quality
of service is measured by two main things- one is the availability of transit and the other is
the quality of the transit. Transit availability generally refers to the accessibility of transit to a
particular location and the quality of transit refers to the comfort and convenience of the
passengers. Among the two characteristics the quality of transit is highly influenced by the
passenger’s perspective and hence it is much difficult to analyse from different individuals.

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Results obtained from consistent response from people using buses as public transport
points out several factors that are responsible for lesser attraction of public buses in Thailand.
The factors include lesser frequency of bus services, travel time of the buses, insufficient
information about the bus routes and there scheduled timings of arrival and departure and
safety in driving (Tangworamongkon, 2015). The extended travel time of public buses
discouraged the people in opting for it to reach their destinations and as a result they often
switch to private cars. Frequency and punctuality of the bus timings are the major factors
bringing dis-satisfaction among the passengers (Muromachi et al., 2015). Usually the
frequency of bus timings is set based on the demand of passengers for a particular route. The
accessibility of crucial information like the bus routes, bus timings, departure and arrival time
of buses serves as key factor in attracting more passengers. The transport system of Thailand
mainly the public bus services lacks to provide such information correctly to its passengers
(Tuaycharoen, Sakcharoen & Cha-aim, 2016). According to passenger’s perspective they
want online information system to be implemented in the public transport system with
updated bus route and proper schedule time, so that they can manage their travel plan
accordingly (Tirastittam & Waiyawuththanapoom, 2014). Last but not the least, safety issues
is one another factor for which passengers have reported of not using the public transports.
Frequent accidents, disobeying of traffic rules and unprofessional employees are the main
reasons for which safety concerns have roused among the passengers using public transport
in Thailand.

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1.4 Modern Mobile Service
Mobile Application
With the growing trend of smart-phones in the market, emergence of more advanced
mobile applications are taking up the demands in the market. Mobile marketing is somewhat
different from the usual marketing techniques. A mobile application is piece of software
which operates on a mobile device (Kang, 2014). Mobile applications can be of different
categories like games, entertainment, music, social media and business. Developing a mobile
application ensures the maximum access as well as speed to the function of the device.
Moreover, software development could cost high as it takes time as well as a specially
skilled team of software engineers (Hoehle & Venkatesh,2015). Mobile applications now can
take information from the web servers and provide better client experiences. Software
engineers are now able to create location tracking mobile applications by using hardware
devices to offer a more personalized experience to the users (Rattagan,2016).
Smartphone Operating System
As mobile system has invaded our life in recent times, special software is need for
using those devices and for running those software operating systems are needed which
provides interface to that software (Tseng et al., 2014). Some of the most popular operating
systems that are used includes Android, Windows phone 7, Apple ios, Blackberry ios and
many more. From recent surveys it is noted that the popularity of Android smartphone users
is more than the other operating system and about 85 million people use this operating system
(Gronli et al., 2014).
Android
Android, an operating system, based on the Linux kernel platform, is developed by
Google Corporation, designed particularly for devices with touchscreen feature, which

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includes smartphones as well as tablet computers (Singh, 2014). The boundary of an android
user is created using dash inputs for handling directly. Internal hardware of android devices
are used by some of the applications, to provide respond to the additional actions by the
users. Applications in android further provides information relevant to the user’s demand
using system notifications. As android is an open source code software, it can be easily
modified as well as distributed by wireless carriers and good system developers under the
Apache License ,which is released by Google (Ma, Gu & Wang, 2014). Most of the devices
using android as their system softwares are shipped with both proprietary software and open
source codes.. The applications developed in android are more in number rather than any
other platform (Kaur & Sharma, 2014). An inventor survey steered in Bangkok recorded,
Android is the supreme used podium among originators having 79.08% market share in
Thailand.
1.5Current Existing Applications
ViaBus – Thailand Bus Tracking Application
ViaBus Bangkok transportation application is a real time based public transport
tracking app which is also used for navigation purpose. At recent time it is one of the best
tracking application in Bangkok which is available on both android and Ios based
smartphones. This application provide a complete guide for tracking the bus schedule in
Bangkok as in the city the arrival and departure timing of the public buses is not scheduled
properly. With the opening of the app, the nearest bus stop information is provided to the
user (Subramanya, 2014). The user can select the bus stop according to their preference and
after selecting the bus stop it will show the buses that are coming to that stop. The application
is made so that it can track any bus which has GPS on it. By selecting the bus number their
respective routes are also provided to the user. The ViaBus mobile application has various

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modes of transport supported in it which includes BMTA, BTS, MRT, Ferry Boats etc.
Overall the application has a very user friendly interface that is easy to navigate (Somapa &
Fongsuwan, 2015). As the application shows bus timing, route and traffic situation on their
route, travelling in Thailand has become much more easy removing confusion between
passengers and allowing them to plan their travel accordingly.
1.6Mapping
Google Map API-
The main functionality of android bus tracking application is conveyed through a
map. For making android tracking applications there are many mapping APIs which can be
used by the developers. The APIs used in the application are used to add markers, change
views and displaying maps. In order to create creative location based apps, Google Maps API
is one of the most used platform (Ibrahim & Mohsen, 2014). Peoples doing location related
searches need a variety of answers to match their needs. Leading life becomes much easier as
the Google Maps API deals with the admittance to servers, data downloading, displaying
maps and many more (Battin & Markande, 2016). In order to add various information to the
user map, this API also provides certain options like adding markers, polygons, overlays etc.
In Google Maps API, a map is displayed on to the user’s interface by using the JavaScript
API.
1.7 Location Service
GPS
GPS is an abbreviation for Global Positioning System. It is often referred to the
receiver found in a car but it is more precisely defined as the direction-finding tool that trusts
on cable indications to show an entity’s position. Experts are researching on satellite created

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triangulation system from the 1950s. The existing GPS systems forerunner was formed
in1973 (Prabha, Sunitha & Anitha, 2014). It was formerly commenced by the Department of
defense in United States for practice by the armed soldiers but since 1980s the régime started
approving civilians in order to custom the scheme. Policies using GPS, graft by getting
indications from cables that circle the Terrain double in a day at an elevation of around
13,000 miles far. At least 24 satellites are mandatory so that the GPS can function properly
but usually there are approximately 30 cables gyrating around the globe in a situation if in
case one becomes inactivated. GPS continuously discharge motions providing two
information- one is the correct interval and the other is the precise location on the Earth the
satellite is at that stretch (Estevez & Carlsson,2014). GPS utilizes this data to form a distinct
scheming called triangulation. The receiver then compares the period with which the
indicator was directed after the outpost with the receiving interval of the signal (Capurso et
al., 2017). The latitude and longitude gets measured by the signal received from the satellites.
GPS is installed in almost all buses in Thailand to track their location and also to provide
information of their arrival and departure in particular bus stands to the bus tracking
application used in user’s smartphones.
Latitude & Longitude
The calculation of any location or place in the earth can be described by two factors,
one being latitude and the other one is longitude. The concept latitudes and longitudes helps
to find the precise location of a place on Earth. Latitudes and longitudes are lines that form an
invisible grid over the Earth which allows pointing out the exact location of a place anywhere
on the face of this planet. With the help of latitude, the distance of allocation is described by
how far north or south it is located from the equator. On the other hand, location of a place
from east-west direction relative to the Greenwich meridian is determined by longitude.

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Location on Android
While developing allocation tracker based android application, developers can utilize
the GPS provider or another type of provider named Android Network Location Provider. In
spite of gained popularity of using GPS in location tracking, it only operates in outdoors and
consumes much battery power. Also the process of location tracking does not goes smoothly
as expected. Android Location Provider tracks location using the Wi-Fi signals and cell tower
providing accurate location information that works in both indoors and outdoors. The
responding power in this provider is much faster and consumes less battery. Developers can
use both the GPS as well as the Network Location Provider to build bus tracking application.
1.8 Human Computer Interaction
Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics
User interface design is an integral part of building any application that tracks
location. Similarly, in order to generate an android application that tracks the bus services in
Thailand, human and computer interaction is very much important. In this context, Jacob
Nielsen’s 10 heuristics should be kept in mind. The principles of Nielsen’s are called
heuristics, because they are broad thumb rules and is not applicable to only one specific
usability (Yáñez Gómez, Cascado Caballero & Sevillano, 2014). The 10 heuristics of
Nielsen are-
1. Status of system visibility- The user should always to be kept informed by the system,
about the ongoing tasks in it. The feedback for all the applications should be achieved by the
user within a stipulated and reasonable time.

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2. Similarity present in both real domain and scheme domain- Communication should be
done by the system with the operator linguistic of appropriate arguments as well as ideas that
are acquainted to the operator.
3. User control and freedom- According to this principle, user frequently create mistakes and
thus they need a marked alternative exit to return to where the user really wants to be as fast
as conceivable.
4. Reliability and standards- This principle demonstrates that the user need not to worry about
whether different words or circumstances mean the same. In that case there must have some
contract persistently across the entire system of the user.
5. Error preclusion- This principle states that the most appropriate design does not only
provide pronounced error retrieval, but also avert user for any further error creation.
6. Credit relative to recall- It means that the system should diminish the operator’s memory
burden by constructing objects action and selections more visible.
7. Usage flexibility and usage efficiency- This means that the accelerators should be
incorporated by the system which are invisible not only to non-voice users but also allows the
users, who are experts for faster navigation with easy actions frequently.
8. Aesthetic and discreet plan- The principle states that the dialogue should be free from
irrelevant information because the extra units of information always strives with the
preoccupied related information sets and thus diminishes the users visibility.
9. Helping users to identify, analyse, and rectification of errors- This principle states that the
messages of error should be specifically expressed with the help of simple languages so that
the issue could be indicated precisely.

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10. Provision of documentation and help- Documentation may be necessary in some systems
whereas many systems can be used without the documentation also.

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1.9 Conclusion:
Smartphones are taking up the market at an incredible rate over the past years and
thus mobile applications are ruling the lives of almost all citizens. Native apps are becoming
more and more popular among the users. Among widely used operating systems it is seen that
androids are taking up the highest position in the market as compared to others. Arrivals of
smartphones and internet connectivity has aroused more demands among the people of
Thailand on more improved transport facility by means of providing correct information
about bus timings and tracking location of the transport systems. The overall application of
android bus tracking system will benefit the passengers by providing genuine location
information of the buses and providing routes for it so that they can plan their travel
accordingly.

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