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Real-Time Campus University Bus Tracking Mobile Application

Conference Paper · July 2018

DOI: 10.1109/ICT-ISPC.2018.8523915

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 2018 Seventh ICT International Student Project Conference (ICT-ISPC)

Real-Time Campus University Bus Tracking Mobile

Application
Shafri A. Sharif Mohd S. Suhaimi Nurul N. Jamal
Faculty of Computing Faculty of Computing Faculty of Computing
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Johor, Malaysia Johor, Malaysia Johor, Malaysia
amir.shafri@yahoo.com sufisuhaimi2014@gmail.com nuruljamal27@yahoo.com

Irsyad K. Riadz Ikmal F. Amran Dayang N. A. Jawawi

Faculty of Computing Faculty of Computing Faculty of Computing
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Johor, Malaysia Johor, Malaysia Johor, Malaysia
irsyadkamil96@gmail.com ikmalfi3.amran@gmail.com dayang@utm.my

Real-Time Campus University Bus Tracking Mobile the location of the bus. They do not know the current
Application is a mobile application to help campus members location of the bus and they could not estimate the time
detect the current location of the bus in real-time. Real-Time arrival and time for them to get prepared. Other than that,
Campus University Bus Tracking Mobile Application is a not knowing the unique identification for a bus will also
hybrid mobile application. However, for this development, it is complicate them on which bus they should take.
developed for Android user only. It can show updated
estimation time arrival and the number of persons inside the
bus. This project using two devices embedded inside the bus, To reduce this inconvenience, Real-Time Bus Tracking
which are GPS Tracker device and IoT people counter device. System is developed. The system ease people in managing
All devices will transmit the data into cloud database which is their journey plan. The main function of the system is to
Firebase. Real-Time Campus University Bus Tracking Mobile track the exact location of a bus. Other than that, the main
Application is developed as a platform for user to receive the objective of developers developed Real-Time Bus Tracking
data transmitted from database. Other than that, Student will System is to motivate more people to ride public
know the time arrival of the bus and the current quantity of transportation and increase their satisfaction. This system is
people inside the bus to lead them avoid wasted time knowing can help reduce traffic congestion as well as environmental
that they wait for the bus that pack of passenger. The student impact.
also able to make complaint and feedback via the platform.
Furthermore, this project using PhoneGap as a tool platform
II. RELATED WORK
to develop the application. The GPS Tracker device using
Arduino and IoT people counter using Raspberry PI to
A. Similar Existing System
transmit data. Overall this project using the reusability
techniques and Agile method to complete all the system which Around the world, there are many vehicles tracking
it is involved four interactions to make it full system work as system have been developed. These systems have their own
expected. uniqueness. An example of EVO GPS Tracker is developed
to provide vehicle security and GPS location for personal and
Keywords—Hybrid, GPS, PhoneGap, Raspberry PI, Agile, fleet vehicle owners. This device combines with advanced
Reusability technology and safely features to keep the vehicles secured
whenever they go. Controlling and Monitoring the vehicles
can be done in an easy and convenient way [3].
I. INTRODUCTION LiveViewGPS designed to provide vehicle security and GPS
Bus Transportation already began on August 10, 1826, in location for fleet vehicle owners. Now they have variety of
Nantes called Omnibus [1]. Omnibus consist of 2 horses and option to choose either personal, bus, professional vehicle,
can hold into 16 passengers at one time. The word bus is and all sorts of vehicle tracking system. They have a device
derived from Latin word which is Omnibus that carry the that combines with advanced technology that keep the
meaning of carriage for all. After the development of vehicle secured whenever they are [4]. XSSecure XTS
Tracking System is GPS navigation engineered for use in
Omnibus, people keep invented by reuse the similar vehicles. This device is manufactured in Conjoinix which is
architecture of the system such as horsecar, cable car a multinational company and a producer of security
streetcar and modern bus. Public transportation in Malaysia equipment. It provides huge list of features like, stolen
starts developed during the British era. Since then, public vehicle recovery, asset tracking, video & audio surveillance,
transportation in Malaysia is getting better over the time. transit tracking, fuel monitoring, distance calculation,
historic tracking data auditing and etc [5].
However, over the years, many issues occurred
such as the time management of the bus transportation is B. Techniques Used
decrease due to the environment factors [2]. For example, in Nowadays, people used many kinds of different operating
University, the main passengers are students and staff system in their smartphone such as iOS, Android and many
members. Currently, they are often late to class and faculty others. Thus, developers need to develop many kinds of
because they decide to wait for the bus without knowing the platforms using different frameworks, architectures and
exact location of the bus. Most of them feel unsure where contents to build an equal application for all. The cost of

978-1-5386-7805-3/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE

 2018 Seventh ICT International Student Project Conference (ICT-ISPC)

implementation for the multiple platforms are high.

Developers also need to have the expertise on the various
platforms. Developers are introduced to use the alternative
way or approach for the multiple implementation such as a
cross-platform development approach. There is also an
alternative way for developers to less the workload which
they can implement and applying reusability techniques in
developing equal applications. Thus, by using the two
mentioned techniques, they could choose any suitable
approaches along with the reusability techniques in using the
existing components of existing systems into a new platform
that they want to develop.
Fig. 1. Agile Method for Real-Time Bus Tracking Mobile Application
a) Cross-platform development
Cross-platform development approach can be classified into
IV. ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
few approaches such as web approach, hybrid approach,
Interpreted approach and cross-compiled approach. These As software product line approach (SPL) is chose as the
approaches have their own advantages and challenges in reusability technique approach, the components can be
developing a multiple platform system. extracted by analyzing few similar systems. SPL is one of
an effective approach which allows systematic reuse of
b) Reusability Techniques development artifacts through efficient identification and
The idea of reusability has been proposed for a long time. management of commonality and variability of a product
Instead of developing an invention of solutions, Ecole et al [9]. SPL is developed from a common set of core assets and
on 2014 has claimed that it is easier if developers innovate a variable features. SPL identifies and manages the
new product or system by using the applicable information commonalities across a set of system artifacts such as
that can be extracted from the previous developed solutions requirements, architectures, code components and test cases
[6]. There are various reusable approaches that can be [10]. Thus, few similar system as existing system need to be
applied such as software product line approach (SPL) in
extracting components from existing system and component- compared to identify the components that can be reused.
based approach (CB) in implementing extracted components After the components were identified, they were used in
into new development. The selection of suitable approaches developing the new system by using component-based
typically not defined in a proper way. Each project finds its development approach. Component-based development
own approach based own the time management and budget approach is a branch of application engineering. It is also a
pressure. The selection of the right approach requires careful reuse-based approach in implementing independent
consideration of multiple criteria and careful balancing components into systems. Table I shows the analysis of few
among application requirements, technical characteristics selected similar system.
and financial issues.
Next, Table II shows the requirement model based on the
similar existing systems. This requirement model is analysed
III. METHODOLOGY by comparing and featuring the three similar system with the
Agile method is used in developing this Real-Time Bus use case specification of Real-Time Bus Tracking Mobile
Tracking Mobile Application. This method is used as it has Application. This analysis is based on the model invented by
simple phase flow that allows any changes in requirement Halim on 2016 named CVAnalysis [14]. Thus, the
made by the client [7]. This proof that this method makes the developers reused the software architecture which are Three-
development process more flexible in term trends and Tier Layer and few components that stated.
technologies [8]. Minimize the overall risk of the project is
one of the advantages of the agile method. This method The symbol ‘x’ that tabulated in Table II means the
follows every interaction, as the interaction ends, the specified system have corresponds the functional
development is considered finish and moved into the next requirements. ‘P’ means the feature is optional while ‘c’
interaction. The Figure 1 shown the phase that needs to be means the feature is common. In order to determine whether
taken by each interaction. Agile method lightens the work the requirement is common or variable, the total occurrences
that needs to be done by the development team. Therefore, of each feature among all the system is calculated. The
the team can focus on rapid development and delivery of the author set if the occurrences value is equal or more than half
system. The development process is ensured to be optimized of 100%, it be considered as C while below the percentage it
by this method. will be denoted by P. In scoping the requirements by
identifying the features property and calculate predictive of
Besides that, reusability techniques also been used in this core assets is using the CVAnalysis [15].
development. Software product line approach and
component-based development approach are chosen for
implementing reusability technique in this project. Both
approaches are suitable as the authors apply vertical reuse
type as same domain is used for the implementation which is
real-time bus tracking system.
 2018 Seventh ICT International Student Project Conference (ICT-ISPC)

TABLE I: ANALYSIS ON THE COMPARISON ON SIMILAR EXISTING SYSTEM TABLE II: THE REQUIREMENT MODEL
Author(s) and System Real-Time Real-Time Real time Requiremen Vehicle Tracking System Name Total of Value CV
Name College Bus Bus Web ts Model: and Author(s) occurrenc (%)(A/ Property
Tracking Tracking Based Real-Time Real- Real- es per 3)
application System Bus College Time Time row(A). *100)
for Android [12] Tracking Bus Bus Web
smartphone System Tracking Trackin Based
[11] [13]
applicatio g Bus

Description n for System Tracki

Android ng
Environme System Android Hybrid Web smartpho System
nt Platform ne
system
Requiremen
System Task -Able to -Able to -Able to
t Model:
(Functionality track the track the track the
Select x x x 3 100 C
) location of location of location
vehicle. vehicle. of Destination
vehicle. Requiremen
-Able to -Able to t Model:
estimate the estimate -Able Scan
estimation the display location by x 1 33.3 P
time arrival estimation an
using QR
of a vehicle time updated
Code
arrival of a static bus
vehicle. schedule Requiremen
t Model:
-Feedback Detect User x x 2 66.7 C
session Current
Hardware features (Tracker GPS Android GPS Location
Device) Tracker Applicatio Tracker
Requiremen
(GPS n installed (GPS
t Model:
tracking in any tracking
device) portable device) Detect x x x 3 100 C
device Vehicle
(Mobile Location
phone- Requiremen
based t Model:
tracking) Display x x x 3 100 C
Software Architecture Used Three Tier Client Three
vehicle
Layer Server Tier Details

Layer Requiremen
t Model:
Software used Software Android -Sublime -Sublime
Update x x x 3 100 C
for Tools Studio -phoneGap
Location
implementatio Languages C# HTML, HTML
n PHP and and CSS Requiremen
CSS t Model:
Database Localhost Firebase Localhost Display x x 2 66.7 C
(for testing) (for schedule of
*for real testing) bus
implementat *for real
ion (not impleme
mention) ntation
(not
mention) Transportation module describe how the bus is tracked by
installing the GPS Tracker. The GPS satellite transmits
microwave signal to GPS bus tracker device that allows the
device to give related information such as location, bus
V. ARCHITECTURE USED speed, estimation time arrival, and direction. This allows
GPS tracker device to update the historic navigation data in
The architectural style of this system is a Three tier
real time. The data received by GPS satellite is then
layer. The system is designed to be used on a mobile device
transferred into GSM or Cellular Network for the location of
application with the connection to a server using the Internet.
Mobile application’s core operation is to update the user the bus map in the mapping system. The recorded
interface with the newly requested information based on the navigation data is stored in an internet server. The client will
user’s input and retrieve data from a data store. This system has receive this historic navigation data in Real-Time Campus
few modules which can be break into three partitions; (i) University Bus Tracking Mobile Application when they
Transportation module, (ii) Admin module and (iii) User make a request to check where the current bus is. For IoT
module. Those modules have their own characteristics. people counter, its calculate how many people in the current
bus. Once it did calculate the total of people inside the bus,
it will transmit the data into internet server and store the
data there. The total number of people inside the current bus
 2018 Seventh ICT International Student Project Conference (ICT-ISPC)

will transmit into the client when client choose their

destination in real-time campus university bus tracking 2) Apparatus 2: Software Interfaces
mobile application.
a) PhoneGap Tools
Next, admin module describes how the bus driver and
management team to manage the location and information. Every user in university may use different type of mobile
Admin module is responsible to manage and update all static
information about bus such as new buses, routes into operating system. Every mobile operating system provides
database. Besides that, admin also keep in touch with end their own set of tools and environments to develop apps that
user through feedback session to maintain the reliability and will run on them. Our development team needs to
the performance of the system. In addition, admin module understand and cover all major development tools for
contains a web interface for administrators that shows the different operating systems. This will increase the time
summary of the bus being tracked. It will display a map taken in implementation phase. Thus, we decide to use
using the Google Static Maps API, with vehicle and location PhoneGap tools as it is a solution to all problems mentioned
data from database. Furthermore, admin also can monitor bus above. PhoneGap allows its users to upload the data
stop frequently used by user for further bus route contents on website and it automatically converts it to
improvement. Figure 2 shows the architecture of system.
various App files [17]. Besides PhoneGap is an open-source
and free, development team does not require to have an
expertise over any mobile operating system. Developers
only need to know web development using HTML, CSS and
JavaScript.

b) Firebase Realtime Database

The Firebase Realtime Database is a cloud-hosted database.

Data is stored as JSON and synchronized in real-time to
Fig. 2. System Architecture for Real-Time Bus Tracking Mobile every connected client. Drivers will send the data of location
Application bus to the database by using the android application
platform. Then, Firebase Realtime Database will
Finally, user module describes how the user interact with
automatically receive the updates with the newest data. Our
the functionality to use the Real-Time Campus University
Bus Tracking Mobile Application. User module describe system will then fetch the update data of a bus from the
interfaces of all the functions provided with user interface to same database. The data in Firebase Realtime Database is
remote the end users. There are 6 main function in the main synced across all clients in real-time and remains available
interface which is Where’s My Bus, Bus Schedule, although our application goes offline [18], as shown in
Feedback, Gallery, Contact, and Call Us. Where’s My Bus Figure 3.
interface required user to set starting and destination point.
The starting point can be set using user’s current location via
GPS or scan QR code at the bus stop. In Bus Schedule, user
send request of queries to the server for accessing the
information stored in a server database to retrieve
information on bus arriving time.

V. IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION

A. Apparatus & Experimental Setup

To fulfil requirements needed in developing proposed

application system, development team used some apparatus
to reach the target.

1) Apparatus 1: System Interfaces

a) Google Map API

Fig. 3. Architecture of Firebase

Our proposed system will be interfaced with Google

Maps API. Google Maps API provides our application with 3) Apparatus 3: Hardware Interfaces
full access to Google’s worldwide database of over 100
million business. By using this APIs, we can show our users Our proposed system needs external device to display all the
a filtered list of places that are most relevant to them [16]. information. Besides that, a tracker device is used to track
the location of vehicle. We used a GPS Module that
 2018 Seventh ICT International Student Project Conference (ICT-ISPC)

attached with Arduino kit and IoT counter to count people in system can help them in managing the time and problem
bus. faced regarding the bus transportation managements system.
a) GPS Module The comparison of the performance on the functionality is
tabulated in Table III.
The extension module that we used are Neo-6m which is a
GPS module. The module works perfectly with Arduino. It
enables the Arduino to track the movement or location of
the device in real time. However, to enable that
functionality, the connection between the module and the
Arduino must be established first. Then, create an
application via visual studio which we can locate the current
GPS location.

b) IoT Module

Raspberry Pi and webcam are selected to be used in

developing an IoT device for counting the people in bus.
Raspberry Pi is a microcomputer that suitable to develop
IoT device with the help of a webcam. The author used Fig. 5. ‘Where my Bus” of Real-Time Bus Tracking Mobile
Application
image processing in the process of detecting the quantity of
people in bus.

TABLE III: THE COMPARISON ON THE PERFORMANCE FUNCTIONALITY

4) Apparatus 4: User Interfaces
The menu page for a mobile application that contains six Functionality Existing Existing Existing Proposed
main icons. All icon has it is own function. However, menu System System System System
page for real-time campus University bus tracking mobile 1[11] 1[12] 1[13]
Locating Yes Yes Yes Yes
application also will act as the home page for the apps. Bus
Figure 4 shows the main page of Real-Time Campus Updating Yes Yes Yes Yes
University Bus Tracking Mobile Application. Location
Display Not Yes, in Yes, in Yes, in
Timeline Applicable dynamic dynamic static
Schedule schedule schedule schedule
Counting No No No Yes, using
People in the image
Bus processing

Example of test case used to evaluate the system is shown in

Table IV.

TABLE IV: EXAMPLE OF TEST CASE

Test Use Case Data Status Expected Actual

Case Result Result
ID
T012 Give 1 Email Valid Successful Pass
Feedback feedback >
Fig. 4. Menu Page of Real-Time Bus Tracking Mobile Application 2 Name Valid redirect to main
page
3 Comment Valid
Content design is shown in Figure 5. Figure 5 is
the page for user to select the destination that they wanted to 4 Stars Valid
go. Whenever the user is ready it can get the route simply
touch the get route button. The user has two options to
detect user current location either using QR Code or turning
on the GPS to allow the current location on their VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
smartphone.
A lot of mobile applications installed in user’s
B. Testing Evaluation smartphone, especially student who download some mobile
application for education purpose and manage their task
Real-time bus tracking system is evaluated by using simple
using the mobile application. Nowadays, Internet connection
test cases that focus on the main functions of the system in student smartphone is necessary since they need full
which are locating the location of bus and counting the internet access to know the current issue and use the facility
people in the bus. The result shows this system is more for discussion through the mobile application. Real-Time
effective compare to the existing system. A small group of Campus University Bus Tracking Mobile Application’s
respondents from university members agreed that this
 2018 Seventh ICT International Student Project Conference (ICT-ISPC)

project is believed to help student in managing their trip to [5] XSSecure XTS Tracking System. Retrieved from
class. Besides, students are able to use the Real-Time http://www.xssecure.com/product.html/ [Accessed March 28,
2018
Campus University Bus Tracking Mobile Application as an [6] Mohamed-V Agdal Univ, Ecole Mohammadia, 2014. All about
opportunity to make a complaint to be heard by management. software reusability: a systematic literature review. Journal of
The main objective of this project is to help in solving the Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, pp. 1992-
problem faced by students regarding bus transportation on 8645
campus is achieved. [7] L. Gherardi,, D. Hunziker, and G. Mohanarajah, , 2014. A
Software Product Line Approach for Configuring Cloud
For future works, the existing application will be tested Robotics Applications. In Cloud Computing (CLOUD), 2014
further for functional and non-functional performance IEEE 7th International Conference on, IEEE, (June), pp. 745-
752.
evaluation. [8] M.A. Babar, L. Chen and F. Shull, 2010. Managing variability
in software product lines. Software, IEEE, 27(3), pp.89-91.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT [9] S. Halim, 2016. Core Asset Variability Modeling Approach for
Software Product Line Development (Doctoral dissertation).
This paper is done and fully supported by Sofware [10] M.A. Babar, L. Chen, and F. Shull, 2010. Managing variability
Engineering Department, Faculty of Computing, Universiti in software product lines. Software, IEEE, 27(3), pp.89-91.
Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). The authors fully acknowledged [11] Supriya Sinha, Pooja Sahu, Monika Zade et al., 2017. Real
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for the approved funds from Time College Bus Tracking Application for Android
Faculty of Computing and GUP Research Grant VOT13H63 Smartphone. Vol. 6, Issue 2, pp. 20281-20284.
[12] Muhammad Irsyad Kamil Riadz, Nurul Nazihah Jamal,
which makes this important research viable and effective. A Mohammad Shafri Amir Mohd Sharif, Mohd Sufi Mohd
special thanks to all lecturers and students whose participated Suhaimi, 2017. A real-time bus tracking System, Undergraduate
in this project. Lastly, to parents and partners who always Project Report, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia: Faculty of
there give full support throughout this project. Computing.
[13] Manini Kumbhar, Meghana Survase, Pratibha Mastud, Avdhut
Salunke, 2016. Real-Time Web Based Bus Tracking System,
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