USF recently did a feature article on their website’s homepage about our new GPS Auto-Sleep patent, Optimizing Performance of Location-Aware Applications Using State Machines. Read the press release.
For more information, visit http://www.locationaware.usf.edu/ongoing-research/technology/gps-auto-sleep/.
USF’s location aware-research and TAD were recently featured in a Tampa Bay Business Journal article, “Tampa Bay Companies Driving Intelligent Transportation”
TRAC-IT was featured in the July-August 2011 publication of TR News Magazine, published bi-monthly by the Transportation Research Board (TRB). The TR News features timely articles on innovative and state-of-the-art research and practice in all modes of transportation. More
This study examined whether multimodal trip planners can be developed using open-source software and open data sources. OpenStreetMap (OSM), maintained by the non-profit OpenStreetMap Foundation, is an open, freely available international repository of geographic data that individuals contribute about their communities. In the transit industry, Google’s offer of a free online transit trip planner based on the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) has made GTFS a de facto standard for describing transit systems and a platform for many other Web and mobile applications. Continue reading
TAD was featured in the February 2011 publication of the TR News Magazine, published bi-monthly by the Transportation Research Board (TRB). The TR News features timely articles on innovative and state-of-the-art research and practice in all modes of transportation. More
The policy of FDOT is to use “the Florida Advance Traveler Information System as the primary method to disseminate timely and important travel information to the public so that the public can make informed decisions regarding their travel plans.” More
Arica Bolechala’s thesis research, Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Travel Assistance Device on the Bus Riding Behavior of Individuals with Disabilities, successfully showed that the Travel Assistance Device (TAD) mobile phone application has a positive impact on the ability of a bus rider with an intellectual disability to exit the bus at the correct stop. This research was recently presented at the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board (TRB) 90th Annual Meeting.
Ms. Bolechala is a recent graduate of Florida Mental Health Institute’s Applied Behavior Analysis Master’s program.
A YouTube video of a BayNews9 story featuring TAD is now available.
We recently completed a project which deployed our Travel Assistance Device (TAD) software for GPS-enabled phones to several additional transit agencies in Florida. TAD is designed to aid new riders, especially those with cognitive impairments in using fixed route public transportation by providing real-time guidance such as “Get Ready…” and “Pull the Cord Now!” messages when the rider should exit the bus at their stop. The final report, Travel Assistance Device Deployment to Transit Agencies is now available.
For more information on TAD, visit our Travel Assistance Device page.
This project was conducted under funding from the National Center for Transit Research (NCTR), the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Florida Department of Transportation.
Arica Bolechala of USF’s Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute successfully demonstrated that the Travel Assistance Device (TAD) has a positive impact on a person’s ability to travel independently using public transportation in her Master’s Thesis, Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Travel Assistance Device on the Bus Riding Behavior of Individuals with Disabilities. When TAD was not in use, study participants did not pull the cord to exit the bus at the appropriate times, increasing the probability that an individual will miss the stop and ultimately lose their way. When the study participants carried TAD, the prompts delivered by TAD enabled all of the participants to pull the cord and exit the bus at the correct locations.
