 |
| Source: MyTransport.sg website. |
The Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA) and Microsoft Singapore today announced an extended collaboration for DataMall@MyTransport.SG. From today onwards, DataMall will feature richer real-time datasets, including real-time bus arrival information and taxi availability data, expanding the range and quality of data available on the site to empower more informed decisions. The extended collaboration also supports the Singapore Urban Transport Solution (STARS) initiative, aimed at developing Singapore as a centre for urban transport solutions.
Five new datasets have been added. Besides real-time bus arrival and crowd information and taxi availability data, the site now features locations of MRT exits, covered linkways and footpaths. With new information now available on DataMall, more innovative land transport applications can be co-created, in turn nurturing a new generation of technopreneurs to support Singapore’s Smart Nation vision.
Since November 2011, LTA has been collaborating with Microsoft to share its repository of land transport datasets for public usage through the DataMall hosted on Microsoft’s enterprise-grade cloud platform Azure, which enables seamless data download by third-party application developers for the creation, development and testing of transport-related mobile applications. To cater for variance in user load as a result of fluctuating motorist and commuter traffic throughout the day, Azure also enables the DataMall to be automatically scalable, in order to optimise timely and accurate dissemination of the land transport information to the public. DataMall’s unique design further enables other collectors of land transport-related datasets to publish their collected data for use by the public.
To date, DataMall has received strong interest from business partners, research institutions and third-party developers, garnering an average of 4 million data downloads per month. This in turn generated between 8 to 10 million monthly hits from more than 40 transport-related mobile applications and services created with DataMall for iOS, Android and Windows phones and tablets. Popular mobile applications include TrafficLah, Carpark@SG and SG Traffic Cam.
“Our experimentation with open innovation through data sharing has enabled very exciting third-party apps to be developed. Crowdsourcing for ideas, co-creating with third-parties and collaborating with renowned research institutions have helped LTA achieve what could have been not possible to achieve,“ said Mrs Rosina Howe-Teo, Group Director, Innovation & InfoComm Technology Group, LTA.
“Advances in technology are allowing new paradigms in managing people-centric urban mobility to be explored – not just by governments and businesses, but also by technopreneurs and the general public. Today, the technologically untrained are able to liberate data as a platform for situation awareness and better decision-making. LTA’s DataMall@MyTransport.SG is a great example of how city leaders can involve citizens and communities to co-develop and co-create innovative transport solutions by leveraging open data to benefit the community and general land transport users,” said Nobuhiro Ito, Director for Developer Experience & Evangelism, Microsoft Singapore.
This is exactly what a group of students from Temasek Polytechnic aims to do with the Easy Bus Trips mobile application. The application, which is currently at prototype stage, is targeted at alleviating commuter frustration from “bus bunching”, which occurs during peak hours when buses along the same bus route arrive at the same time instead of at regular intervals.
Five new datasets have been added. Besides real-time bus arrival and crowd information and taxi availability data, the site now features locations of MRT exits, covered linkways and footpaths. With new information now available on DataMall, more innovative land transport applications can be co-created, in turn nurturing a new generation of technopreneurs to support Singapore’s Smart Nation vision.
Since November 2011, LTA has been collaborating with Microsoft to share its repository of land transport datasets for public usage through the DataMall hosted on Microsoft’s enterprise-grade cloud platform Azure, which enables seamless data download by third-party application developers for the creation, development and testing of transport-related mobile applications. To cater for variance in user load as a result of fluctuating motorist and commuter traffic throughout the day, Azure also enables the DataMall to be automatically scalable, in order to optimise timely and accurate dissemination of the land transport information to the public. DataMall’s unique design further enables other collectors of land transport-related datasets to publish their collected data for use by the public.
To date, DataMall has received strong interest from business partners, research institutions and third-party developers, garnering an average of 4 million data downloads per month. This in turn generated between 8 to 10 million monthly hits from more than 40 transport-related mobile applications and services created with DataMall for iOS, Android and Windows phones and tablets. Popular mobile applications include TrafficLah, Carpark@SG and SG Traffic Cam.
“Our experimentation with open innovation through data sharing has enabled very exciting third-party apps to be developed. Crowdsourcing for ideas, co-creating with third-parties and collaborating with renowned research institutions have helped LTA achieve what could have been not possible to achieve,“ said Mrs Rosina Howe-Teo, Group Director, Innovation & InfoComm Technology Group, LTA.
“Advances in technology are allowing new paradigms in managing people-centric urban mobility to be explored – not just by governments and businesses, but also by technopreneurs and the general public. Today, the technologically untrained are able to liberate data as a platform for situation awareness and better decision-making. LTA’s DataMall@MyTransport.SG is a great example of how city leaders can involve citizens and communities to co-develop and co-create innovative transport solutions by leveraging open data to benefit the community and general land transport users,” said Nobuhiro Ito, Director for Developer Experience & Evangelism, Microsoft Singapore.
This is exactly what a group of students from Temasek Polytechnic aims to do with the Easy Bus Trips mobile application. The application, which is currently at prototype stage, is targeted at alleviating commuter frustration from “bus bunching”, which occurs during peak hours when buses along the same bus route arrive at the same time instead of at regular intervals.
Ian Hartono Budianto TK, Student Team Leader at Temasek Polytechnic, said, “By providing rich and insightful information including bus arrival timings, crowd indices of the buses and suggested bus routes based on commuter’s preferences such as bus fare, travel distance, and occupancy of the bus, commuters with these information at their fingertips will be able to make better decisions by avoiding delayed and overcrowded buses, and avoid unnecessary frustration in their daily commuting journey.”
Developers of existing land-transport related applications also welcome the addition of richer and more real-time datasets, as well as easier application development on cloud platforms like Azure, so that they may create more useful applications that empowers users with insights for better decision-making.
Developers of existing land-transport related applications also welcome the addition of richer and more real-time datasets, as well as easier application development on cloud platforms like Azure, so that they may create more useful applications that empowers users with insights for better decision-making.
“As more related datasets are made available to integrate into the existing datasets used in applications, the insights and recommendations generated become more accurate and relevant to users,” said Tan Chun Siong, Application Developer for SGCarparks – a free application which shows the availability of parking lots in popular shopping centres in Singapore.
Microsoft Azure is rated level 1 in the Multi-Tier Cloud Security Standard for Singapore (MTCS SS), both as platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), as part of its commitment to offer a trustworthy cloud that is secure and transparent to Singapore government, businesses and communities.
Microsoft Azure is rated level 1 in the Multi-Tier Cloud Security Standard for Singapore (MTCS SS), both as platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), as part of its commitment to offer a trustworthy cloud that is secure and transparent to Singapore government, businesses and communities.
No comments:
Post a Comment