MotionMap app, wayfinding screens and smart panels to be available around city
Smart Cambridge has launched a mobile travel app and wayfinding screens using real time data to help people travel in a more environmentally sustainable manner around the city.
It brings together timetable information on bus and train services with suggestions of routes for walking and cycling, and includes a carbon counter and feedback option for users to offer suggestions on improving the routes and adding new features.
The move is the latest step in the programme, which aims to support the transport infrastructure of the city and surrounding rural areas with smart technology.
In addition to the MotionMap – which the team has made available through the regular app stores – the initiative involves installing digital wayfinding screens with travel updates and visitor information at key interchanges around Cambridge. The first has been put up outside the railway station and there are plans to install more over the summer.
The programme team is also providing smart panel lobby screens for the foyers of public buildings, organisations and large employers. These can display live bus and train times specific to the location, together with road traffic maps, travel updates on Twitter and weather reports.
The panels are being developed in collaboration with the team from the University of Cambridge.
Earlier this year, Dan Clarke, the programme manager for Smart Cambridge, told UKAuthority one of its main workstreams is the development of the Intelligent City Network, a real time data platform that is plugged in to some bus networks and car parks, and has been used for pilot project on air quality sensing.
He expressed the hope the amount of data would increase when the Bus Services Bill – which requires private bus firms to open up data on routes, timetables and delays – becomes legislation. The team is also working with Highways England data.
The announcement on the release of the app also highlighted plans for the next three years that take in smarter signalling, providing easier payment options through integrated ticketing and online payments, air quality monitoring and work on driverless vehicles.
Among the organisations involved in Smart Cambridge are the city council, Cambridgeshire County Council, the university, South Cambridgeshire District Council and the Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership.