Getting your business information ready for AI
What good data means for a small business using AI, and the ordinary housekeeping that gets your files ready and pays off with or without AI.
· 6 min readFrom the archive: originally published on the Eastpoint blog on 21 December 2018. Some details reflect that time.
A smart transport app developed by Eastpoint has been named 'project of the year’ at the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) UK awards.
The mobile application is part of a wider research project called Glosa (Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory), an innovate solution to help drivers manage their speed in busy commuter traffic.
It was headed by West Midlands Combined Authority in collaboration with Transport for West Midlands, Birmingham City Council, Amey Consulting, IDT Ltd, SGTI and Eastpoint. We carried out the mobile development, producing a smartphone app that integrates with traffic light systems and helps drivers minimise red light stops, improving traffic flow and reducing emissions.
ITS (UK) is a not-for-profit association of members that provides a forum for seminars, news and workshops about intelligent transport systems. It’s annual awards celebrate leading contributions to the ITS community so it was incredible of Eastpoint to be recognised in the project of the year category
Eastpoint founder John Puddifoot said: “This award recognises the success of the Glosa collaborative project. Our team worked closely with the project partners to deliver a viable, scalable and implementable technology solution to this growing infrastructure challenge.
“We are delighted with the progress made and look forward to building upon this success with our collaborative partners. Our aim is to realise the potential for relatively low cost technology solutions, such as this, to make a meaningful impact.”
The Glosa app used text-to-speech to talk to the driver, like a sat nav, providing information to them about safe, optimal speeds based on traffic light changes.
It was built with the mobile development tool Xamarin, which is used to develop native cross platform apps, meaning that the outcome is a native iOS or Android mobile app as if it was built for those individually, but there is a shared code based behind the scenes.
The app was trialed by a select cohort of drivers and as detailed in the award literature, it proved to reduce journey times and alleviate stop starts during the trial period:
The project shows a 10-14% reduction in stop starts over the 6km testing route with 10 junctions and a consequent reduction of 5-7% in journey times for the test vehicles. Drivers also report significant levels of satisfaction with the speed advice provided.
On the night, the award was collected by Birmingham City Council, and our very own Xamarin developer Jin (BBC celebrity) was also there to celebrate. Jin is second left in the photo.
More about the award and the Glosa mobile app
You can read more about the Xamarin app we built for the Glosa project in this case study.
New video from West Midlands CA about Glosa can be seen here.
Press release from West Midlands combined Authority: Award for motoring technology
Press release from ITS: ITS (UK) recognises the best of British in Annual Awards
Highways magazine highlights the use of Glosa in connected and autonomous vehicles: West Mids GLOSA system could be crucial for CAVs
If you are looking to collaborate with an app development company on a smart transport application, or looking for a digital partner as part of an innovation grant, please contact us on info@eastpoint.co.uk or call 01223 690164.
