Global Positioning System Reference
In-Depth Information
used to interface the systems, which would be generally portable (with the
exception of [personalized] public displays).
Before a journey is started, some interactions are necessary. For example,
choosing a destination and selecting important parameters such as time, cost,
modes, carbon emissions, and route. Confirmation can be made by the system,
taking into account real-time system knowledge, such as delays or breakdowns.
During the journey, a number of interactions with the central service can take
place and include:
•
Changes in a pre-calculated route due to new event information;
•
Changes in a route based on new user destinations (i.e., an old journey is
terminated early by the user and then a new journey is started);
•
Progress information passed by the user to the central service so that the
route plan can be checked regarding any time-critical issues (e.g., being
late for something);
•
Comfort information being passed to the user to update any time of
arrival estimates;
•
Emergency messages to alert the user of major events that might be
important regarding changes of plans;
•
Emergency messages involving messages being passed to the central
service by the user requesting help and advice;
•
At specific locations, the user may need associated secondary services
such as permissions to enter facilities, transactions to pay for services, or
commands to operate systems.
Post-trip information does not need to be in real time. It can be about
performance information for planning and audit purposes, about payment
information for budgetary purposes, and about health and safety issues.
Other services could take the form of automatic real-time booking or
reservation services and messaging to update third parties about journey progress
and delays. The markets would be for professional and business people who like
to be in control or at the other extreme, tourists who want to be lazy about
logistics. Specific groups would be:
•
Field workers operating in distributed teams;
•
Young adults and higher net worth older people with an active social life
outside the home;
•
Low-income people (without cars) traveling at public expense;
•
Physically challenged people who need help while traveling;
•
People who want to minimize their carbon footprints (or any other costs).
Benefits of personal guidance are save timed and other resources, better
control of health and safety, reduction in temporal uncertainty, and better logistics.
