Towards a Framework for Bus Ticketing and Tracking System Using

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Towards a framework for Bus Ticketing and Tracking System using Interactive GIS Map
Jonathan Sidi, Syahrul N. Junaini, Goh Soon Kheak Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia {jonathan,syahruln}@fit.unimas.my, [email protected]

Abstract
In this paper, the result of design, development, testing and evaluation of Online Reservation for Express Bus Ticket System via Interactive Map is presented. It is a web-based system for reservation of express bus ticket through Internet. The main aim of this application is to provide an alternative to the user to reserve ticket through an interactive map. A set of explanatory study was carried out with 20 employees from an express bus company in Sarawak, Malaysia. In this paper we present the fundamental framework for the bus operation and tracking system using GIS map. This proposed framework also allows the bus service operator to create interactive maps of bus routes. The result shows that the system has successfully meet user requirements. Results of this research are expected to improve interactivity level of ticketing site in order to attract more user. A new framework is also presented. Keywords: Interactive map, bus ticketing, bus tracking, GIS Map.

market since it was launched by Park May in year 2001. Currently, many people and companies are starting to gain insights of the express bus reservation system. Considering the bus ticket reservation system that has undergone a continuous evolution in the recent year, it is time for online reservation system to jump on the bandwagon – interactive map that has been developed to facilitate the development of shared virtual environments. The main objective is to assist the public in gaining an easier and faster way of reservation. Providing them with more selections, real time information. The bus companies are able to offer customers the precise estimation of bus schedule in the service arrangement and reminder. It delivers sophisticated reservation solutions that keep sellers and buyers on the cutting edge these days.

2. Interactivity on E-Commerce Ticketing
The potential applications for interactive information include travel news bulletins, departure information, journey planner, e-commerce, allowing transactions for a range of services and capital cams. Electronic commerce is a transposition of traditional commerce to the context of information networks. In the traditional marketplace, every operation, apart from the exchange of physical goods and services, is based on information: offers, brokerage, negotiations, orders, contracts, reservations, payments, documents, receipts and the resolution of disputes. The model of the traditional marketplace is, therefore, perfectly suited to the electronic marketplace, provided that its characteristics and requirements are appropriately translated in electronic terms. Like traditional commerce, the electronic marketplace should facilitate the establishment of relationships between potential sellers and buyers. As a key to its acceptance and the successful development of its huge potential, electronic commerce should handle all these situations in such a way that it is open to everyone, and at least as convenient to use, reliable, secure, and legally predictable as traditional commerce. Unless these minimal properties are fulfilled, people will be cautious about the routine use of electronic commerce, or will disregard it altogether.

1. Introduction
Internet is the most important and effective communication and marketing medium the world has ever seen. It offers a whole range of new ways to reach new and existing customer, as a marketing and advertising medium. Conventional bus ticketing services – transactions that are not supported with Information Technology (IT) – are conducted using media like paper, telephone or fax [16][17]. ITsupported bus ticket transactions, like other ITsupported business transactions use media like electronic mail, electronic data interchange (EDI), world wide web (WWW) and other Internet services [3][8][9]. The Internet is used as a medium to market and deliver the bus ticket services to the customer. Customers find themselves easy to purchase or reserve ticket 24-hour, day and night, as long as the ticket is still available. Bus reservation system had been implemented in Malaysia for decades, initially from manual to computerized reservation system. Online bus ticketing and reservation services are effectively increasing in the

In such an environment the user must feels in control of the situation, and an attempt to encourage or provide the facility for an experience that involves a sense of exhilaration, a sense of enjoyment that is cherished and becomes a landmark of how interaction should be [11]. Motivation can have a positive or negative effect on the end-users in an online environment, if a user had a positive experience shopping in an offline environment, the same positive belief will reflect on the willingness to using the online channel for services and vice versa. A single bad experience can stop consumers from shopping online. Online ticketing system offers significant improvements to the experience of buying and using tickets. Pre-pay allows people to reduce the number of times they have to buy a ticket and removes the need to think in advance about what ticket is required Customers can order their electronic tickets in advance over the phone or on-line Reducing the need to queue at the ticket counter – improve service to customers even further. Customer can get ticket at the same price, sooner, and with a higher quality of personalized service. All ticketing operations depend on computing processes that execute and interact in a digital Internet environment. The goal is to sell e-tickets with limited quantities over the Internet. A database-implemented ticket server centrally holds all tickets. The ticket server communicates only with intermediary sales agents implemented as automated e-processes written in middleware such as Perl or Java. Customers buy etickets through a Web browser from these agents. They can ask the agent to do various operations, and the agent responds by interacting with the ticket server on their behalf. These operations include reserving tickets, paying for and getting the reserved tickets, and canceling reservations.

dependence on detailed customer memory. By replacing a consumer’s need for reliance on memory with an interactive search process, an e-retailer may be able to increase the perceived value that the consumer places on a business transaction. A second reason is that interactivity dramatically increases the amount of information that can be presented to a customer [6]. For instance, a customer in a bookstore is generally limited to reading the dust cover to understand a book’s content. However, the customer of an online bookseller cannot only read the dust cover but also read reviews written in leading periodicals as well as the opinions of other customers. The online customer can also receive recommendations regarding other books bought by people with similar reading tastes and preferences. This tailored information helps the customer choose the exact products desired. Interactivity helps build more refined knowledge on the part of the seller regarding the customer’s tastes and preferences so that the customer has the incentive to return and gain from, and add to, this knowledge repository. Moreover, the navigational process facilitated by interactivity dramatically increases the freedom of choice and the level of control experienced by the customer.

2.2. Convenience
Convenience refers to the extent to which a customer feels that the web site is simple, intuitive, and user friendly. Accessibility of information and simplicity of the transaction processes are important antecedents to the successful completion of transactions. The quality of the website is particularly important because, for e-retailers, it represents the central, or even the only interface with the marketplace. According to [4], 30% of the consumers who leave a website without purchasing anything do so because they are unable to find their way through the site. Sinioukov [15] suggested that enabling consumers to search for information easily and making the information readily accessible and visible is the key to creating a successful e-retailing business. Cameron [7] pointed out that a number of factors render a website inconvenient from a user’s perspective. In some cases, information may not be accessible because it is not in a logical place, or is buried too deeply within the website. In other cases, information may not be presented in a meaningful format. Finally, needed or desired information may be entirely absent. Schaffer [4] argued that a convenient website provides a short response time, facilitates fast completion of a transaction, and minimizes customer effort. Because of the nature of the medium itself, online customers have come to expect fast and efficient

2.1. Contact Interactivity
Contact interactivity refers to the dynamic nature of the engagement that occurs between an e-retailer and its customers through its web site [13]. Research [6] has highlighted the significance of interactivity to customer loyalty in electronic commerce. Lack of interactivity is a problem for a majority of web sites. They are often hard to navigate, provide insufficient product information, and answer inquiries via e-mail only after a delay of a day or two. According to Salvati [14], e-retailers will not be able to capture significant market share until they “muster the full measure of dedication needed to achieve and capitalize upon electronic interactivity.” Contact interactivity is expected to have a major impact on customer loyalty for multiple reasons. Interactivity enables a search process that can quickly locate a desired product or service, thereby replacing

processing of their transactions. If customers are stymied and frustrated in their efforts to seek information or consummate transactions, they are less likely to come back [7]. A website that is logical and convenient to use will also minimize the likelihood that customers make mistakes and will make their shopping experience more satisfying.

3. Interactive Electronic Map
Peterson [10] provided a list of differences between interactive map and map from the mental process: accuracy; detail; interface; and including non-map forms of information. An interactive map is not only a completed 2D or 3D map, but to include a map where different services and attractions of the region can be combined interactively and shown together. Analytical functions enable user to answer questions such as ‘what is near by?’. In this way, the map becomes more interactive and is no longer purely a navigation tool. Spatial information, for example, distance of journey and type of express bus, reciprocates between the map and map-reader. It creates an environment for multiple interactions between cartographer (in this case web developer) and mapreader (online user). Many interactive map sites on the Internet address the problem using a Geographic Information System (GIS) database approach. In this approach the mapreader provides some information that starts a query for the database. Then the site will return information to the user. As map-readers interact with the map, information can be collected and pass back to cartographer. Literature [2] on using large online spatial databases is one of the few research projects using a WWW site to provide nonbiased collection of map-readers interaction. This method of feedback and data collection is one of the most promising avenues of research on interactive map design. Cartwright [18] put forth a list of sixteen different types of mediums that cartographer could use to distribute multimedia cartography. All sixteen were physical storage mediums, meaning that data was stored on the medium for the transfer of multimedia material. One alternative to the physical transfer to the information is a computer network, in particular Internet. Peterson [10] discussed how the Internet could be used to deliver cartographic animation to individuals. The Internet’s ability to rapidly update materials will be a major factor of choosing the storage medium as the appropriate for interactive maps.

For an interactive mapping project the ideal design is move the entire project to the client computer. Once the data is moved to the client computer, it can maintain the interactive environment of the mapping project. In most situations neither the server nor the map server can send and receive interactive responses across the Internet and maintain a feeling of interaction between WWW site and map-reader. Cartographer have to provide enough virtual landmarks or routes to get from one place to another. In designing interactive map, maintaining the fastest interactive processing is important because it goes directly to the concept of ease of use versus interactivity. Like all maps a single product interface map should be well designed graphically and have a good interactive interface. Interactive map allows the user to investigate each area of the region and access specific data. In early stage, the information is basic, but it sends a clear message about the location of the ticket counter. Next, the site built on the first by adding more information about distance of journey. It is to focused on trying to graphically visualize the somewhat complex processes in a single visual model. The completed model is interactive, so that the user can click on the area where they want more information. By clicking on numbers representing sections of the city, one can descend various words, then click on the text of police reports. This display suggests interesting ways to imaging abstract visualizations for historical inquiries [9]. The success of this technique can be judged by user’s ability to visualize the relationship between the individual and the map. Once the user visualize the process and opportunities it represent, he or she will be able to interact with it via the site [9]. According to study done by [12] and [5], graphical representation involves integrating maps with other decision support methods and tools using highly interactive, exploratory map displays. An example of such an interactive map called value path/ map comes from a prototype called DECADE (Dynamic, Exploratory Cartography for Decision Support). The value path/map presents a single map display dynamically linked with the parallel coordinate plot. When the user points with the mouse on some options represented in the map, the respective objects is highlighted in the map, and the corresponding value path is highlighted in the parallel coordinate plot. Alternatively, the user may point at some line segment in the plot, and the whole value path becomes highlighted, as well as the position of the corresponding option in the map. Such value path/ map integration makes it easy to evaluate any option with regard to multiple decision criteria. Additionally, the user may “fix” highlighting by clicking on an object on the map

or on a line in the plot. The selected object remains highlighted when the mouse cursor move out of the display or points at other objects. This enables the comparison of value path of two or more decision options. Because the map representation is limited to a small Browser window where the map is presented the user must be supported with navigation capabilities to navigate through the map. These navigation capabilities are zoom in/ out; scroll to the east, south, west, north or their combination northeast, southeast, southwest and northwest; pan to define a new map center; bring the map back to full extent [1]. Data access to different heterogeneous data sources is an important competition factor for the participants of electronic markets. To be a useful help, interactive map must contains some basic information as presented in [1] meaningful object symbols representing the type of tourism object (e.g.: hotel, sight, restaurant, etc.); alphanumerical text that describes the object (e.g., name and category of a hotel). Coloring of a hotel symbol to visualize its ability, if the query is based on a time period (e.g.: green if there are rooms and red if the hotel is fully booked); link the object symbol with the objects homepage (URL) to get more detailed information on the object and to offer the ability for online reservation. Map must contain the most up-to-date information available to be really useful for tourist decision making. This can be achieved when data integrated into a tourist map is pulled directly from the according database. Changes in the GIS and tourism data must be immediately on the next map creation [1]. Moreover, tourism industry now realized the potential to increase data quality by providing individual and specialized information about tourism objects. For this, appropriate search as well as presentation features are required. The presented approaches offer trend-setting abilities for today’s tourism information systems, each of them offer tourism information providers the ability to increase the quality of presented information, help tourist find what they are looking for and present it in an individual, easy readable and meaningful way.

experience using the current system for more than half year. Figure 1 below shows the main page for Online Reservation Express Bus Ticket System Via Interactive Map. Figure 2 shows the feedback, with a pop-up ticket counter and trip information. Figure 3 and 4 show the interface for select express bus seat.

Figure 1. Online Reservation Express Bus Ticket System via Interactive Map Main Page.

Figure 2. Feedback Popup on Ticket Counter and Trip Information.

4. Interactive Ticketing System
For this purpose, we have developed an interactive ticketing system. Twenty employees from a local express bus company which currently running window ticket system were involved during the analysis phase of Online Reservation Express Bus Ticket System Via Interactive Map. Majority of the employees faced minor and serious problems in current system. They have

Figure 3. Interface for Selecting the Express Bus Seat.

6. References
[1] Kurt, A. Min, and Q. Gerald (Eds), E-Commerce and Web Technologies. Springer, 2003. [2] B.P. Buttenfield, “Scientific Visualization for Environmental Modelling: Interactive and Proactive Graphics”, In: Proceedings Second Internet. Conference/Workshop on Integrating GIS and Environmental Modeling, Breckenridge, Colorado, NCGLA, 1993. [3] D.W. Connelly, “An Evaluation of the World Wide Web as a Platform for Electronic Commerce” in Readings in Electronic Commerce, Kalakota, R. and Whinston, A. (eds.), Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1999. [4] E. Schaffer, “A better way for web InformationWeek, 784, 1, May 2000, pp. 194. design”,

Figure 4. Interface for Selecting the Express Bus Seat.

5. Bus Tracking Framework using GIS Map
The ability to present the bus track in an easily understandable framework using interactive map is very important. It can help the bus operator to manage their bus trip in a much more effective ways. In this paper we present the fundamental framework for the bus operation and tracking system using GIS map. This proposed framework also allows the bus service operator to create interactive maps of bus routes. They can also generate driving directions and conduct searches on destination distance.
GIS map Location server Interactive display

[5] G.L. Andrienko and N.V. Andrienko, “Interactive maps for visual data exploration”, International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 13(4), 1999, pp. 355-374. [6] J. Deighton, “The future of interactive marketing”, Harvard Business Review, 74, November-December 1996, pp. 151–160. [7] M. Cameron, “Content that works on the web”, Target Marketing, 1, November, 1999. pp. 22–58. [8] M. Chesher and R. Kaura, 1998. Electronic Commerce and Business Communications, Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. [9] M. Matti, A. Ari-Veikko and S. Reijo,. E-transformation in Governance: New Directions in Government and Politics. Idea Group Publishing, 2003. [10] M.P. Peterson, “Cartography and the Internet: Implications for Modern Cartography”, Springer, 1996. [11] P. Berthon and T. Davies, “Going with the flow: web sites and customer involvement”, Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy 9(2), 1999. pp. 9-16. [12] P. Jankowski, and M. Stasik, “Design consideration for space and time distribution collaboration spatial decision making”, Journal of Geographic Information and Decision Analysis, 1(1), 1997, pp. 1-8. [13] S. S. Srini, A. Rolph and P. Kishore, “Customer loyalty in e-commerce: an exploration of its antecedents and consequences”, Journal of Retailing, 78, 2002, pp. 41–50. [14] T. Salvati, “The interactive imperative”, Banking Strategies, 75, May-June 1999, pp. 6–7. [15] T. Sinioukov, “Mastering the web by the book”, BookTech the Magazine, 2, March 1999, pp. 50–54.

Figure 4. Bus tracking framework

Also, this proposed framework has this capabilities: • Find bus location throughout Sabah and Sarawak state using bus ID and/or plate number. • Find bus locations by searching towns and cities, postal codes or states. • Find points of interest based on the proximity to a pre-determined location. • Provide driving directions for bus drivers. • Visualize bus tracking, routing and direction on interactive map.

5. Conclusion
In conclusion, interactivity, convenience and a security framework that can encompass the full set of security services are required in the emerging global electronic marketplace for online ticketing services through electronic map. For the interactivity, physical storage medium is needed to deliver cartographic animation. Geographic Information System (GIS) database approach also play important role in it.

[16] V. Zwass, “Structure and Macro-Level Impacts of Electronic Commerce: From Technological Infrastructure to Electronic Marketplaces” in K.E. Kendall (E-d.), Emerging Information Technology, Sage Publications, 1999. [17] V. Zwass,. “Electronic Commerce: Structures and Issues” in IJEC (1:1), Sage Publications, 1996. [18] W.E. Cartwright, “Interactive Multimedia and Mapping.” In: MacEachren, A & DRF Taylor (eds) Visualization in Modern Cartography, Permagon, Oxford, 1994, pp. 63-91.

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