Project Overview

TRAFFIC ALERT SYSTEM

Mission and Scope

What problem does this project address?

This project is meant to address the problems associated with traffic flow in Nairobi and other African cities. This is by sms alerts of traffic conditions on the roads.

What is the goal of this project?

To reduce the amount of time spent by drivers/passengers on the road by enabling feeding them with info which enables them choose alternative travel time/ alternative roads

What is the scope of this project?

The system will get input from several points on a road to a central server. The input will be flow of traffic at the point of the road, e.g. At X roundabout flow is approximately 2 kph. The flow ill be mapped on to consecutive points of the road, such that for road Y, flow ill be represented as : 5, 7, 20, 50 , 30, 10, 5 , 60 (kph) from the beginning point to end point. By using the known distance of the road, the system can calculate average travel time e.g. [5, 7, 20, 50 , 30, 10, 5 , 60 (kph)], [10,15,20,25,32,44, 50, 55 (mins)] in increasing minutes from starting point to end point; for our example, the project would take 55 minutes. For distances between points, subtract your starting point from end point. 

The input will rely on one of the following, amongst other potential suggestions:

• Speed Camera feeds/speed radar  which takes the average speed of vehicles passing through a certain point and transmits it to a central point.
• Use of mobile phone concentration in an area and rate of switch from one BTS to another. This would require writing of appropriate algorithms that ensure that only mobile phones on a road are considered, and interference from pedestrians or mobs on a road are ignored. It would also require support of a mobile telco.
• Physical inputs from hired humans or volunteers who transmit traffic conditions to a central room. Other humans at the central room analyse the traffic and come up with require information. This method is inefficient, unreliable and prone to human error and inconsistency.
• Use of satellite ?? (beyond our scope?)

What development methodology is being used?

??

Where should a new team member start?

A new member can join the development process at any stage. It is recommended that they have background info though.

Status

The project is currently in the proposal/requirements  gathering stage. 

Project Proposal

Project Information

Process impact: This proposal, along with drafts of related documents, will be used by skunks to determine whether or not to approve work on this project. A clear and precise project plan helps set expectations that will be used later to evaluate the success of the project.

Background and Motivation

TODO: Replace the example text below with text that describes your project. What are the needs or problems that you are trying to address? Why do these needs (still) exist? Why are these problems worth solving? Who is the customer? Write 2-4 paragraphs.

What is the setting and history behind this project?

Traffic on roads leading to Nairobi City Centre  has been characterised with traffic jams. The traffic jams are no longer restricted to peak times only, but occur at any time of the day, and with varying degree.  Radio stations have been having traffic alerts, but this give little insight and sketchy information. Drivers and passengers may need more detailed information. 

What is the problem to be addressed?

Traffic jams can range from less than a kilometre to many kilometres. Thus time taken on a journey can range from minutes to several hours for the same distance. By having information on real time traffic, travellers can leave earlier, postpone appointments or cancel journeys.  

What are some current approaches to this problem?

Traffic alerts are broadcast over FM radio at peak hours. In several cities, users are able to access real traffic information via Google Maps. 

Why is this problem worth solving or worth solving better?

Travellers should be able to have detailed information such that they are able to visualise exact traffic flow on their roads and approximate how long it would take to travel. They can also prioritise their travel arrangements based on this info. 

How will this product be better than previous approaches?

Traffic alerts will give the average speed of traffic at sections of a road, e.g. Globe, Parklands, Pangani round about, Muthaiga round about etc for Thika Road; GPO roundabout, Kobil Round About, Stadium Round about, Capital centre for Mombasa Road. This is better than saying “Mombasa road is busy and slow”. By approximating journey times, travellers will make appropriate decisions on how to travel, e.g. Arrange to be picked up if their ETA is late at night on public transport, postpone their travel if traffic flow is approximately 0kph maybe due to an accident. 

Where is there more information on this problem?

There is a traffic alert system in Lagos, Nigeria  which relies on human generated data. This is done by a group of motorcycle riders who move from point to point analysing traffic.

Goal

What is the goal of this project?

TIP: This should be relatively short since you can reference terms defined above.

This project will give real time traffic conditions on a road enabling prediction od travel times and help in travel arrangement..

What are the defining features and benefits of this product?

• Real time traffic alerts including average traffic speed and journey times
• All users need is a mobile phone, not necessarily a smart phone or low end phone. Alerts will be transmitted via SMS alerts. This can be scaled up to traffic mapping for smart phones and computers.
• Generation of income can be done by use or premium rate sms services or/coupled with paid adverts included in  sms alert. The service can also be subscription based  with twice a day(or other desired frequency) alerts at a given time for a certain road

Scope

TODO: Replace the sample text below with a clear statement of the scope of your project. What are the high-level things that you plan to do, and that you will not do? What are your important simplifying assumptions? Try to guard against reasonable misunderstandings that might arise if you did not explain the scope. It can take the form of a paragraph, bullet list, in/out list, and/or UML context diagram.

The focus of the project is a server that collects prevailing traffic information and uses it to map traffic flow on a road. 

• Provide SMS alerts to any phone detailing traffic flow and  Estimated Times of Arrival.
• Cheap enough to be used by both Passengers and Drivers over and over again.
• Information provided can be integrated into other applications
• Information can be important to matatu operators, traffic police

Deliverables

TODO: Briefly list project deliverables. When you are done, what will you deliver to the customer? This can be copied from the draft project plan and simplified to reduce technical detail.

• SMS alerts
• Subscription based SMS alerts
• SMS based advertising

Risks and Rewards

TODO: Briefly list and rank major risks. Risks are detailed in the draft project plan. For this proposal document, you should select the most important risks from the project plan and explain them in non-technical terms.

What are the main risks of this project?

1. The System may require massive capital injection that will require a long time to recoup
2. Government Requirements and policies. The project may be hampered by massive startup fees and operation charges.
3. Travellers may not really require a traffic alert system, leading to under utilisation of the system.
4. Ongoing  road constructions will mean that data gathering points will have to be relocated from time to time

What are the main rewards if this project succeeds?

1. The project can be self sustaining from revenue generated from sms/subscription charges.
2. Advertising revenue will result in profitability of the project
3. Better planning travel arrangements for those using city roads.

Project Plan

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Continuation of the project to this stage and beyond will be determined by determination of user requirements ie:

• Do travellers really need such a system or is it a white elephant. This can be done by mailing list readers giving their views and those of people around them.
• If users need the system, which is the best and easiest way to implement it amongst those detailed in the project scope.