Custom tracking solution for Smart Navigation Systems

UAE-based startup SNS has designed a system for parents and schools.

Duration 2016 – 2017
Team 7 Members
Type Location Tracking & Management
Industry Mapping and Navigation
Platforms Web; Mobile

Project Idea

The idea of Our School Bus app has emerged from the real needs of parents who wanted to ensure their children got to school safely and on time. The CEO of SNS decided to turn the idea of safe children's transportation into an advanced real-time school bus tracking system.

Target audience

The app helps parents feel more confident when sending their children to school. School administration uses the system for safe, efficient, and smart school bus fleet management. It also receives information about student presence.

Results

1000+

Number of installations
102

Countries available

IT Craft has launched a comprehensive system. It includes two native mobile apps: one for parents and another for bus drivers. School administration uses a web-based control panel for overall management. The system integrates GPS for bus tracking. iBeacons are used to detect student presence.

Laravel
Swift
Android SDK
Estimote

The system has challenging architecture. The development team needed to implement and support multiple user roles within the system.

Route generation and tracking are power-consuming activities. The development team needed to optimize apps to ensure maximum battery life.
The system collects, processes, and generates a large amount of data, requiring a reliable, complex back end.

An automated student check is required to keep bus onboarding time minimum.

Planning

Input

The client initially had:

Experience in building an indoor positioning and navigation app
A vision of how to eliminate the uncertainties for parents
A dedicated IT Craft team capable of taking on the project

Analysis

The team:

Helped the client shape his vision
Ensured swift communication and fast response
Integrated required services and resources
Delivered timely by milestones

Result

Our work resulted in:

Complex and flexible system logic
Real-time bus and student tracking
The system receiving extra capacity—data transmission channels are duplicated

Business benefits

Parent notifications

Parents can set the preferred distance for notifications. They receive a message about the bus coming and its arrival at school. If parents forget to open the app, they will receive information as an SMS.

Driver navigation

The solution can be adapted to use either GPS trackers supported by Traccar server and mounted on the buses. Also, drivers can use their mobile devices as GPS trackers for navigation.

Control Center

The control panel is localized in English and Arabic languages. School administration uses the dashboard to flexibly manage all the processes in the system, both for Parent and Driver mobile applications.

iBeacons

The system uses iBeacons for student identification. Students should have iBeacons on them (for example, carry them in their school bags) - еach individual iBeacon for every child. The system supports a wide range of BLE beacons.

Main project features

For parents

Parents can download Our School Bus application to their smartphones, signup, and create a Student list for their children. They view real-time bus locations, bus information, and driver contacts.

If students are not attending school on a particular day (or days), parents mark them ‘Absent’. The bus driver will be informed about the route change.

For School Administration

School Administrators can use the following features:

Set up buses, drivers, students, and parents.
Create routes with bus stops projected next to students’ home addresses using Google Maps.
Link routes to particular drivers, thus providing them with the most efficient way to pick up students.
See at any time which students are on the bus with the help of iBeacon technology.
Access the drivers, parents, and students database at any given time.

For Drivers

Driver application ensures smooth route navigation with directions. Drivers view the route in real-time. It is automatically modified based on present/absent students.

Drivers can also track information about students present on the bus (by scanning beacons in range using Bluetooth LE). In an emergency, the driver can contact the parents of particular students by sending them a text message or making a call.

Super Admin

The Super Admin role is required for overall system management. Super Admin can do the same activities as school administration for all schools adopting Our School Bus.