About.
There is nothing worse than missing your commuter rail. Have you ever found yourself sulking on a hard bench at North Station at 9PM on a Tuesday night? You are trying to make (or avoid) small talk with some oddball. If this is you, you'll understand why we built this application.
Some days, the commuter rail is delayed and there is nothing you can do about it.
But on many days, you could have done something to prevent it. If you have missed your train, you were probably minutes or even seconds late, and may have watched your train roll away. Sometimes, it's because someone decided to start a conversation with you 2 minutes before you had to leave the office. On another day, you knew the clocks were a little off anyway, so you figured you could make it up by running fast. Maybe you weren't aware of a Red-Line delay in downtown crossing - you could have taken the Green line that day or even walked.
T-on-Time has 2 forms: a desktop widget and a mobile application. The desktop version runs on either Windows or Macintosh. The application makes use of the various Internet data feeds which the MBTA has provided (you must be connected to the Internet for the application to work). It is compact as possible - taking up very little room on your desktop. The mobile version runs on iPhone (c/o web version), Android (native in Android market).
Desktop runs when you're at work, so that it's always present to remind you to catch your train. Mobile runs all the time, but it only makes sense when you are away from your desk. For most people, this is in the morning or on the way to the train stop.
The desktop widget is composed of 3 parts. The first is a countdown timer, which let's you know when to leave the office. The timer is synchronized with the U.S. government (or NIST) time servers so even if your computer clock is incorrect, the timer will be correct. The second is a real time feed of the alerts which affect your commute. The third is a real-twitter feed reader which allows your Twitter friends to provide real-time updates - in case the alerts are not enough.
The mobile app also has a countdown timer. It has Location updates and a real-time map showing train position information.
Technology
T-on-Time desktop was developed using Adobe Air. The mobile version uses HTML5, Javascript and Android libraries. Desktop calls out to the following services a) twitter public search b) MBTA RSS feeds c) neptune web assisted PHP scripts for time synchronization, stops, times and alert id numbers (these are stored in a local database). The mobile version fetches real-time location updates, map and stop information. No user information is stored anywhere other than the user's computer (preferences). No tracking is performed within the application, although we do watch our access logs.
License and Credits
T-on-Time was developed by Neptune Web, Inc. from Somerville, MA. Neptune Web is a full service web development company. The application was first developed as a contest entry to the MASS DOT Developer's Challenge.
Neptune Web, Inc. releases the desktop code under a GPLv3, open source license. The mobile code is proprietary.
Credits:
- Team Lead: Charles Dalsass
- Designer: Margo Dalsass
- HTML/CSS Support: Carl Tortola
- Testing: Adam Lucas
Thanks to Andrea Gabrielle, Neptune Web's president, for sponsoring this project.