Real-time Geolocation System for the Public Transport System: Metropolitan Area of Barranquilla as Case Study

Every day, around 52.5% of the population of Barranquilla takes public transportation to move around the city. However, users experiment long waiting times and poor route management. There is no method to allow them to know the route status in real time, making demand management difficult for the public transportation companies. Thus, this paper presents a multi-platform system that allows the users to check in a map the real position of the desired route vehicle. It also allows the companies to administrate and supervise their vehicles and drivers. The system utilizes Global Positioning System (GPS) and Google ecosystem tools as Google Maps to visualize the bus coordinates, Firebase as database and Google cloud as engine to make the deployment. The routes are simulated using Lockito GPS Itinerary Faker and validated with an user in two routes of the massive transportation system in Barranquilla. Results show an average accuracy in meters of 3.14 with the itinerary simulator and 4.13 with the tests in field for the bus location, demonstrating an accurate, agile and friendly alternative to improve mobility within the city.