Crowdsourcing Android application for public transport position tracking ; Ανάπτυξη εφαρμογής εντοπισμού θέσης μέσων μαζικής μεταφοράς με χρήση πληθοπορισμού (crowdsourcing)

Summarization: Nowadays, many communication and information devices have been created as a result of technological revolution. Low cost as well as wide variety of features have brought smart phones in the spotlight as one of the most widely used device of all time. Considering the daily usage of mobile phones, we developed a mobile application that can track the location of any mean of transport (such as bus, train, boat etc) using the technique of crowdsourcing.The application implements a special algorithm that automatically recognizes when a passenger gets on or off a bus (in our case), using smartphone's parameters such as GPS-based location or speed. The innovation here is that the passenger does not have to make any effort saying when he gets on or off; the whole procedure is totally automated and the only thing that he is asked to do is to give the exact number of the bus he is on. Subsequently, the mobile device communicates with a remote server, receives information about the buses and sends back the user's location. Then, the server can distribute current location to other users of the application that might be waiting for the bus. In summary, rapid technology development and especially familiarity with online maps contributes to the usability of this application. Thus, crowdsourcing helps cultivating altruism. Moreover, passengers seem more eager to use buses when they don't have to wait for too long or in vain for them, which in turns means fewer cars in the streets and less pollution from these cars. That is what we need to strive for; make people respect and stop destroying the environment. ; Περίληψη: Η τεχνολογική επανάσταση που παρατηρείται στις μέρες μας έχει οδηγήσει στη δημιουργία μίας πληθώρας συσκευών στον τομέα την ενημέρωσης και της επικοινωνίας. Στην κορυφή της πυραμίδας βρίσκονται τα έξυπνα κινητά τηλέφωνα, εξαιτίας του χαμηλού κόστους τους εν συγκρίσει με την ποικιλία των δυνατοτήτων που προσφέρουν. Έτσι, εκμεταλλευόμενοι την καθημερινή χρήση των κινητών τηλεφώνων, προχωρήσαμε στη ...