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Mbillionthaward2013
This is our nomination and application to the MBillionth/Mobiles4Good South Asia Award 2013 submitted on 15 May 2013 and nominated by Free Software Foundation India (FSF India) http://gnu.org.in
Authored by Anisha Thomas, Vickram Crishna, Johnson Chetty and Shekhar Krishnan with inputs from Team ChaloBEST. See Mobiles4Good for our application from April 2012, for which we were short-listed but did not make the final competition.
1. Name of the Project Nominated (Project could be your mobile based app, application, services, content, product etc.)
ChaloBEST
2. Language(s) of the Project
English, with language translations in Marathi and Hindi for bus stops, and instructions for use in 11 lanugages.
3. URL/Website http://chalobest.in
4. Category Governance
5. Short description of the application /service /innovation (Less than 200 words)
Every rapidly urbanising city in India today faces a crisis of sustainable mobility. The “hardware” of trains, buses, routes and stops is vastly superior to its “software” for communicating and interacting with its commuters. We aim to enhance this infrastructure through community engagement via data sharing and crowd-sourcing.
ChaloBEST has been developing mobile applications and media for public transportation in Mumbai.
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Software: SMS, web and smartphone applications and web API for realtime scheduling and routing by bus, train and multiple modes of public transit;
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Data: Web and location based services “crowdsourced” from the commuting public, powered by databases sourced and updated regularly from official transit agencies;
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Media: Public campaign with creatively designed, multilingual posters, stickers, and maps at stops and stations, and through word-of-mouth and “viral” marketing.
We are different from other information service providers, viz. mIndicator, etc in that we offer proper point-to-point routing tools using different public transport vehicles such as trains and buses, not just lists of information which still need a basic understanding of the city, transport network and its locations.
We see mobiles as tools to revitalize urban infrastructure networks as smart social spaces, and make public transit agencies more user-friendly, transparent and efficient.
6. Select the core technology categories / providers
Others (Specified) Mobile application, information and service providers.
7. Technical description of the project (product/ services / platform) Technology (Hardware, Software, Platform)
- (Server-side) AMD_64 QuadCore
- USB GSM Modem
- All Basic Handsets and/or Android/J2ME Smartphones
- GNU/Linux Server OS (Debian)
- PostgreSQL/PostGIS Database Server
- Django Web Framework and API
- RapidSMS Mobile Application Framework
- OpenLayers Web Mapping API
- OpenStreetMap (OSM) Community Map Server
- OpenTripPlanner (OTP) MultiModal Routing API
- GTFS (General Transit Feed Spec) Data Standard
- RealTime Bus and Train Routing and Scheduling
- Works on all Handsets via SMS or DataEnabled Services/Apps
- LocationAware and LocationBased Services
- Integration with OpenStreetMap (OSM), Google Transit and GTFS
- Published as Free and Open Source (FOSS) using Open Data Standards
- SMS
- Mobile Web (HTML 4/5)
- Android
(editions tailored for the demanding needs of small to large size businesses from different industries)
- Application and use of services is free of cost to all users.
- Initially covering in an around Mumbai City viz. Greater Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Mira-Bhayander.
- All tools, services and frameworks will be made generic and opensource for use in other cities.
- MultiModal Routing (Train and Bus routing, indirect routing)
- Location Based Services
- Public Participation through Crowdsourcing
- Social Networking Integration
8. Installation procedure/Technical Requirements of the project (product/app) for testing by Jury: [e.g. User name & Password/steps / special browser/plug-in/ Device / any other information required to access & test the product/project]
- Route, Stop, and Area Viewer at http://chalobest.in
- Point and click map interface for train+bus routing at http://trip.chalobest.in
- App available for download at http://chalobest.mgtech.in/
- Live on: +91.96195.24420
- For instructions in 5 local and 6 international languages (for tourists): http://chalobest.in/sms
9. Chronology
- Date when Project Conceived: March 2011
- Launch Date of the Project: April 2011
- Project Completion Date: Ongoing
- November 2011: Sankranti Transform Urban India First Prize Award
- February 2012: Start of Sankranti Implementation Grant
- August 2012: Completion of Implementation (Expected)
- November 2012: Public Beta Launch (Expected)
10. What do you deliver (Content/Services) to the target users through your initiative? (list of deliverable to the customer/target group through this initiative with specified locations)
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Specific local travel information, linked to graphic geo-location displays.
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Mobile applications for delivering bus schedules, stops and routing information via SMS, web, and smartphones, publishing common information across all types of low-cost and high-end devices and serving both all classes of citizens via common interfaces in multiple languages.
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Web-based services and a live public database to be enriched by citizen commuters “crowd-sourcing” data from about local institutions, services, and communities around every bus route, stop and transit node in Mumbai, providing community “software” for the city's “hardware”.
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Public media strategies to re-imagine the transport system as public space and social network, with creatively designed, multi-lingual stickers, maps, and guides, and word-of-mouth marketing through schools, colleges, shops, and institutional transit nodes.
We will evaluate results and efficacy of these outputs based on numbers and quality of public participation in testing, reporting and involvement through iteration.
11. Describe the business model (Not more than 200 words)
ChaloBEST is designed to be replicable and scalable at marginal or low capital costs, using open source software, generic server and telecom infrastructure, and public documentation online. With very low investment required, our sole outlay is on team members who volunteer their time to work on a project they enjoy.
Our long-term plan for sustainability of ChaloBEST is based on two years of experience of working with young developers, designers and researchers who are concerned about cities and passionate about public transport. We have sustained the project and grown our team from numerous sources – from educational institutions, grant agencies, prize awards and private donations.
ChaloBEST has been in existence since Jan 2011 and since then has received more than USD $12,500 in funds for successful completion of project deliverables.
Since our IIHS prize/grant ended in Nov 2012, we have been able to raise USD $350-500 per month from micro-donations, and will continue doing so until our next major grant. ChaloBEST is also under consideration for further incubation from IIHS for a minimum of USD $10,000 for six months in 2013. We are also in talks with several private donors in Mumbai for similar support later this year.
If we initiate inclusion of various sustainable commercial revenue streams including corporate support and advertising once we reach the public beta stage, it shall be decided at the appropriate time.
12. Detailed Description of the project (Describe the project in detail, mentioning all the relevant information, in about 400 words)
Today the majority of urban Indians – whether with data-enabled smart devices or the most basic handsets – can receive live information in an instant, whether via SMS, web, or smartphone apps. Despite this revolution in urban connectivity, essential data about urban mobility is scarce or unavailable in most Indian cities.
Frequently changing bus and train schedules, alternative paths for pedestrians or cyclists, or location-based multi-modal routing are communicated offline by word-of-mouth, guesswork and improvisation. Rather than forcing urban commuters to adopt a rural mentality, we believe the solution already lies in our pockets – in our mobile devices.
In India, rapid development of communications technology has not kept pace with fast-paced urbanisation and changes in transportation. The public is literally “left to their own devices”. Travelling by rickshaws or taxis costs five to ten times more than an average bus or train fare. Those who can’t afford to pay this premium must simply wait and watch, in ignorance of when the next bus will arrive (if ever).
Impatience and lack of reliable information on split-second commuting decisions increases stress, and wastes time and money. This lack of information widens the digital divide and environmental crisis seen across urban India. As our cities expand, so has car ownership, congestion and pollution. The rich can bypass the system by congesting and polluting the roads with cars, and the poor pay the price of increased traffic.
The stress of road travel frequently erupts in widespread rage against the whole network, and aggression against imagined enemies of mobility. In Mumbai this crisis has recently inspired campaigns to boycott rickshaws and taxis which refuse to ply to the exact destinations demanded by impatient commuters. Positive efforts to democratise mobility are so far absent, and the use of “smart” technologies to improve commuting is in an early stage in urban India.
Our project proposes to radically “upgrade” the “software” for urban commuting in India. We provide solutions that work on existing devices and use open standards, rather than creating new or closed systems.
13. Quantitative & qualitative impact of the project in diverse locations and people (List Regional areas and number of users benefited by this product/project - Not more than 200 words)
ChaloBEST aims for its applications and services to reach all potential users of public transportation in Mumbai and other Indian cities. We will support local groups and community organisations to collect and maintain the data and infrastructure to transfer our experience and project across the country.
For the past year we have worked with the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST), the oldest and largest bus company in the country, which serves around 46 lakh commuters. Our database also includes suburban and local railway schedules, with a potential impact on 64 lakh additional commuters. In total, just in Mumbai, our project aims to impact more than one crore citizen-commuters.
With similar official buy-ins in other Indian cities, and official databases provided in standard formats, we have already begun collaboration with like-minded groups in Pune, Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi.
Indirect benefits of ChaloBEST include reduction of traffic and pollution by optimal and accurate route planning, improvement of public spaces and the urban environment, and savings of time, money and hassles in urban mobility.
14. What was the background & the motivation behind developing the project: (less than 200 Words)
Our goal is to solve the crisis of sustainable mobility in the developing world by leveraging smartphones and print media. We aim to provide software solutions for the hardware of rapidly urbanising cities in India and across the Global South. Using public data from transit agencies, community and word-of-mouth networks, and free and open source software, our objective is to re-imagine the culture of transit and information in Mumbai, India and via partners in other cities.
15. Best Impact case scenario of your project(Not more than 300 Words)*
In five years, Mumbai will be covered by ChaloBEST and its network partners in other big Indian cities. New initiatives in smaller cities and towns will have grown out of these implementations. This will have been possible because of our strategy of using open source software, common standards and APIs, and public databases obtained in cooperation with transit agencies and policy makers.
Within this time, ChaloBEST and its partners will have become an important factor in making public transit the default commuting option in Indian cities. It wil become normal to quickly plan your trip via ChaloBEST. It will be easier and faster to commute, and the environment and public spaces will improve noticeably. People will be more relaxed than they used to be, because they are clear about how much time and money it takes to be sustainably mobile.
Reporting local travel information to ChaloBEST and the authorities will become a regular and casual activity. People’s effort will be rewarded with better scheduling and improved services, and public transit agencies will increase their profits and ridership. Bus, train, metro agencies, and citizens’ groups of cyclists and pedestrians will have begun cooperating and sharing their databases, maps, and plans using free web and mobile tools such as OpenStreetMap and OpenTripPlanner.
In this five year horizon for ChaloBEST and its networks, public transportation will become more truly “public”. Commuters and citizens will be directly involved in planning, coordinating and sharing their travel experiences through whatever device they have in their pockets.
16. How is your project unique? (Describe the Uniqueness of your Innovation in terms of Originality of Idea / Method/ Business Model/ Technology / Application / Implementation that your product/project has which makes it different)
Since the framework of the project can be easily modified to be used in other cities, ChaloBEST also has the potential to revolutionize way public transport is used across the country. The driving force behind the project is its use of free and open source software. The power of FOSS has changed the playing field for the thinking machines of today and harnessing this to improve the public transport experience can go a long way in solving the transportation problems of Indian cities.
Our project aims to serve essential transit information across the entire spectrum of mobile handsets and platforms, from smartphones and sms to the web, print and visual media.
We have based our entire development process on free and open source software such as Django, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, open data services and standards such as OpenStreetMap, GTFS and OpenTripPlanner, and official partnership and data-sharing with transit agencies.
We are different from other information services in that we offer proper point-to-point routing tools using different public transport vehicles such as trains and buses, not just lists of information which still need a basic understanding of the city, transport network and its locations.
17. Is your project sustainable on its own? How scalable is it? (Not more than 200 words)*
ChaloBEST is designed to be replicable and scalable at marginal or low capital costs, using open source software, generic server and telecom infrastructure, and public documentation online. With very low investment required, our sole outlay is on team members who volunteer their time to work on a project they enjoy.
Our long-term plan for sustainability of ChaloBEST is based on two years of experience of working with young developers, designers and researchers who are concerned about cities and passionate about public transport. We have sustained the project and grown our team from numerous sources from educational institutions, grant agencies, prize awards and private donations.
If we initiate inclusion of various sustainable commercial revenue streams including corporate support and advertising once we reach the public beta stage, it shall be decided at the appropriate time.
18. Provide links of video/audio documentation of project’s (nominated) activity Or Attach video/audio demonstration of project’s (nominated) activity (File size should not be more than 3MB.)
SENT
19. Would you like to share about other initiatives, products, projects and implementations that reflect your larger contribution towards using mobile innovation for empowering society?
Since we are a group who have formed together from various organizations for this cause, specifically we do not have a previous history of projects. However our constituent members/partners have created and/or played a major role in the below mentioned projects
Donors: Self-Financed by Volunteers and Community Year Completed: 2010
- Chennai's first web trip planner and route explorer using free and open source tools.
- Crowd-sourced georeferencing of 1,500 bus stop locations in Chennai published online.
- Provided feedback to Chennai transit agencies on erroneous data online.
- Creation and improvement of Chennai base map via community contributions in OpenStreetMap.
- Creation of multiple assets using collected data, such as public transit density maps, transit diagrams and infographics, and bus stop panel design.
Donors: Janwani Year Completed: 2010
- Digitisation of more than 3500 bus stop locations in Pune hand surveyed by GPS.
- Digitisation of schedules for Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad of more than 400 routes and more than 18,000 daily trips.
- Development of route-finder portal providing printable route-wise and stop-wise time tables for Pune.
- Customisation of OpenTripPlanner multi-modal routing for Pune and localisation of interfaces into Marathi.
Donors: HIVOS-India, CAMP, Foundation for Arts Initiatives Year Completed: 2009
- Online archive of densely annotated video materials, public available with crowd-sourced comments and logs on http://pad.ma
- Contains over 2,000 videos and 1,000 hours of annotated, text-searchable video logs.
- Won an Honorary Mention in the Prix Ars Electronica Digital Communities, 2009.
- Software being used to power public web video archives in Mumbai, Cairo and Brussels.
- Now deployed on IndianCine.Ma public web archive of historic Indian films and cinema http://indiancine.ma.
Donors: Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Year Completed: 2009
- Development of learning studios and conducting workshops for teachers and students all over India.
- Training undergraduate students in free software through internships and fellowships.
- Providing space to hackers and communities to collaboratively develop socially useful technologies.
- Development of GnowSys http://gnu.org/software/gnowsys
- Coordinating the metaStudio.org project http://beta.metaStudio.org
- Collaborative Undergraduate Biology Education http://cube.metaStudio.org
20. Please mention 2-3 references with contacts
- Mr Sathish Selvakumar, Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bangalore
- Mr Sunil Abraham, Centre for Internet & Society (CIS), Bangalore
- Mr Schuyler Erle, Topomancy LLC, San Francisco/New York/Leeds
21. Limitations and challenges faced while implementation, running and sustainability, solutions worked out
Challenges will come in scaling up this system for serving the entire population as a public service, and making it truly reliable and user-friendly in our urban environment. We have observed various smart transport technology initiatives in India, where poor design or implementation results in quick obsolescence, as a demanding public rejects the system.
We also recognize that the data sharing with public transit agencies like BEST or the Suburban Railways might be disrupted and we have already sought a more formal memorandum with BEST and others, whose officials have supported our work since January 2011. We remain confident of continuing official help and growing public support for ChaloBEST.
22. Name of Nominee Organization Free Software Foundation India
23. Contact Person Dr. G. Nagarjuna
1. Do you consider your project as a winning entry? If so why? (Not more than 200 words)
Yes! Smart ideas with a large impact are the game changers. ChaloBEST is a smart idea which harnesses mobile technology and the volunteering spirit to make a real difference in the way millions travel. Because it paves the way for a greener, more relaxed approach to a daily ritual and because we believe that sharing solutions is the only way forward.
2. If your project is chosen a winner, what would you do with the fund grant? In what sustainable and effective way the grant will be utilized for further implementation and scale up in the next 12 months? (Not more than 200 words)
ChaloBEST has low operating costs and so funding goes a long way in powering the project. We value the contributions of our volunteers - not only do they keep the project running but also expand and collaborate, and to act more proactively to create awareness of this successful community-driven information service, and to support and develop practical processes to partner with communities in other parts of the country, or wherever mass transit trip planning and related services are needed across the world.
3. Do you think mobile technology and applications have to more inclusive to serve specific communities and undeveloped regions? If yes, in what ways?
For many people, the use of mass transit solutions is virtually a basic necessity, and archive offerings that deliver information conveniently can translate into a better quality of life. It is important to craft mobile data offerings through highly accessible and affordable channels. Our use of technology here already delivers information in multiple languages to users of smartphones, but we are unable to directly solve issues relating to the actual cost of access.
4. What recommendations you can provide to the policy and industry to make mobile applications serve more people in many good ways?
It is an important positive value to involve the end user as a participating stakeholder in the information process, rather than a passive consumer, a model used from the days of simple POTS, as the vanilla phone service is known. To this end, policy must be shaped to encourage such participation, rather than concentrating all investment and control in the hands of a powerful few companies. Without such participation, creation of even essential mobile applications will tend to be imposed from outside rather than driven from within actual user communities.
5. Do you want to nominate this project for mBillionth South Asia Award also? (mBillionth Award has the same criteria as Vodafone Mobiles for Good Award & is organised by the same organisation. To know more please visit: www.mbillionth.in)
Yes.
6. Year of Nomination 2013