Project Overview

The Wait Advisor is an app which truck drivers can use to record wait times. A typical user story will be like this:

Use of the app is as simple and straightforward as possible. When a truck is stuck in a queue, the truck driver can quickly activate the app and when the wait is over, the truck driver simply deactivates the app to signal that the truck is ready to move to its next destination.

What happens in the background is that when the truck driver activates the app, it records the current time and location. When the app is deactivated, it records the time and location at the time of deactivation. The wait time is then calculated as the time that has elapsed between the time when recording was started to the time when it was stopped. The app then transmits this data to the server in the cloud.

Data is gathered in this way. The more truck drivers use the app, the more data the server will receive. When there is sufficient number of users, data can then be aggregated to make it difficult (if not impossible) for anyone to identify a driver. This is very important because we want to protect the identity of the truck driver. Thus, if in a particular distribution centre there are 10 trucks everyday, we will provide information only on what the average wait time is for those trucks over a period of days. This will be plotted in a map and shown as a heat map.

A heat map will look like this.

It will be possible to zoom in and see specific sites in a heat map. Information will be available on how long wait times are in each site, in addition to the visual aid provided by the coloured heat. Red, for instance, means long wait and yellow just average. The darker the colour, the higher the wait time.

Of course, a user story may not always be typical. Sometimes, a truck driver who has activated the app may totally forget to deactivate it. Sometimes the user will remember to deactivate wait recording only when the truck is already at cruising speed. Other issues could be that location service may be turned off, or data connection is not available and the app cannot transmit to the server. All these are addressed in the technical design of the app.

The Wait Advisor requires the following components:

1. The mobile app, which truck drivers will use to record wait times. This app will be provided for FREE and should be available in both IOS (Apple) and Android devices.
2. The server which will receive the data from the app. There are plenty of options of where to host this, such as Google's Firebase, Amazon's AWS, Microsoft's Azure, and IBM Cloud. For now, the only requirement of this server is its ability to receive data from the app in terms of the SourceID (to distinguish between data points), GPS location, Start Time and End Time.
3. The data analytics platform where the app data can be processed, cleansed, and presented. Currently, options are to use an API with Google Maps or use third party systems such as Power BI or Tableau.

(Help us build this system. Support us by becoming a Patron. Click here to sign up and share information about this project to your network. Check out our website at waitadvisor.in2teq.com).