The development of a applications for smartphones which will help city residents to choose the most eco-friendly modes of transport is targeted at the research project PEACOX (Usable Persuasive Trip Advisor for Reducing CO2-consumption), in which the Information Systems Management Unit of the University Research Institute of Communication and Computer Systems participates.
The project combines methods of automatically determining the means of travel and the purpose of travel of users, dynamic profiles and methods exportof user preferences for personalized suggestions of green means of transport and routes, computational models for estimating pollutant emissions, as well as strategies for presenting information in a way that prompts users to choose green means of transport and change their behavior in the long term.
The Greek team, with scientific coordinator Professor NTUA Grigoris Mentza and the research team leader, Dr. Efthimios Botsos, designed and implemented algorithms that choose and present users with ecological routes according to their preferences and according to their habits. The proposed routes can combine more than one means of transport.
The project involves eight organizations from six countries (Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Greece) among which are universities and research centers (ETHZ – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, TCD – Trinity College Dublin, CURE – Center for Usability Research and Engineering), εταιρείες παροχής software navigation companies (TOMTOM International Bv, Fluidtime Data Services GmbH, TMX – Telematix Software as) and public organizations (ITS Vienna Region). It is co-financed by the EU. through the '7th Framework Programme' and lasts three years.
The first version της εφαρμογής είναι ήδη διαθέσιμη και αξιολογήθηκε από 60 κατοίκους της Βιέννης το καλοκαίρι του 2013. Τα αποτελέσματα αξιολογήθηκαν ως ενθαρρυντικά, καθώς οι χρήστες ήταν ευχαριστημένοι από τη λειτουργικότητά της, ενώ θετικά αξιολογήθηκαν και οι εξατομικευμένες προτάσεις εναλλακτικών και οικολογικών διαδρομών. Επιπρόσθετα, η ανάλυση των αποτελεσμάτων έδειξε ότι αυξήθηκε η οικολογική συνείδηση των συμμετεχόντων με τη χρήση της εφαρμογής ενώ σε ορισμένες περιπτώσεις υπήρξε και αλλαγή συμπεριφοράς όπως μείωση της χρήσης του αυτοκινήτου με ταυτόχρονη αύξηση των μετακινήσεων με μέσα μαζικής μεταφοράς.
Future implementation could also be used in Greek cities with air pollution and increased traffic problems such as Athens and Thessaloniki.
Source: naftemporiki.gr
Images: project-peacox.eu