Park and Ride Directions: New Weekend Project
Sun, Nov 18, 2012I released park and ride directions about a week ago. It’s a work in progress, but it definitely works in some cases. A few improvements I plan to make:
- The data source (Google Places API) doesn’t have every station listed, so I would like to modify the app to allow users to enter their own Park and Ride station. They’ll get directions using it, but then the new station will also be added to the Places database. Every time a person uses one, the place will get a “place bump.”
- The algorithm to decide where to check for park and ride stations doesn’t always return great results. I think this is because the Places API is only using my query as a guide, rather than a limit, to return results. I could do my own tests with the returned results and display a subset I think would be most helpful.
- It would also be neat to find plain driving directions and public transit directions, and alert the user if one of those would actually be faster. With driving, though, one of the benefits of park and ride is usually that parking at the station is easier than parking at your final destination.
There’s definitely interesting work to do here and I hope to revisit the project soon. The source is available on [GitHub][1] for any interested in contributing.