NEW RAILWAY TRANSFER SEARCH PROPOSAL

The Development of the Interactive Design Tool using the Graph Visualization of

Railway Transfer Process

Takeshi Sato

and Michiaki Yasumura

East Japan Railway Company, JR-East Research and Development Center, Frontier Service Lab, Saitama, Japan

Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan

Keywords: Interactive Design, Smartphone, Visualizing Railway Transfer Process, Railway Diagram.

Abstract: While individual needs are diversified, the information which railway users search for is also diversified.

But if we cannot offer the information which the users want, there is a possibility that the opportunity loss

of "transfer" and "consumption". Train transfer search engine web services let us know only information of

transfer route consisted by departure stations and arrival stations. It is difficult to satisfy user’s demands. On

this paper, we discuss the way of the railway promotion with visualization of train transfer process using

railway diagram.

1 INTRODUCTION

In Japan the most of railway companies keep the

accurate time in each every station with only a

minute delay, and the most frequent time in the

railway operation they conduct is only within a few

minutes interval. So the most railway users in Japan

can plan an accurate schedule. And the users can get

on the railway without waiting because of almost no

delay of train.

For the accuracy and convenience of railway,

Japanese station has the power of gathering people.

At the biggest station in Japan 3 million people is

gathering there in a single day. The station in Japan

takes the lead in town. If many people get off the

station more, the worth of town around station is

increasing more. However many railway users

consider the train to be a mere transportation device

from departure station to arrival station. Therefore

we consider it important to promote a stopover in

order to raise worth of the area along railroad. We

aim the promotion of stopping over using the graph

visualization of railway transfer process.

2 RESEARCH BACKGROUND

Japanese railway service is controlled by the minute

and has almost no delay but only several seconds. So

Japanese railway users can plan schedule per minute.

The most of people search train transfer time using

mobile phone web service while taking a train. The

web services have three methods of searching. The

first one is the way to get arriving earliest time from

departure station to arrival station. The second one is

the way to get arriving one with the cheapest fare

from departure station to arrival station. The last one

is the way with least number of times of changing

from departure station to arrival station. The search

engine web services offer the information on

transportation of only two points of departure station

and arrival station. And these method has used ever

since the search engine web services were developed.

The users of smartphones such as iPhone and

Android phone are increasing in Japan. And the new

search engine web services for smartphone are

developed. However they are developed on the basis

of three methods mentioned above. In short a new

information web service is hard to be not developed

even if smartphones are developed. These web

services offer the information on transportation of

only two points. In this way there are few

opportunities for railway users to get off

intermediate stations between departure one and

arrival one.

In this paper, we propose the interactive design

tool for promoting a stopover paying attention to

train transfer search engine web services. Then, we

propose the tool for visualizing railway transfer

784

Sato T. and Yasumura M..

NEW RAILWAY TRANSFER SEARCH PROPOSAL - The Development of the Interactive Design Tool using the Graph Visualization of Railway Transfer

Process.

DOI: 10.5220/0003917807840787

In Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (IVAPP-2012), pages 784-787

ISBN: 978-989-8565-02-0

 2012 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

process for the purpose of increasing the opportunity

stopover during taking trains.

3 PRELIMINARY SURVEY

We conducted the Web survey about the factor that

railway users feel uneasy when stopping over. (101

persons, from 10’s to 60’s) The result is shown in

Figure.1. “I feel it uneasy whether it is late for the

destination.” “I feel it uneasy whether fare become

comparatively high-priced.” “I feel it uneasy

whether it is an attractive station.” Therefore it is

important to offer at sightseeing tractive information

about intermediate stations for promotion of

stopping over. And we need to offer the proof which

it is not late for arriving at the destination even if

railway users stop over intermediate stations. We

need to offer the information of transfer process

when users stop over.

Figure 1: Web survey (the factor that railway users feel

uneasy when stopping over).

4 THE FEATURE OF THIS

SYSTEM

4.1 Visualizing Railway Transfer

Process with Diagram

In this research, we propose to offer “the time to stay

at the station which the user dropped in” and “the

time the users arrive at the final destination” in order

to visualize railway transfer process. Then we

decided to use the diagram (related figure of

distance and time) used by railway operation

management. We can express the transfer process

for railway users in smartphone screen using railway

diagram. The transfer process with diagram is shown

in Figure 2.

Figure 2: The transfer process with diagram.

4.2 Visualizing Sightseeing Information

about Intermediate Stations

We consider it important to offer sightseeing

information about intermediate stations which users

can stop over. The present search engine web

services display advertisements related to the

departure station and arrival station which the users

input. Utilizing this technology, we have discussed

the way of visualizing sightseeing information. So

we decided to express the information on the station

between departure station and arrival station when

users search transfer process with mobile phone. The

sightseeing information of recommended station is

displayed according to the station names which users

input on the top page. This idea is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: The idea of visualizing sightseeing information

about intermediate stations.

5 THE OUTLINE OF THIS

SYSTEM

We developed the new search engine web service of

a part of Tokaido line (from Tokyo to Odawara).

Tokaido Line is the main railway route which

connects the big city such as Yokohama, Hiratsuka,

and Odawara to Tokyo. As Tokaido line is used by

many people, we developed the system with this line.

The structure of this system is shown in Figure 4.

And the system for Japanese railway users is shown

NEW RAILWAY TRANSFER SEARCH PROPOSAL - The Development of the Interactive Design Tool using the Graph

Visualization of Railway Transfer Process

785

in Figure 5.

Figure 4: The structure of this system.

The railway users input the departure station, the

arrival station and departure time on the screen of a

smartphone. The system shows the information on

the station between departure station and arrival

station. And with attractive station information it

shows the railway transfer process with diagram.

And the users can search the transfer again for

stopping over on the search-result screen. The

system re-creates the diagram including stopover

time. We added the function which users re-search

on the attractive station information screen. This

system is a tool for promotion of stopover by

visualizing the railway transfer process and the

attractive station information.

This system consists of timetable database and

station database. The timetable database consists of

the data of the departure time and the arrival time in

each station. It is distinguished on the weekday and

the holiday. The station database consists of station

names and the distance between stations.

These databases are read by SQL programming.

We enabled the route search and the display of

diagram using PHP programming.

Figure 5: The system for Japanese railway users.

6 DISCUSSION

We got some persons to use this system. Some of the

users answered that it was useful tool if they

understand the meanings and structure of railway

diagram once. And some of them are to enjoy

railway transfer by dropping in lots of stations. We

succeeded in raising the probability of stopping over

using the graph visualization of railway transfer

process.

7 CONCLUSIONS

In this research we succeeded in visualizing railway

transfer process and attract sightseeing station

information on the smartphone as a new interactive

tool. We will add the new information such as

shopping and tourism to this system in order to

attract railway users. Offering the appropriate

IVAPP 2012 - International Conference on Information Visualization Theory and Applications

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information during taking trains makes it higher the

possibility of stopping over. Not only development

of railway service but it is necessary for us to offer

the information and advertising for the purpose of

railway promotion. We will propose new interactive

tool for railway users.

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NEW RAILWAY TRANSFER SEARCH PROPOSAL - The Development of the Interactive Design Tool using the Graph

Visualization of Railway Transfer Process

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