Today’s mobile devices have taken over as the most cost-effective and scalable way to replace legacy hardware solutions, as well as paper solutions, that were both clunky and expensive for users. One taxicab company – Green Cab of Madison – has adopted Apple iPads as their vehicle meter and communication device in their Toyota Prius green cabs. Their iPads are outfitted with a mobile app built on Drupal that enables them to collect real-time vehicle location data, to alert drivers of new calls, and to complete credit card transactions. How Drupal was leveraged for rapid development of the base dispatch application. Why Drupal was the right choice for integrating with native and hybrid mobile apps. Where Drupal can be used for enterprise mobile application development.

1. Taxi Cab Confessions – we did it with Drupal!
@prometsource
@akucharski

2. Acquia Webinar
Agenda

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Objectives
 How Drupal was leveraged for rapid development of the base dispatch
application
 Why Drupal was the right choice for integrating with native and hybrid
mobile apps
 Where Drupal can be used for enterprise mobile application
development

4. Acquia Webinar
Promet Source background
 Company Background
 Founded in 2003
 30 + employees
 Offices in Chicago IL, Sunnyvale, CA
 Company Offerings
 Promet Source
Web Development
Mobile Application Development

5. Acquia Webinar
Promet Mobile Work
 M.DOT sites (Drupal)
 Responsive Design and Theming (Drupal)
 Mobile Application Development
 Native development for:
IOS
Android
 Hybrid development with Phonegap

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About Me
Presenter:
Andrew Kucharski
Co-Presenters
Chris Bartlett
Rachel Jaro

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Mobile Application Opportunities
 By 2013, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most-common
Web access device worldwide
 Transportation CIO’s made Mobility one of their top priorities for
next two years

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Project Background
 Green cab of Madison
is an eco-friendly
taxicab service with a
hybrid vehicle taxi fleet
and shared ride service
Green cab needed a
dispatch solution for
their new fleet of cars
equipped with iPads

9. Acquia Webinar
Requirements and Challenges
Build a Dispatch system to establish two way ride
request communication with iPads in cars
Month and a half timeline before launch
Zone based ride calculation
Cars to provide up to date location to dispatch

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Proprietary Technology Options

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Green Cab business choices
Option 1 – go with
proprietary hardware
solution
Option 2 – build a
custom code application
Option 3 – build the
application using Drupal

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Our Approach
Use Drupal as Dispatch
Center
Use iPads as mobile
dispatch unit
Use PhoneGap as
application development
platform

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Benefits of Using Drupal
Fast development cycle
Services Module
Security built in
Immediate prototyping

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Mobile SDK – to go native or Hybrid

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Use Hybrid Development Platform – we chose PhoneGap

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Application Functionality
 Save Ride Request
 Schedule a Ride Request for future time and date
 Zone based ride cost calculation
 Dispatch Taxi for Pick up
 Drivers to Receive and Accept or Decline request
 Update Driver during request with new information or cancel request
 Display location of fleet on a map

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Call Screen
User can click on any call to view in entirety &
make revisions. Pull down menu allows Users to
assign calls to drivers.

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Dispatch's Driver map
Hold curser over orange dot to display cab
number.
All iPads have GPS tracking to
manage cab’s location.

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Implementation
 Dispatchers running GreenLightDispatch
*Photo by WrielessWeek™

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Zones and Open Layers

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Receiving calls on ipad
When Driver arrives to the
pick up location, they will
touch ‘Load’ or ‘No Load’
based on whether Rider gets
into cab.

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Additional Benefits
 Data Plan only – use skype for voice communication
 Credit Card Processing via Little Square
 Accept Credit Card information
 Receive communication from dispatch
 Vehicle Fleet management
 Driver management

23. Acquia Webinar
Architecture
Drupal Services

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The solution – Green Light Dispatch
 Notable Modules
 http://drupal.org/project/openlayers
 http://drupal.org/project/services
 http://drupal.org/project/cck
 http://drupal.org/project/views
 http://drupal.org/project/date

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Services to the rescue!
3 components of Services module
 server modules – receive and render request
 authenticatation modules – authentication
 Extended authentication model to use both key and drupal authentication
 services modules – process and return data
 Extended the services module to minimize data transfer

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Challenges
 Google Maps API limit
 Oversight during development
 Limit Wireless Traffic
 Extended services module to make our own calls
 Testing
 Performance Issues
 Performance improvement of 500% by limiting views

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Code distribution to iPads
 Three ways to get code to your Apple device
 IOS SDK
 App Store
 Enterprise Program
 Enterprise program allows for over the air updates to devices

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Next Steps
 Native Client App for iPhone and Android
 Uses location to populate ride request
 Ability track you taxi once ride is assigned
 Ability to SMS customers
 Automatic Driver routing
 In-app navigation (fastest route, traffic avoidance)
 Simulate metered functionality via GPS tracking
 Financial Reporting

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iPad Application Case Study
 Dispatch software built on open
source technology running on iPad
applications instead of proprietary
hardware. Featured by Apple and
AT&T
 iPad powered location and fleet
tracking system - running the fleet of
cabs in Madison
 Product featured in Wireless week
magazine:
http://www.wirelessweek.com/Articles/201

30. Acquia Webinar
Upcoming Consumer App

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Drupal as a multiplatform CMS

32. Questions?
www.prometsource.com
andy@promethost.com
Twitter: @akucharski
We are hiring!