Route Ladder Visual App
Purpose of App:
The Route Ladder Visual App, which will be referred to as RL in this document, is designed to be used on vehicles to display upcoming stops to passengers. The features discussed in this article are in version 1.06 of the application. Some features, or their location within the app setup, may be different on other versions of the application. Some differences may be discussed in this article.
This article will focus on setting up the RL app and how different style settings will affect how the app looks when deployed.
Language Tab:
Note: The language tab and the options within it are only available on versions 1.05 and 1.06
The Language tab is the second tab when a user opens to edit or creates a new route ladder app. We will go over it first because it will be very brief. The Language tab only has two options Language and the App Label for No More.
Language Option:
The language option will change how the app displays the text, dates, and numbers are formatted on the screens. For example: If the app is set up to show the next stop, it can be set up to show the stop after the next, the word Next will be in the language selected here.
App Labels:
This section of the application is used to change the text that is used in labels in the application. The No More setting will change what is displayed if a route has less upcoming stops than what it usually displays on the screen. By default it says "No More". For example, if the RL is set to show three stops, but the bus only has one more stop in the route, the other two will say "No More"
Settings Tab:
Note: Versions before 1.05 do not have the Data Feed field. API Config, Functional Config, and Style Config are not separated before version 1.05.
The Settings Tab is where you will find most of the settings for the RL app.
App name:
This is where you can name the app that uses the settings defined later. An app must have a name in order to save it. An app can be names anything but it is recommended to have the version number in the app name to quickly tell what version of the app is being used.
One reason a user might have multiple variations of a route ladder app is if they have express buses that use a data feed. A user would have one version for the non-express buses that doesn't use the data feed, and one version that uses it. Names that identify which version you are looking at is recommended.
"Route Ladder v1.06" and "Route Ladder Express v1.06" would be a naming convention that would allow any user to know what each version of the application is for.
Tags:
This is an optional field where a user can add tags to different versions of the route ladder. A user can add additional identification keywords to differentiate this configuration of the application from others.
Choose Data Feed:
A data feed to skip stops that are on a route can be selected here. The data feed requires a route ID in the first column and stops on that route for the remaining columns, set as a toggle. Any stops that are toggled on will be skipped by the RL app. This can be used to skip stops that are closed due to construction or special events.
API Config
API Configuration is where a user puts the locations of data needed for the app, if that information is not provided by the vehicle.
Stop Api Base URL
This field is where a user would put the URL where the app is getting stop information. This is not always required. Depending on what data can be gotten from the bus it may not be necessary.
Some examples of what a user might need to have here:
"https://realtime {username} .availtec.com/InfoPoint/rest/Stops/Get/"
"https:// {username} .rideralerts.com/InfoPoint/rest/stopdepartures/get/"
Amenities Api Base URL
If information about amenities on the bus is not provided by the data from the bus and a user has a URL to provide that information, that URL goes here.
Authorization Header Key
If an authorization key is required to access the stop or amenities URLs, that key goes here.
Max Age TimeStamp
This setting is depreciated and not active at this time.
Functional Config
Functional configuration is where a user would adjust the functional, not style type, settings of the app. Some examples of functional settings are how many stops to show and whether to show the next stop or to start at the stop after next.
Select Stops to Display
This allows the user to select whether to show the next three or four stops. Smaller screens may want to show less that larger screens.
Show Realtime Layout
If this box is selected the RL will show how many minutes to each of the stops. Below is examples of the box unchecked and checked.
Enable Animate
Note: Enable Animate is not available on versions older than 1.06
If this box is checked the app will do little animations with some of the information on the screen. The animations can vary depending on style selections.
Skip Next Stop
If this is selected the route ladder will not show the next stop the vehicle will reach. This feature is often used if the route ladder is being used in combination with the Next Stop Bar App. Because the Next Stop Bar will be showing the next stop it would be unnecessary to show it in the RL also. The route ladder will then show the three or for stops following the one the vehicle is approaching. Below are examples of the box checked and unchecked.
Threshold Value for Time
The distance from the next stop in meters when the RL will say NOW for the upcoming stop.
Threshold Value for Late Time
How many minutes behind schedule before the route ladder says the vehicle is late.
Threshold Value for Distance
The distance from the next stop in meters when the RL will say NOW for the upcoming stop.
Amenities
Selects whether the RL will show bus amenities, and if will show amenities listed in the data or mock amenities. Mock amenities will show that a bike rack is on the vehicle for use. It can be used it there is a bike rack but it's not in the data, or to get an idea of what amanita icons will look like on the screen.
Amenities Bg Shape
Changes the layout of the amenities icons.
Transfers
Will show transfers at upcoming stops. Mock transfers can be used to see what it will look like in the RL. If a vehicle is showing transfers but is showing that you can transfer to the same route (get off current bus and get on next one traveling on the same route) users can suppress this with the check box under the drop down menu.
Style Config
Style Configuration is all about colors, shapes, and fonts. Here's where a user can set up the application with their companies colors, or set up something festive for the holidays.
Select App Style
The RL app has three main styles.
Style 1:
Style 1 has the order, or number of minutes until, the next stop in circles, the circles are enclosed in a parallelogram that gets narrower at the bottom. The names or locations of the upcoming stops are displayed to the right of the parallelogram.
Style 2:
Style 2 also has the order, or number of minutes, inside circles. These circles are within a rectangle that has the name or location of the corresponding stop inside the rectangle. An overlaying rectangle separates the names from the circles. If transfers are shown they will be displayed where the 'Now, +1, +2..' are displayed in the picture above and the order of stops will move within the vertical rectangle. Amenities will be displayed to the right of the vertical rectangle, between it and the stop name.
Style 3:
Style 3 is designed to be used with a background picture. Changes to the background color will not affect the app if style three is chosen and the background will be black if no background image is uploaded. Unlike styles 1 and 2, the nearest stop is listed at the bottom of style 3. The order or time is inside rectangles with the name or location of the stop listed to the right.
Transfers Bg Shape:
This option will change the shape of the Transfers Background, if transfers are in the data and shown.
Amenities Background Color:
Will change the color of the background of the amenities icons if they are in the data and being displayed.
Amenities Font Color:
Will change the font color of the amenities. If an amenities is represented by an icon, such as a wheelchair picture, the color of the icon will change.
Transfers Background Color:
Changes the background color or the area that contains the information on transfers. Depending on if transfer information is show, other information could be in this area.
Transfers Text Color:
Changes the color of the text for transfers information, if transfers information is shown.
App Background Color:
Changes the main background color of the app. This will not affect style 3.
App Background Image:
An image can be uploaded here and used in place of a background color. For style 3 an image must be uploaded here, otherwise the background for style 3 will be black.
Destination Text Color:
The color of the text that gives the stop names or locations.
Destination Background Color:
The color of the background of the area where the destination (stop names or locations) is located.
Next Text Color:
The color of the text that shows which stop is next or the time until each stop.
Circle Background Color:
The color of the background circle where the 'Next Text' is located. In Style 3 it is not a circle.
Time Text Color:
If the time until the stops is displayed this option will change that text color.
App Accent Color:
Changes the accent color of the app. This option will change accents to each of the three styles differently.
Late Text Color:
If it is selected to show that the bus is late, this will be the color of that text.
Title font, Subtitle font, and Time font:
These three font options will change the font for each of their respective text.
Show Image Stop Requested:
If this box is selected and a stop requested image is uploaded, that image will be displayed when a passenger request a stop. Many times this is handled by a separate stop requested app on a separate part of the screen.
Stop Requested Image:
Upload a stop requested image here.
No Route Id Image :
Upload an image to display if there is no route id to show.
No Stops Image:
Upload an image to show if there are no stops for the route ladder to show.
Second of Delay:
How many second the 'Stop Requested' image will remain on the screen after a rider has requested a stop.
Show Text Only, Debug TDO, Last Update Display, Popup Error Message:
These options are mainly used for debugging and diagnosing errors and should not normally be selected.
Examples:
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