West Yorkshire PTE (METRO) have a requirement to update 75 posters at railway stations bi-monthly, a very expensive undertaking due to the fact that bus services alter so frequently. During 2003 T-Kartor were approached for an automated update solution which would allow METRO to produce these information posters in-house.
The Passenger Infromation Display (PID) system draws on separate databases for background information and bus network data. The data is combined and styled to follow design criteria and a link with live bus data is maintained to ensure the lastes bus changes are carried through to every product output.
The system is made up of a set of stages, with bespoke GIS tools for each stage designed for use by staff with bus and local knowledge, rather than GIS knowledge.
There is a module for setting up new products and making simple edits to the map. The table creation stage allows the operator to choose the most relevant destinations, allowing for a reduced table size.
A batch update tool allows tracking of all product instances and any which are affected by changes in the bus network data. A log is created of which changes are needed so that update priorities can be decided.
METRO are able to quickly and cheaply print their own product updates without GIS staff in the knowledge that the latest bus changes are incorporated.
