The SEQBUS (Southern Queensland Bus User Service) displays bus departure
information from the international airport in Brisbane. The display
runs on two wide-screen plasma monitors based at a new customer information
desk inside the airport terminal.
Woodward IT was contracted to develop software to display bus departures
for 3 separate destinations to operate each day of the year from 5am to
just before midnight. The software was required to be extremely robust
and to operate without the need for any user interaction.
The final application was designed to clearly show relevant information
to travellers to Brisbane, whilst ensuring that there was enough
modifications in the displays to avoid any possible "screen-burn".
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International Airport Displays
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The display software is comprised of 5 different screens
(plus an optional message screen), that rotate in order and
also appear in different configurations to avoid plasma screen-burn.
There is a screen which shows the next 2 departure times to the
three destinations, a screen for each destination and a general
message screen informing travellers to make their travel enquiries
at the customer service desk.
Each screen rolls in over the previous one at a designated time
schedule, which can be controlled by Southern Queensland
Tourism staff.
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Multiple Destinations
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Three of the screens in the display rotation, show the next two
bus departures to Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.
The background colour for each screen is different to highlight the
different destinations. The Sunshine Coast screen integrates
departures from two different bus operators.
Each screen also shows a message informing travellers that Corporate
Cars and Limousines can also be arranged at the customer service desk.
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Configurable Messages
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Another optional screen in the rotation is the "Message" screen
which allows Southern Queensland Tourism staff to enter messages
to assist travellers to special events in Brisbane.
Each message can be entered with a start and end date and time, and
the message appears in the rotation during that time. This allows staff
to queue up messages into the future as known events will be occurring.
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SEQBUS Configurator
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The SEQBUS Configurator is an accompanying piece of software used
to update bus departure information and to alter how the
plasma screens operate. Normally, the plasma display software will
run without any user interaction, but the configurator allows for
adjustments to be made.
Using the configurator, Southern Queensland Tourism staff can alter
departure information if they know that a bus is running late, or add an
extra service if required. Any changes made
in the Configurator are picked up by the plasma displays within a 30
second window.
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Display Control
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Each part of the plasma display can be controlled through the
SEQBUS Configurator. Users can alter any of the following:
- The colour scheme of any of the screens
- The length of time each screen is displayed in the rotation
- The scroll in effect of each new screen
- The speed that screens scroll in
- Messages to appear on the "message" screen
- Bus departure times including add new services, deleting services and changing times.
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Copyright © 2000-2008 Woodward I.T. Pty. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
