A location based smartphone application to rentprivate vehicles at real time

Faisal AhmedDept. of Computer Science

& EngineeringUniversity of Chittagong

Chittagong - 4331, BangladeshEmail: faisal.cse91@gmail.com

Fatema-Tuj-JohoraDept. of Computer Science

& EngineeringUniversity of Chittagong

Chittagong - 4331, BangladeshEmail: inna.johora@gmail.com

Mohammad Sanaullah ChowdhuryDept. of Computer Science

& EngineeringUniversity of Chittagong

Chittagong - 4331, BangladeshEmail: sana1691@gmail.com

Abstract—Although present era is the age of the fastestcommunication and travelling, some aspects are still there whichdemand our noticing and adding comfort to. The unavailabilityand poor quality of public transports like bus, subway or trainhave made locating private vehicles such an alarming event.People are frequently a victim of harassment to locate vehiclesat the right time and at the actual rent. To make an end of alltroubles in renting vehicle, we are proposing a location basedsmart system to facilitate the passengers as well as the drivers.This paper outlines a client server based smartphone applicationhaving easy access for the passengers to locate their nearbyprivate vehicles, to invite drivers for a rent and to bargainon the rate on private chat or voice call. Drivers will alsoget convenience in searching passengers who are awaiting themrather wandering randomly. To ensure safety, riders can ratedrivers instantly depending on driving skill and easily see theiroverall rating. Reservation is attainable through this application.The recommended system takes advantage of Java programminglanguage using android operating system for mobile client, PHPas web server, MySQL as repository, GPS(Global PositioningSystem) as location provider and Google map service for showinglocation on mobile client in conjunction with the street viewbetween the passengers and the drivers.Emperical result showsthat the average location accuracy of the application is aboutcouple of meters.

Keywords: GPS, GSM, LAMP, MySQL.

I. INTRODUCTION

Searching out private vehicles or helplessly praying for oneto miraculously pass by our location has become a commonevent in our everyday life. It is nearly impossible to rent avehicle at the right time and at the actual rent when peopleare travelling to and from work at peak hour. Being absentin workplace at proper time and causing death of emergencypatients due to unavailability of vehicles at the proper timeare emerging as a serious issue. Sometimes one has to go theopposite direction in search for a private vehicle and wait along time in the street, which is tedious. Further one has to asksame and several questions regarding rent by going driver todriver which gives rise of untoward incidents every so often.

As a very little work in reality has been actually done inthis aspect, we are proposing a location based real time smartprivate vehicles searching system that can solve such typeof problems without any annoying hold music and enigmaticwhereabouts of the vehicles.

The latest annual report from ERICSSON [1] reveals thatthe number of smartphone users will reach a giant 6.1 billionby 2020 which is almost 70 percent of the world popula-tion. Since almost everyone, including passengers and driversof private vehicles carry smartphone, our proposed solutiontakes the advantage of location based services that providesthe devices geographic position in real time based on theinformation received from the satellites. The system uses theGPS(Global Positioning System)receiver, GSM(Global Systemfor Mobile Communication) and internet connectivity servicesfound in smartphones. Using GPS receiver, one can find theexact location, even set the navigation path from source toreach a particular destination. Internet connectivity (Wi-Fi/3G)plays a vital role to communicate with database residing inthe remote server. By using the proposed system, catching avehicle now just a click away without any cost of placing extradevice other than smartphone.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section IIfocuses on other existing related work on GPS service andsmartphone, while Section III articulates about related tech-nology. Section IV and V includes the architecture and flowof operation respectively to show the effectiveness of proposedsystem to rent private vehicles at real time. Implementation andevaluation are covered in section VI and VII correspondingly.Section VIII includes a discussion about the result. Concludedremarks and some future directions of our work are describedin Section IX.

II. RELATED WORK

Several works have been done and going on GPS, GSM andinternet connectivity features available in the smartphone. Thissection describes the various existing location based researchesrelated to the proposed system, mainly, using tracking systemsthrough GPS.

Le-Tien, T.; Vu Phung [2] describes a practical modelfor routing and tracking with mobile vehicle in a large areaoutdoor environment based on the Global Positioning System(GPS) and Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM).The system includes the Compass sensor-YAS529 of YamahaCompany and Accelerator sensor-KXSC72050 of Koinix Com-pany to acquire moving direction of a vehicle. The systemwill acquire positions of the vehicle via GPS receiver andthen sends the data to supervised center by the SMS (Short

Message Services) or GPRS (General Package Radio Service)service. The supervised center comprises of a developmentkit that supports GSM techniques-WMP100 of the WavecomCompany. Finally, the position of the mobile vehicle will bedisplayed on Google Map.

The paper presented by El-Medany, W.; Al-Omary et al [3]describes a real time tracking system that provides accuratelocalizations of the tracked vehicle with low cost. GM862cellular quad band module is used for implementation. Amonitoring server and a graphical user interface on a website isalso developed using Microsoft SQL Server 2003 and ASP.netto view the proper location of a vehicle on a specific map. Thepaper also provides information regarding the vehicle statussuch as speed, mileage.

Sultana et. al. [4] proposed a smart, location based timeand attendance tracking system, as manual attendance trackingsystem is time consuming and erroneous. It is a client serverbased android application where server is implemented ona personal computer using Apache- Tomcat 7. Here, theemployees of the organization have to install the APK andsave the office coordinates by entering the latitude, longitude,radius of area and IP(Internet Protocol) address of the officeinternet. When an employee enters or leaves his working area,the system sends the employee id and local time to the serverusing GPS and stores the information in a database.

Though the system reduces the cost of heterogeneousdevices like electronic tags, bar code badges and magneticstripe cards, it is developed for only android platform and ifboth the employee device and the whole system are not in thesame internet connection(Wi-Fi/3G), it will provide erroneousresult.

Shrestha R. et. al. [5] presented android-based location andmessage sharing system which provides a secured two waycommunication between web server and android based appli-cation using symmetric cryptography. Symmetric cryptographyensures the protection of data as existing android system hasno centralized database and fails to protect the privacy of datacausing the problem of data management and portability. Thesystem uses Java programming language for android mobileapplication, PHP programming language to implement webserver, MySQL as external database to store the data and JSONas intermediary between android platform and device.

G. B. Al-Suwaidi et. al. [6] proposed a client-server archi-tecture based application Locating Friends and Family UsingMobile Phones with Global Positioning System (GPS) thathelps the users to locate their family members and receivealerts when their friends are nearby. The mobile applicationwas implemented using J2ME combining the most recent APIsand other older APIs together in order to make the applicationreliable on all types of mobiles. The server was implementedusing PHP scripting language along with MySQL database.

Tekawade et. al. [7] created a mobile tracking applicationfor locating friends using LBS(Location Based Services) tolocate the user, track his friends and receive an alert messagewhen nearby, based on radius set by administrator. By usingGPS it helps the users to reach his destination without anysuffering. To ensure the security of the user, it providesanti-theft facility so that his location information is sent togeographically the nearest police station. The system used

J2ME for developing fronted application and database wasmaintained by MYSQL.

Turhan et. al. [8] developed a smartphone applicationto locate the nearest available blood donor volunteers andestablish a communication with him/her, if the blood sharesare insufficient. An uninterrupted connection is built betweenthe donors and volunteers by updating the location informationof available donors to main system and sending blood requestto the donors. The application is written in JAVA for AndroidOperating system along with SQLite database to store persis-tent data using Android Studio IDE(Integrated DevelopmentEnvironment) and ANT build tool.

Here, we can see that many applications have been de-veloped using GPS, GSM and internet connectivity featuresavailable in the smartphone. But a very few works in realityhas been done about renting vehicles at real time to make ourjourney comfortable and safe. Our proposed system tries tocomplete this lacking.

III. RELATED TECHNOLOGY

To build the system described in the given sections, wehave taken help of different technologies. In this stage wefamiliarize the readers with our system related technologiesnamely GPS, Android and LAMP to comprehend the essenceof our paper.

A. GPS

24 satellites are systematized to form Global positioningsystem(GPS) and orbit the earth twice in a day maintaining avery precise perimeter. It provides the users positioning, nav-igation and timing facilities. Anyone can take these facilitieswithout any subscription fee. GPS consists of mainly threesegments:

1. The space segment

2. The control segment

3. The user segment

The space segment [9] consists of 24 satellites. Theses GPSsatellites are powered primarily by sun-seeking solar panels,with nicad batteries providing secondary power. On board eachGPS satellite are four atomic clocks, only one of which is inuse at a time. These highly accurate atomic clocks enable GPSto provide the most accurate timing system that exists.

The control segment checks the position, speed of thesatellites and transmits the updated navigational data. Thesatellites get these updated data in the signals and send toGPS receivers.

The user segment consists of the GPS receivers that detect,decode and process the signals received from the satellites anduses these informations to calculate users exact location.

B. Android

The Android operating system [10] is composed of avirtual machine that runs on the Linux kernel, plus APIs anda collection of built-in applications. It is open source andGoogle releases the code under the Apache License. This open

source code and permissive licensing allows the software tobe freely modified and distributed by device manufacturers.Additionally, Android has a large community of developerswriting application written primarily in a customized versionof the Java programming language [11].

C. LAMP

LAMP(Linux, Apache, MySQL and Perl/Python/PHP) is acombination of Apache web server, MySQL database engine,the Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) and other popular scriptinglanguages such as Perl and Python. It is a powerful and robustdevelopment environment for development and deployment ofweb based applications. Apache is the most commonly usedweb server on Linux system. Web servers are used to serveweb pages using Hypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP). PHP is aserver side scripting language designed for web developmentbut also used as a general purposed programming language.PHP code may be embedded into HTML code. The standardPHP interpreter, powered by the Zend Engine, is free softwarereleased under the PHP License. PHP has been widely portedand can be deployed on most web servers on almost everyoperating system and platform, free of charge [12].

D. Calculating distances using coordinates:

In order to calculate the distance between two points wherethe coordinates of each point is given, we have used haversineformula. The haversine formula is an equation important innavigation, giving great-circle distances between two pointson a sphere from their longitudes and latitudes.[13]

For any two points on a sphere, the haversine of the centralangle between them is given by:

hav(d

r) = hav(φ2 − φ1) + cos(φ1)cos(φ2)hav(λ2 − λ1)

where hav is the haversine function:

hav(θ) = sin2(θ

2) =

1− cos(θ)2

Here,

• d is the distance between the two points

• r is the radius of the sphere

• θ1, θ2 are the latitude of point 1 and point 2 (inradians)

• λ1, λ2 are the longitude of point 1 and point 2 (inradians)

On the left side of the equals sign dr is the central angle,

assuming angles are measured in radians. d is solvable byapplying the inverse haversine (if available) or by using thearcsine (inverse sine) function:

d = rhav−1(h) = 2r arcsin(√h)

where h is hav(dr ), or more explicitly d equals:

2r arcsin(√hav(θ2 − θ1) + cos(θ1)cos(θ2)hav(λ2 − λ1))

We are considering it as equation number (1).

IV. ARCHITECTURE OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

The architecture of our proposed system, depicted in Fig. 1,indicates the main 5 elements that construct our system whichare GPS, mobile clients, repository, server and map service.

Fig. 1. Architecture of the proposed system

A. GPS satellites

The first and most important part of our system is trackinguser’s location and calculating the distance between the driverand the passenger to find the nearest vehicle. To fulfill thesepurposes, we have used GPS as it provides accurate userlocation. When the users change their location, the mobileclient needs to update the user location in the server and itgets these information from GPS. The latitude and longitudeof the user’s location is determined by the GPS and in turn itsends them to the mobile client.

B. Mobile client

Mobile client means the mobile subscriber who is hookedup to the network by using particular service. Our mobile clientconsists of mainly two components :

1. GPS receiver 2. Android based smartphone

The inbuilt GPS receiver in smartphone, takes the signalinformation about the users current location from the GPSperiodically and updates it in the server via internet.It usestrilateration method to calculate users exact location. Afterdetermining users exact location, it shows the list of the nearestdrivers around the passenger and vice versa. When a passengerfinds the nearest driver, he can make a voice call to thedriver by using the GSM feature or give an SMS by usinghis phone. We have implemented the mobile client using JavaProgramming language on android operating system.

C. Repository

Repository is the aggregation of multiple databases to storevarious kinds of data for distribution over a network. Thedatabase of our system contains all the information about allsubscribed users. It mainly consists of 4 attributes namely who,latitude, longitude and distance which stores users name, pass-word, mobile number, latitude and longitude of users currentlocation and updates the distance between the driver and thepassenger by calculating these. We have chosen MYSQL toimplement the database. Here we have used central databaseinstead of having own database stored on the mobile phone toreduce the storage overhead on each phone.

D. Map service

Our system uses map service provided by Google. It makesan easy solution to view places before going there. It usesGPS to track the nearest vehicle around the user and providesstreet view between passenger and driver for finding properspotPeople those who have come to a new city or are notfamiliar with every nook and corner of the road will find ituseful.

E. Server

The architecture of our proposed system is server centricand the application server manages all information in thedatabase. Passengers receive details information of all thedrivers on their mobile from the server and vice versa. Internetworks as the medium for transferring user data and servicerequest from mobile to server and the requested informationback to the user.

V. FLOW OF OPERATION OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

In this section, we have described the overall methodologyof our proposed system.

1. The application uses two user profiles, that of thepassenger and of the driver. Both have to install the requiredsystem APK file into their Android device.

2. After starting the application, one will be asked whetherregistered user or not, as only the registered users can usethis service. If not, he will be prompted to create accountby providing username and password, phone number, mailaddress and whether s/he wants to use the system as a driveror passenger which will then be sent to the server to be savedin the central repository.

3. After successful registration, each time s/he wants torun the app,s/he has to log in with correct usernameand password as a proof of being authorised user. Thenthe system will check whether the mobile location serviceis on or not.If off, the system will prompt the user to turn it on.

4. Once the mobile location service is turned on, thesystem traces passenger’s location, updates the location in thedatabase through the server. Now, it calculates the distancebetween two mobile devices, that is, the driver and thepassenger, to determine the nearest drivers. Then it shows alist of them on mobile clients.

5. Then the passenger send a rent request to a particulardriver specifying the location where s/he wants to go to starta discussion. The driver receives the request and responseseither affirmatively or negatively.

Fig. 2. Flow of operation of the proposed system

6. When the driver responses in the affirmative, the pas-sengers makes a private chat or voice call or sends SMS tothe driver about rent details. If the rent is not confirmed, thesystem allows to send request to another driver. After the rent

is confirmed, the street view is shown between the driver andpassenger.

Figure 2 depicts the overall methodology of the proposedsystem.

VI. IMPLEMENTATION

As our project consists of a wide range of activities, all ofthem have not been fully implemented due to time constraint.The goal of strict implementation is nothing more than a proofthat the concept generated here is completely achievable.

The mobile application was implemented using Java whilePHP was used for implementing server functions and MYSQLwas used for the database. It consists of five modules namelyRegistration/ Login module, GPS module, Conversation mod-ule, Showing street view module and Exit module. Due to timelimitation, we have not properly implemented the ’Showingstreet view’ module.

Fig. 3. Functional module of system

VII. EVALUATION

This part gives an evidence about the average locationaccuracy of our application. Here, we have defined two points(named P and Q) on the ground and measured the distancebetween the two points using a measurement tool. Again, weused GPS receiver to get the coordinates of points and calculatethe distance using Equation 1.

The measured distance using measurement tool was 22meters while using GPS coordinates gave a distance of 20.246meters, so the error in measuring the distance was 1.754meters[6].

VIII. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

To check the user friendliness and practicability of thissystem, we have done a survey among 80 users to try thisand received positive feedback from almost all of them. Thissurvey was manipulated by asking several questions like ”howquickly they have found vehicles by using this application?Does it provide accurate information about the location of thenearest vehicles? Do they think their personal information isat risk?” and so on. According to users, it is a handy deviceand also feasible. They have also found it as times saving andthink that it will serve as a saviour when emergency appears.

But almost all of them are concerned with location privacy.Because without proper protection, the location informationgenerated by our system can be abused in almost any do-main of human, social or economic activity. But our systemguarantees users’ safety because all data are exchanged bytaking users’ consent. Without users’ permission, their currentlocation will not be updated and drivers can not be able toknow the current location of the users’.

We are also trying to develop policy-based initiatives forprivacy protection, like PDRM(Personal Digital Rights Man-agement), P3P(Privacy Preferences Project) and GeoPriv[14].

We have also got couple of suggestions regarding inclusionof estimated rent service and more user friendly interface.

IX. CONCLUSION

This paper introduces a smart, location based private ve-hicle renting system that can make an end of all sufferingsof people in renting vehicles only through a click. It willchange the transport service radically by facilitating both thepassengers and drivers. Passengers can easily locate theirnearby private vehicles, make a chat on rent and rate a driverdepending on his driving skill. Drivers can also find nearbypassengers without loitering here and there.

The application gets the location coordinates of passengersplus drivers using GPS(Global Positioning System) as locationprovider and show that location on mobile client along withthe street view between the passenger and the driver usingGoogle map service.

The mobile client is implemented using Java Programminglanguage on android operating system, server side program-ming is done using PHP and repository is maintained byMYSQL.

Finally, like any software product or design, there is stillroom for enhancement. Features can be added to enhance thesystem such as Geo-fencing, emergency alerts [15] and manyothers. Our future extensions can be summarized as follows:

1. Design a more user friendly graphical interface so thateven a layman can use it without any confusion.

2. Provide an estimated rent by considering the distancebetween the passenger and his destination so that drivers cannot take advantage of the ignorance of the passengers.

3. Propose newer algorithm to improve accuracy and lowerpower consumption.

4. Develop this system for windows and iOS platform.

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