New city app makes its debut
Posted on May 22, 2015 by Kristina Stifter
With the PTV YourCityToGo app, cities and municipalities can now make their own individual mobile applications.
With the PTV YourCityToGo app, cities and municipalities can now make their own individual mobile applications.
From now on, cities can provide their inhabitants and visitors with a new mobile application. Whether looking for tourist information, a programme of events, transport information or the latest mobility options, users will receive all the information about their city that they want combined on a single app. At the 2015 International Transport Forum in Leipzig, software manufacturer PTV Group is presenting the new city app, which can be individually customised and arranged entirely according to the supplier’s preferences, for the first time. The app for Leipzig is now available for download for Android and iOS in the app stores under “ITF 2015″. The highlights are real-time traffic information and multimodal navigation for cars, public transport, bikes and pedestrians. If you are interested, more information is available at the link http://ptv.to/yourcitytogoapp.
All the information on a city and an event at your fingertips: Leipzig is a role model for innovation. The city of Leipzig and the PTV Group have taken up the project together as organisers of the International Transport Forum (ITF). ITF, an OECD organisation, prepared the programme of events, the city provided the sights and the tourist information, while PTV prepared the mobility portal and finalised the complete app.
The project group has prepared a broad range of services throughout the International Transport Forum in Leipzig. Michael Kloth, Head of Communications at ITF explains: “Visitors are therefore free to access all relevant information on the International Transport Forum on their mobile end devices. They will be kept completely up-to-date at all times and everywhere,“ adds Vincent Kobesen, CEO of the PTV Group: “We will be providing a full range of transport options: users can choose between car, bike, foot or local public transport. They then receive a corresponding route recommendation based on real-time data and are navigated to the selected destination. The really clever thing is that, should you want it, particularly dangerous areas, so-called black spots, can also be shown on the digital map. We are therefore making an active contribution to road safety.” Cities can also individually set, highlight and describe their points of interest (POI).
Leipzig Best Practice: The ITF 2015 event app has included multimodal mobility services and city sights in addition to the complete programme of events.
Leipzig Best Practice: The ITF 2015 event app has included multimodal mobility services and city sights in addition to the complete programme of events.
Best practice 2: Karlsruhe – the KA mobile app has already picked up awards
For the city of Karlsruhe, the PTV Group created the first city app, as requested by the city administration authorities. The app has been available free of charge since autumn 2014, and in April 2015, the product expanded to include real-time transport information. The stated aim is to offer the public, plagued by traffic jams and roadworks, an up-to-date traffic information service, for road transport in particular. The latest updates on the traffic situation, roadworks, parking spaces and park-and-ride options are regularly uploaded, along with the corresponding public transport timetables. And the routing tool integrated by the PTV Group looks, in addition to the current transport situation, at town-specific information on building works and “priority networks” which are anchored in the transport development plan. Reliably taking current building works into account is a unique selling proposition which depends on municipal construction works management. The public’s feedback has been very positive and recently, on 22 May 2015, the European telematics company, Telematics Pro, presented the “Best Practice Urban Telematics” award to the city of Karlsruhe as a local innovation hub. The app is available for download for Android and iOS under “KA mobile”.
Realtime traffic information
For both the project in Leipzig and the KA mobile app, PTV has successfully integrated the latest traffic information from the data providers, Inrix. If necessary, other sources can also be connected.
Individual info for each region and every event
The following two examples show how cities, municipalities, regions and even event organisers can offer their visitors sophisticated information services through mobile apps. The manufacturer PTV responds to customers’ specific preferences. Kobesen emphasises: “In Leipzig, for a limited time, we have showcased what is basically possible. We are happy to support and advise public authorities about implementing applications which suit their needs.” If you are interested, more information is available at the link