There are few things more frustrating in Boston than running through a crowded MBTA station only to have the doors close right in your face as the train screeches away down a dark tunnel. One new technology, though, is poised to change the way we interact with public transit schedules by projecting them on flat surfaces in real-time.
TransitScreen, a transportation software and digital signage company based out of Washington D.C. and San Francisco, created a dashboard that aggregates directions and estimated times of arrival or all modes of transportation in real-time. It’ll even tell you how many bikes are available at the nearest Hubway station.
Using that same dashboard, TransitScreen has developed SmartWalk, a projected image of the dashboard on flat surfaces. The applications of SmartWalk in Boston, especially given the notorious inefficiency of the MBTA, are bound by nothing. As Fast Co. Design writes, SmartWalk can be used on “sidewalks, walls, plazas, or even billboards” to keep you from missing the T.
TransitScreen’s display is already available for Boston, though it’s unclear at this time where they’re launching the projected dashboard, if in Boston at all. BostInno reached out directly to TransitScreent to find out about possible launching dates and any other logistical issue that might hinder or Boston’s chances of hosting SmartWalk, but nobody was immediately available for comment.
Boston or not, the hype surrounding TransitScreen’s latest innovation is growing. Already, Fast Co. Design notes further, business owners and company executives have approached TransitScreen’s honchos about implementing their technology in growing commercial districts, not unlike the Seaport and the one’s Mayor Marty Walsh is trying to grow in Boston’s outer neighborhoods like Dorchester and Roxbury.
But as they already have a real-time transit dashboard dedicated just for Boston, it’s certainly possible TransitScreen will be looking to shop SmartWalk around the Greater Boston Area. If they do, you’ll be the first to know. Stay tuned to BostInno for any possible SmartWalk updates pertaining to The Hub.
image via TransitScreen
