Implementation of a framework for tracking school children while on transit

Abstract

Child safety while on transit to and from school is a major concern for parents and school administrators. School buses are a popular means of transport for millions of children around the world and need to be effectively monitored to prevent abuse and ensure safety of the users. There have been systems to track the location and speed of the bus while on the move but parents have been left out of it. Parents are a major stakeholder in the transportation process and need to be regularly informed. Schools also need to know when and where a pupil was picked and how long it took them to get to school. This thesis proposes a solution using student identification cards and Global Positioning System (GPS) in school buses to track and notify parents and schools on the location of the pupils. The identification cards will utilize NFC technology and store the pupil’s details. Once the card is used, the pupil’s parent is notified of their location. This solution involves tracking of the bus routes and estimating the speed of the bus. This information will be used to assure parents and schools of the safety of their children and pupils. Tests were carried out on the system using smartphones to capture the location, and time of a pupil’s pick-up and drop-off. Using Parse Push Notification (Parse), alerts were sent out to the test phones and all the parties informed on the location and time of a pupil’s pick-up of drop-off. The system was validated against the requirements identified and end user feedback was found to be positive. This points to the effective use of the developed solution as an efficient framework to track school children and notify parents.