Towards a framework for Bus Ticketing and Tracking System using
Interactive GIS Map
Jonathan Sidi, Syahrul N. Junaini, Goh Soon Kheak
Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
{jonathan,syahruln}@fit.unimas.my, mememe_2582@yahoo.com
Abstract
In this paper, the result of design, development,
testing and evaluation of Online Reservation for Express
Bus Ticket System via Interactive Map is presented. It is
a web-based system for reservation of express bus ticket
through Internet. The main aim of this application is to
provide an alternative to the user to reserve ticket
through an interactive map. A set of explanatory study
was carried out with 20 employees from an express bus
company in Sarawak, Malaysia. In this paper we
present the fundamental framework for the bus
operation and tracking system using GIS map. This
proposed framework also allows the bus service
operator to create interactive maps of bus routes. The
result shows that the system has successfully meet user
requirements. Results of this research are expected to
improve interactivity level of ticketing site in order to
attract more user. A new framework is also presented.
Keywords: Interactive map, bus ticketing, bus tracking,
GIS Map.
1. Introduction
Internet is the most important and effective
communication and marketing medium the world has
ever seen. It offers a whole range of new ways to reach
new and existing customer, as a marketing and
advertising medium. Conventional bus ticketing
services – transactions that are not supported with
Information Technology (IT) – are conducted using
media like paper, telephone or fax [16][17]. IT-
supported bus ticket transactions, like other IT-
supported business transactions use media like
electronic mail, electronic data interchange (EDI), world
wide web (WWW) and other Internet services [3][8][9].
The Internet is used as a medium to market and deliver
the bus ticket services to the customer. Customers find
themselves easy to purchase or reserve ticket 24-hour,
day and night, as long as the ticket is still available.
Bus reservation system had been implemented in
Malaysia for decades, initially from manual to
computerized reservation system. Online bus ticketing
and reservation services are effectively increasing in the
market since it was launched by Park May in year 2001.
Currently, many people and companies are starting to
gain insights of the express bus reservation system.
Considering the bus ticket reservation system that
has undergone a continuous evolution in the recent year,
it is time for online reservation system to jump on the
bandwagon – interactive map that has been developed to
facilitate the development of shared virtual
environments.
The main objective is to assist the public in gaining
an easier and faster way of reservation. Providing them
with more selections, real time information. The bus
companies are able to offer customers the precise
estimation of bus schedule in the service arrangement
and reminder. It delivers sophisticated reservation
solutions that keep sellers and buyers on the cutting
edge these days.
2. Interactivity on E-Commerce Ticketing
The potential applications for interactive
information include travel news bulletins, departure
information, journey planner, e-commerce, allowing
transactions for a range of services and capital cams.
Electronic commerce is a transposition of
traditional commerce to the context of information
networks. In the traditional marketplace, every operation,
apart from the exchange of physical goods and services,
is based on information: offers, brokerage, negotiations,
orders, contracts, reservations, payments, documents,
receipts and the resolution of disputes. The model of the
traditional marketplace is, therefore, perfectly suited to
the electronic marketplace, provided that its
characteristics and requirements are appropriately
translated in electronic terms.
Like traditional commerce, the electronic
marketplace should facilitate the establishment of
relationships between potential sellers and buyers. As a
key to its acceptance and the successful development of
its huge potential, electronic commerce should handle
all these situations in such a way that it is open to
everyone, and at least as convenient to use, reliable,
secure, and legally predictable as traditional commerce.
Unless these minimal properties are fulfilled, people
will be cautious about the routine use of electronic
commerce, or will disregard it altogether.
 In such an environment the user must feels in
control of the situation, and an attempt to encourage or
provide the facility for an experience that involves a
sense of exhilaration, a sense of enjoyment that is
cherished and becomes a landmark of how interaction
should be [11]. Motivation can have a positive or
negative effect on the end-users in an online
environment, if a user had a positive experience
shopping in an offline environment, the same positive
belief will reflect on the willingness to using the online
channel for services and vice versa. A single bad
experience can stop consumers from shopping online.
Online ticketing system offers significant
improvements to the experience of buying and using
tickets. Pre-pay allows people to reduce the number of
times they have to buy a ticket and removes the need to
think in advance about what ticket is required
Customers can order their electronic tickets in advance
over the phone or on-line Reducing the need to queue at
the ticket counter – improve service to customers even
further. Customer can get ticket at the same price,
sooner, and with a higher quality of personalized service.
All ticketing operations depend on computing
processes that execute and interact in a digital Internet
environment. The goal is to sell e-tickets with limited
quantities over the Internet. A database-implemented
ticket server centrally holds all tickets. The ticket server
communicates only with intermediary sales agents
implemented as automated e-processes written in
middleware such as Perl or Java. Customers buy e-
tickets through a Web browser from these agents. They
can ask the agent to do various operations, and the agent
responds by interacting with the ticket server on their
behalf. These operations include reserving tickets,
paying for and getting the reserved tickets, and
canceling reservations.
2.1. Contact Interactivity
Contact interactivity refers to the dynamic nature of
the engagement that occurs between an e-retailer and its
customers through its web site [13]. Research [6] has
highlighted the significance of interactivity to customer
loyalty in electronic commerce. Lack of interactivity is a
problem for a majority of web sites. They are often hard
to navigate, provide insufficient product information,
and answer inquiries via e-mail only after a delay of a
day or two. According to Salvati [14], e-retailers will
not be able to capture significant market share until they
“muster the full measure of dedication needed to
achieve and capitalize upon electronic interactivity.”
Contact interactivity is expected to have a major
impact on customer loyalty for multiple reasons.
Interactivity enables a search process that can quickly
locate a desired product or service, thereby replacing
dependence on detailed customer memory. By replacing
a consumer’s need for reliance on memory with an
interactive search process, an e-retailer may be able to
increase the perceived value that the consumer places on
a business transaction. A second reason is that
interactivity dramatically increases the amount of
information that can be presented to a customer [6].
For instance, a customer in a bookstore is generally
limited to reading the dust cover to understand a book’s
content. However, the customer of an online bookseller
cannot only read the dust cover but also read reviews
written in leading periodicals as well as the opinions of
other customers. The online customer can also receive
recommendations regarding other books bought by
people with similar reading tastes and preferences. This
tailored information helps the customer choose the exact
products desired.
Interactivity helps build more refined knowledge on
the part of the seller regarding the customer’s tastes and
preferences so that the customer has the incentive to
return and gain from, and add to, this knowledge
repository. Moreover, the navigational process
facilitated by interactivity dramatically increases the
freedom of choice and the level of control experienced
by the customer.
2.2. Convenience
Convenience refers to the extent to which a
customer feels that the web site is simple, intuitive, and
user friendly. Accessibility of information and
simplicity of the transaction processes are important
antecedents to the successful completion of transactions.
The quality of the website is particularly important
because, for e-retailers, it represents the central, or even
the only interface with the marketplace.
According to [4], 30% of the consumers who leave
a website without purchasing anything do so because
they are unable to find their way through the site.
Sinioukov [15] suggested that enabling consumers to
search for information easily and making the
information readily accessible and visible is the key to
creating a successful e-retailing business.
Cameron [7] pointed out that a number of factors
render a website inconvenient from a user’s perspective.
In some cases, information may not be accessible
because it is not in a logical place, or is buried too
deeply within the website. In other cases, information
may not be presented in a meaningful format. Finally,
needed or desired information may be entirely absent.
Schaffer [4] argued that a convenient website
provides a short response time, facilitates fast
completion of a transaction, and minimizes customer
effort. Because of the nature of the medium itself, online
customers have come to expect fast and efficient
processing of their transactions. If customers are
stymied and frustrated in their efforts to seek
information or consummate transactions, they are less
likely to come back [7].
A website that is logical and convenient to use will
also minimize the likelihood that customers make
mistakes and will make their shopping experience more
satisfying.
3. Interactive Electronic Map
Peterson [10] provided a list of differences between
interactive map and map from the mental process:
accuracy; detail; interface; and including non-map forms
of information. An interactive map is not only a
completed 2D or 3D map, but to include a map where
different services and attractions of the region can be
combined interactively and shown together.
Analytical functions enable user to answer
questions such as ‘what is near by?’. In this way, the
map becomes more interactive and is no longer purely a
navigation tool. Spatial information, for example,
distance of journey and type of express bus, reciprocates
between the map and map-reader. It creates an
environment for multiple interactions between
cartographer (in this case web developer) and map-
reader (online user).
Many interactive map sites on the Internet address
the problem using a Geographic Information System
(GIS) database approach. In this approach the map-
reader provides some information that starts a query for
the database.
Then the site will return information to the user. As
map-readers interact with the map, information can be
collected and pass back to cartographer. Literature [2]
on using large online spatial databases is one of the few
research projects using a WWW site to provide non-
biased collection of map-readers interaction. This
method of feedback and data collection is one of the
most promising avenues of research on interactive map
design.
Cartwright [18] put forth a list of sixteen different
types of mediums that cartographer could use to
distribute multimedia cartography. All sixteen were
physical storage mediums, meaning that data was stored
on the medium for the transfer of multimedia material.
One alternative to the physical transfer to the
information is a computer network, in particular Internet.
Peterson [10] discussed how the Internet could be used
to deliver cartographic animation to individuals. The
Internet’s ability to rapidly update materials will be a
major factor of choosing the storage medium as the
appropriate for interactive maps.
For an interactive mapping project the ideal design
is move the entire project to the client computer. Once
the data is moved to the client computer, it can maintain
the interactive environment of the mapping project. In
most situations neither the server nor the map server can
send and receive interactive responses across the
Internet and maintain a feeling of interaction between
WWW site and map-reader.
Cartographer have to provide enough virtual
landmarks or routes to get from one place to another. In
designing interactive map, maintaining the fastest
interactive processing is important because it goes
directly to the concept of ease of use versus interactivity.
Like all maps a single product interface map should be
well designed graphically and have a good interactive
interface.
Interactive map allows the user to investigate each
area of the region and access specific data. In early stage,
the information is basic, but it sends a clear message
about the location of the ticket counter. Next, the site
built on the first by adding more information about
distance of journey. It is to focused on trying to
graphically visualize the somewhat complex processes
in a single visual model. The completed model is
interactive, so that the user can click on the area where
they want more information.
By clicking on numbers representing sections of the
city, one can descend various words, then click on the
text of police reports. This display suggests interesting
ways to imaging abstract visualizations for historical
inquiries [9]. The success of this technique can be
judged by user’s ability to visualize the relationship
between the individual and the map. Once the user
visualize the process and opportunities it represent, he or
she will be able to interact with it via the site [9].
According to study done by [12] and [5], graphical
representation involves integrating maps with other
decision support methods and tools using highly
interactive, exploratory map displays. An example of
such an interactive map called value path/ map comes
from a prototype called DECADE (Dynamic,
Exploratory Cartography for Decision Support).
The value path/map presents a single map display
dynamically linked with the parallel coordinate plot.
When the user points with the mouse on some options
represented in the map, the respective objects is
highlighted in the map, and the corresponding value
path is highlighted in the parallel coordinate plot.
Alternatively, the user may point at some line
segment in the plot, and the whole value path becomes
highlighted, as well as the position of the corresponding
option in the map. Such value path/ map integration
makes it easy to evaluate any option with regard to
multiple decision criteria. Additionally, the user may
“fix” highlighting by clicking on an object on the map
or on a line in the plot. The selected object remains experience using the current system for more than half
highlighted when the mouse cursor move out of the year.
display or points at other objects. This enables the Figure 1 below shows the main page for Online
comparison of value path of two or more decision Reservation Express Bus Ticket System Via Interactive
options. Map. Figure 2 shows the feedback, with a pop-up ticket
Because the map representation is limited to a small counter and trip information. Figure 3 and 4 show the
Browser window where the map is presented the user interface for select express bus seat.
must be supported with navigation capabilities to
navigate through the map. These navigation capabilities
are zoom in/ out; scroll to the east, south, west, north or
their combination northeast, southeast, southwest and
northwest; pan to define a new map center; bring the
map back to full extent [1].
Data access to different heterogeneous data sources
is an important competition factor for the participants of
electronic markets. To be a useful help, interactive map
must contains some basic information as presented in [1]
meaningful object symbols representing the type of
tourism object (e.g.: hotel, sight, restaurant, etc.);
alphanumerical text that describes the object (e.g., name
and category of a hotel).
Coloring of a hotel symbol to visualize its ability, if
the query is based on a time period (e.g.: green if there
are rooms and red if the hotel is fully booked); link the Figure 1. Online Reservation Express Bus Ticket System via
object symbol with the objects homepage (URL) to get Interactive Map Main Page.
more detailed information on the object and to offer the
ability for online reservation.
Map must contain the most up-to-date information
available to be really useful for tourist decision making.
This can be achieved when data integrated into a tourist
map is pulled directly from the according database.
Changes in the GIS and tourism data must be
immediately on the next map creation [1]. Moreover,
tourism industry now realized the potential to increase
data quality by providing individual and specialized
information about tourism objects.
For this, appropriate search as well as presentation
features are required. The presented approaches offer
trend-setting abilities for today’s tourism information
systems, each of them offer tourism information Figure 2. Feedback Popup on Ticket Counter and Trip
providers the ability to increase the quality of presented Information.
information, help tourist find what they are looking for
and present it in an individual, easy readable and
meaningful way.

4. Interactive Ticketing System

For this purpose, we have developed an interactive

ticketing system. Twenty employees from a local
express bus company which currently running window Figure 3. Interface for Selecting the Express Bus Seat.
ticket system were involved during the analysis phase of
Online Reservation Express Bus Ticket System Via
Interactive Map. Majority of the employees faced minor
and serious problems in current system. They have

Figure 4. Interface for Selecting the Express Bus Seat.
5. Bus Tracking Framework using GIS Map
The ability to present the bus track in an easily
understandable framework using interactive map is very
important. It can help the bus operator to manage their
bus trip in a much more effective ways.
In this paper we present the fundamental framework
for the bus operation and tracking system using GIS
map. This proposed framework also allows the bus
service operator to create interactive maps of bus routes.
They can also generate driving directions and conduct
searches on destination distance.
GIS Location Interactive
display
map server
Figure 4. Bus tracking framework
Also, this proposed framework has this capabilities:
• Find bus location throughout Sabah and Sarawak
state using bus ID and/or plate number.
• Find bus locations by searching towns and cities,
postal codes or states.
• Find points of interest based on the proximity to a
pre-determined location.
• Provide driving directions for bus drivers.
• Visualize bus tracking, routing and direction on
interactive map.
5. Conclusion
In conclusion, interactivity, convenience and a
security framework that can encompass the full set of
security services are required in the emerging global
electronic marketplace for online ticketing services
through electronic map. For the interactivity, physical
storage medium is needed to deliver cartographic
animation. Geographic Information System (GIS)
database approach also play important role in it.
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