Solutions include automated people counter, enhanced Quick Trip app, and AR bus stop flag

VIA Metropolitan Transit announced the winning teams for the 3rd Annual VIA GoCodeSA Codeathon, a partnership event designed to bring together the best coders, designers, and tech minds in the area. The Codeathon took place from Feb. 22 – 24, 2019, and was held at Trinity University’s Center for the Sciences and Innovation (CSI).

The Open Innovation Category Winner was Team Vintage Party comprised of Paola Fernandez, Andres Ibarra, Miguel Parada, and Surya Boja. They developed an automated people counter using body tracking software that would allow VIA to use the onboard cameras’ video feed to achieve an accurate, real-time count of passengers on the bus.

The Quick Trip Enhancement Category Winner was Team Pixel, comprised of Larry Gonzales and Vivian Canales. They took the winning iPhone app from last year’s Codeathon and developed it into a more accessible web application that is also mobile friendly. They also added a new feature that allows you to choose favorite routes and highlight our Viva routes as another way to explore the city.

The Augmented Reality Category Winner was Frost Syndicate, comprised of John Campbell, Veera Mandapati, David Yemaneab, Jeff McKinney, and Elias Lozano. They developed an augmented reality project that allows you to hold your camera up to a bus flag that would then display additional information on the screen including next bus arrivals and route maps. They also allowed a solution for VIA to increase advertising revenue by using the camera to recognize companies’ logos and playing video ads on a customer’s phone.

The VIA GoCodeSA Codeathon offered coders an opportunity to compete for cash and prizes as they turned bright transit ideas into potential transit innovation for our region. The participants powered through 48 hours of innovative thinking, with fantastic results.

Participants selected work on a provided challenge, but they were not limited to them. Projects were judged on impact, innovation, and technical achievement. Exclusive VIA data sets were offered to more than 100 registered participants prior to the event, which was free for participants who competed for cash and prizes. Codeathon teams worked on any type of project, such as web apps, mobile apps, wearable solutions, data visualizations, algorithms, or visual mock-ups. Challenges, data sets, and other resources were posted to GoCodeSA.com, and focused on public transportation.

GoCodeSA Codeathon sponsors included Trinity University, CivTech SA, Harris Dailey-Wells, Geekdom, Trapeze Group, Codeup, Jungle Disk, Cisco Meraki, Moovel, USAA, SWBC, IKE Smart City, Progress, Grande Communications, Brooks, Intech Southwest, Verizon Wireless, and HNTB.