• September 30, 2020

    Development of UAF Traffic, a Traffic Counting App

    Counting traffic at intersections is a valuable tool for communities to enable data-driven improvements, yet the commercial offerings of counting hardware or software do not address the rich variety of vehicles often seen in rural Alaska. Enter: UAF Traffic, an app easily installed on an Apple iPad to enable anyone to collect traffic data. This project combines gamification and hardware design principles with audio and visual feedback to aid a user in recording data.

    UAF Traffic is not a video game. The project wanted to embrace gamification, incorporating elements from game design in non-game contexts. The user interface offers audio and visual feedback when moving vehicles towards their intended destination. Adding these components retains its professional polish while offering important feedback to the user.

    The normal audience for traffic counting might be a traffic engineer or city planning personnel, but an app like UAF Traffic could be used to introduce high school students to civil engineering and computer science. The project attempts to see how one can incorporate this app into the STEM curriculum to teach rural communities how to understand or improve traffic patterns. It aims to show students how to use recording, analyzing, and reporting data to make informed decisions on transportation issues. The app is available for free through the App Store for iPhone and iPad.