In operation, the new dual purpose TransVu Media allows advertising to be provided, on the move, to a commercially attractive audience. When the unit is installed in a bus for example it is possible for it to feed, via a spot monitor output, on-board display screens with stored advertising messages together with travel information, whilst simultaneously recording CCTV images from inside the cabin.
Typically the in-bus display is on two TFT screens and shown as a slide show. The content targeted at passengers by TransVu Media can be in the form of adverts or timetable information. This can be supplemented by the use of text at the bottom of each screen to, for example, indicate the next stop on the route. A powerful facility even allows certain screens to be triggered to play when the vehicle passes GPS co-ordinates of local shops or areas of interest, so maximising its topicality. This works through simple system integration via TCP-IP.
In addition to the two TFT screens, with security and vehicle management in mind, the driver also has his own mounted, full screen display with sequencing and alarm functions, such as a reverse camera view. On returning to the depot the TransVu automatically downloads its recorded images via a Wi-Fi connection and the PC based software allows simple uploads for the screen displays.
Said Pauline Norstrom, Worldwide Head of Marketing at Dedicated Micros: "The additional functionality required for the TransVu Media project was a request from major European bus company Arriva and integrators Chubb who approached Dedicated Micros to come up with a viable solution, based around the TransVu unit, within three months!
"The flexibility of the NetVu Connected server architecture, provided the perfect platform on which the Dedicated Micros development team could develop a clever API which provides the additional functionality required; namely displaying advertising messages on the spot monitor within a bus, pertinent to location, triggered by the GPS coordinates of the vehicle.
"The rapid development of this solution was achieved without any changes being made to the core application code, speeding up the time to market for this customer, and demonstrating that we or an integrator can develop bespoke solutions, by creating unique functionality and adding value to the system."
"The future for TransVu Media is extremely bright and we expect other bus and train operators to follow this initial example and select this solution to seamlessly combine security and promotional capabilities - to what is effectively a captive audience in one groundbreaking solution."