By Geoff Pickle, The Standard

Starting as early as the spring semester, students will be able to track Bear Line shuttles via GPS. The project is a joint effort between the computer science department, the Office of Web and New Media, J. Howard Fisk Limousines and the Department of Safety and Transportation. Jeff Thomas, a senior computer science major and the Student Government Association director of research and development, created the software that allows GPS signals to be sent from phones located on shuttles to servers already in place at the university. Richard Martin, an associate professor of computer science, helped him.

Students will be able to track the shuttles on an online map at the Missouri State home page as well as on smart phones such as the iPhone, he said. “I think it’s going to be a great resource for students to know where the shuttles are,” Thomas said. “It will allow students to make a last-minute call whether it’s better to wait for the shuttle or to walk.”

Funding will be provided by the Department of Safety and Transportation and will come from shuttle funding, said Larry Combs, interim assistant director. There shouldn’t be any cost increases for students, Thomas said. Throughout the semester, Thomas and the Office of Web and New Media have been testing the software. The Office of Web and New Media provided much of the help with the project, with Chad Killingsworth, assistant director of Web and New Media, taking the lead. The office had been working on an interactive map for the Missouri State campus that was completed late in the spring semester, Killingsworth said. The map can be found at http://search.missouristate.edu/map/.

Thomas did the work on the phone software, and Web and New Media worked on the programming needed to integrate the program into the campus map, Killingsworth said. Because the software was created in-house and a deal was able to be made with Sprint, costs associated with the project have been kept relatively low, Thomas said. Around the time when the project was started over summer intersession, Sprint had a deal going that allowed for free BlackBerry phones as long as a data plan is paid for each month, he said. Placing phones on all the shuttles and tracking their GPS signals will cost about $150 a month, Thomas said. J. Howard Fisk Limousines provides the Bear Line shuttles to the university. Howard Fisk, owner of Fisk Transportation, said he and his drivers are in full support of the GPS tracking program. “Drivers are supportive of anything that’ll make it easier for students,” he said. “Other communities and schools use (similar programs) because it’s a good planning tool.”