Bixi on the iPhone
(… and ipod touch, and blackberry…)
Bixi is the new community bike service here in Montreal. Lots of brewhaha around launchtime, but to me, the really annoying shortcoming of the system so far was not being able to check the status of stations on the go.
According to a message I read on the facebook group for bixi a few weeks ago, there is “no plan to provide an API, iphone app or mobile access to the map of bixi stations”. That’s rather silly, knowing that the users will want to know, in real time and on the go, whether they can get or return a bike nearby.
I’m too lazy to build a real iphone app over the week-end, but I wanted to prove that it doesn’t cost tens of thousands of dollars to provide bixi users mobile access to the status of the stations.
30 minutes and about as many lines of python later, I had a working hack to include a map of all stations in google earth, google maps or the map application on my iphone.
iPhone Instructions
Here’s how to use it on the iphone (or networked iPod Touch):
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- 1) Launch the iphone map application
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- 2) Enter the address http://bit.ly/bixi in the search bar
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- 3) Tada! all active stations show on the map, with the number of available bikes and parking slots
Disclaimer: I built this using only publicly available data – not a public, official API, though. If the powers-that-be at bixi decide they don’t like it, or change the way they organise their data, or any other silly move, I’ll have to pull the plug on this little hack. In the meantime, I intend to use it and provide it for free. Enjoy.
Excellent! Merci!
Can I suggest putting a heading of “Instructions” over the screenshots? I thought they were just screenshots and totally missed that the texts underneath were the instructions. Karl had to point it out. :)
Boris Anthony
Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 13:43
Boris – Good point, done!
olivier
Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 13:57
Hi, I translated your text in french and published it on blogger. I didn’t link back the bigger image content hosted on your site. I can remove links to the small version if you want. I cited your name a put a link back here right at the beginning. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have anything against those conditions ^^
Many thanks to you, if it could make Bixi move faster.
On a side note, I’m toying with the idea of logging my personal data I’m generating by using the system by saving the transcripts they put in my Bixi webspace. I’d love to have a way to extract it and save it automaticaly. !D And it would provide wonderful raw data for a visualisation application, why not on android phones… ? ;)
NoBixiBullshit
Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 22:01
Hello,
No problem with the translation – I guess I could have done it myself, but am happy someone beat me to it.
It would indeed be awesome if bixi allowed us to export our usage data for visualization/massaging purpose :).
olivier
Monday, May 18, 2009 at 09:45
Excellent! Great app – one question: I was trying to save the URL as a location, but it just doesn’t work. I tried launching it from Safari (maps://maps.google.com/?q=http://bit.ly/bixi) but that doesn’t work – it just loads Google Maps. I tried saving the URL as the address for my Bixi contact, but it automatically appends CANADA to the end of the URL, since you all iPhone contacts are automatically assigned the default country.
For the time being, the URL is stored in the “recent” bookmarks in the Google Maps app, but that will only work as long as it’s a recent search. Any tips?
Thanks again for your great work!
Beeg
Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 21:46
Hi Beeg,
I tried similar things, and came to the same conclusion.
The maps app remembers the past search strings, so when I type “http” it shows me the http://bit.ly/bixi choice. Imperfect, but it seems to be the only functional solution… If you find a better way, let us know!
olivier
Monday, May 18, 2009 at 09:47
You’re right – tapping “h” usually does it. How quickly does your map update? I gather it doesn’t refresh automatically, but I think I noticed some discrepancies. It’s hard to tell because the Bixi map seems a little wonky. If anything, your app at least allows you to quickly consult the list of stations, and with the GPS button, you can easily see what’s around you.
Beeg
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 09:48
Hi Beeg,
The map is updated every few minutes. Unfortunately once loaded in the app it does not refresh automatically, one has to re-load the map. That’s somewhat annoying. I should look into this:
http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kml_21tutorial.html#expiration
olivier
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 09:59
Thanks. This is really great – it’s been extremely useful the past few days. The map integration makes it easy to find nearby Bixis (to pick one up or drop one off). Ideally it would be matched with a list feature that would allow you to store favourite stations, see the nearest ones, etc. Thanks again.
Beeg
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 20:18
Great find!!
It really helps for iPhone users and I find it useful even from a computer, since google maps seems faster than the google map application of Bixi’ website.
One question, I still cannot figure out exacty how this really works, but would it be possible (and easy!) to show the name of the station together with the numbers of available bikes/slots?
Thanks again for your work!
Mathieu
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 15:35
that’s perfect!
Thank you!
michael
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 12:16
There is already one webApp for iPhone and Bixi, try http://bixiMobile.com !
david gregoire
Monday, May 25, 2009 at 21:46
Gregoire, don’t say already when you’ve been beaten to market, this hack is available since the 16th of May ! And this is so much nicer, usefull and good hearted than your ugly illegal “application” (I should say webpage)
Fabrice
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 15:42
Indeed Fabrice, biximobile.com has got to be one of the ugliest webapp I’ve seen. The solution proposed on this webpage is much more elegant and much faster to load.
Sylvain
Friday, May 29, 2009 at 12:26
Am I the only one that gets: Safari can’t open theis file. Apparently Google maps is not registered as a viewer for KML files.
I’m on a jailbroken iPhone; need it for development.
mare
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 11:04
Mare, yes, opening the kml URL directly from safari does not seem to always work. From the maps application, it works nicely AFAICT.
olivier
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 15:12
And if one doesn’t have an iPhone? I know the iPhone is the sexy phone but most people don’t have one. Believe it or not. I can’t believe the Bixi people did not think to create a mobile version of their website. They did so much right but not having a mobile map ready to go is the dumbest thing ever.
Arjun
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 15:30
gotta agree with Arjun, regardless of what platform (iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm) the simple fact that a) no public API b) no mobile website c) no mobile APP for a project that highly revolves around wifi is kinda unprepared.
everything else seems thought out…
*safe solvent™
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 13:39
If I remember correctly marketing studies seem to show that only a very small percentage of population in Montreal own a web-friendly phone.
Companies (e.g. Stationnement Montreal) thus seem to consider mobile apps as a waste of time, or a “nice to have” for later.
olivier
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 15:20
Merci… c’est très utile. Mais je ne vois pas les stations au sud de la route 720 (Vieux Montréal)…
Merci encore…
Jacques
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 22:59
Some things:
1. Does anyone know how to pull up a larger version of the google map on the bixi website, or to get the stations to overlay on the regular maps.google.com page?
2. It’d be really neat to see graphical data of our user bike usage.
3. How about a google map interface that shows each Bixi station as a number, instead of having to click on each station to find out how many bikes/spots are there. It could be done with just simple numbers, using a different color for bikes/spaces, or a visible fraction. ie 2/10 for 2 bikes and 8 available spots.
4. Anyone know how, or want to start a freelance Bixi user forum/wiki to be the ‘go to’ place for all this type of stuff?
kyle
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 23:58
@arjun If your phone can display enough of google maps to enable you to search, this little hack will work.
To know if your phone supports google maps try visiting m.google.com/maps
Just put bit.ly/bixi in the search and google maps should show you the latest status for all stations.
denki
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 12:40
Why there is no information for ‘Vieux-Montreal’ sector ?
Jacques
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 14:39
Hi Jacques,
The info on old montreal is there, as far as I can tell. Are you using the iphone Maps app?
olivier
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 21:11
I also had this problem yesterday while trying to load the station on my iPhone… I noted that if the visible area on my iPhone screen is near the old port, than the stations near Jean-Talon will not show. Also, if the visible area on my iPhone screen is more up north, than the stations south of 720 highway won’t show! This may have something to do with the fact that there is a lot more stations now than a few days ago…
However, this problem seems to be intermittent since the map did load entirely the fourth time I tried!
One more thing, would it be possible (and easy!) to show the name of the station together with the numbers of available bikes/slots?
Mathieu
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 18:04
I think there is a limit to the number of spots pulled up by the Google Maps app – so if you are zoomed out it will not show every bixi station. You need to zoom into the area where you are looking and then search for the URL there – it will regenerate the station markers in that zone.
Alex
Friday, June 26, 2009 at 10:48
Bravo!
Belle trouvaille. Je vous cite dans mon blogue!
Marc Barrière
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 14:47
I got all excited and started a Bixi Fan page thing:
http://bixifan.wetpaint.com
It’s quite hack right now, but I’ve been pretty obsessed with Bixi ever since it started and hope this wet paint page will become a forum of sorts where people can find all things Bixi. I’ve already uncovered some cool Bixi mapping apps people have made, etc. Anyone can join and add to it. It’s really just a Bixi Wiki. Hope you enjoy it.
kyle
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 23:52
Vraiment cool. I tried it in GoogleMaps for BlackBerry and it works perfectly as well.
(It would have been so helpful last Friday when I spent 30 minutes trying to find a slot in Quartier Latin where each one of them in every stations in the area was taken!)
Merci!
Steve
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 13:17
Excellent! will note it in the post.
olivier
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 15:09
this is tasty!
that biximobile webapp is so ghetto, and just as slow as the map on bixi’s site on iPhone OS.
bixi informed me by email they are working on their own iPhone app that will be released later this summer. i just hope the official bixi iphone app isn’t as ugly as the bixi website.
GM
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 13:46
I’m a n00b. I opened the link in Safari instead of Google maps.
From Google maps it works perfectly. Now I only have to find out how to make a bookmark in Google Maps for the iPhone…
mare
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 15:46
[...] you have an iPhone or iPod you might want to check this site to get an interactive map that you can load in Google Maps which shows the location of all 300 stations and how many bikes (or free spots) are available at [...]
Bixi
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 21:33
So I tried Bixi and this Google maps thing out today. I went to Jean Talon. According to the map, there should have been 7 free spots at the Henri-Julien/Jean Talon stand. None. Next stand, 300 metres further away on Chateaubriand/Belanger. According to map, 5 free spots. In reality, none. Finally we found one free spot on the Breboeuf/Jean-Talon stand, about a kilometre from our destination. We changed bikes (our time was up) and went back home.
If the information on the Bixi website is not correct and up-to-date, you can’t plan a trip. Without my iPhone, I wouldn’t even have known the locations of the “nearby” stations. Bixi is nice, but you shoukldn’t want to use it to desinations, like the Jean Talon market, or a cinema downtown or things like that. The bike/stand ratio is just not good, there should be three times more parking spaces than bikes.
mare
Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 01:04
The system is currently in it’s initial deployment phase until the end of June, all stations are not complete. They are gathering data over this period to adjust the system.
NoBixiBullshit
Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 12:10
That’s EXCELLENT!
Thank you!!
Swann
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 20:14
Got it to work for Google Maps on my Blackberry 8830 World Edition. Now I just have to wait for my data bill, because only I only get 4MB a month. Do you have any idea how much Google maps eats up?
Thanks for putting this together!
Billy
Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 01:49
Here is a video I just made that I think will interest some people ;-)
I’m working on a BIXI iPhone application
I’m not planning on doing the same thing as Spark and publish anything without the conscent of BIXI.. I’m working on that for my personnal usage.
But in the eventuality that BIXI are interested on the app. I will not mind selling it to them or putting it on the App Store.
Here is the video of the development status on 2009-06-06: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lu_wDvsK5I
Benoit Lefebvre
Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 11:33
Here is a more detailled overview of the app I am working on. (Sorry it’s all in french ;-))
Benoit Lefebvre
Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 22:29
Benoit,
Fantastic work. I hope you can sell it to StatdeM!
Beeg
Sunday, June 7, 2009 at 16:34
Looks like the Bixi people thought your idea was so great that they took it for themselves. Instead of your bit.ly link, now we can go directly to http://map.bixi.com and it will work the same way, although it seems to load faster… they probably have more money to throw at their server.
Colin
Monday, June 8, 2009 at 12:43
Heh :) – good to see they can learn from example.
olivier
Monday, June 8, 2009 at 18:42
There’s also iBixi, available for iPhone.
Been using it all week now and I prefer it to their slow-loading map.
Boblevert
Friday, June 12, 2009 at 13:41
also:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://mobile.bixi.com
etc etc :)
Boris Anthony
Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 13:17
that one’s great in a browser but i’m wondering why the same thing won’t auto-load in MAPS.app on the iPhone?
*safe solvent™
Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 15:29
I’m with Bob.
If you have an iPhone, your best bet is iBixi.
I can’t wait for the OS 3.0 version…
I'mSoBixcited
Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 10:33
[...] Si vous voulez voir les stations sur votre Iphone ou Ipod touch: http://artbeat.me/2009/05/16/bixi-on-the-iphone/ [...]
Le Bixi « L’entrepôt de Simon Lévesque
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 23:04
Try out my app, BIke taXI as an alternative to iBixi and Bixou. Best of all, it’s free!
http://bit.ly/1SO5q
michael
Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 09:31
BixIt is a brand new iPhone app for BIXI users – fast and simple, it shows you the number of bikes and docks directly on the map. No more need to click around on different stations to find a bike or a place to park!
andrew
Friday, July 31, 2009 at 15:11
here is the link for BixIt:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=324012117&mt=8
andrew
Friday, July 31, 2009 at 15:36