Birmingham, England -- (SBWire) -- 06/05/2015 --This summer will see the launch of one of the UK's largest government backed cycling projects. The Birmingham Cycle Revolution's "Big Birmingham Bikes" will see Birmingham city council give away up to 5000 bikes starting at the end of May 2015 to members of the public. This is part of their initiative to promote cycling as a healthy lifestyle and sustainable travel as part of Birmingham's transportation network. There will also be a whole cycle training program of learn to ride, cycle maintenance and led rides delivered from 22 Big Birmingham Bikes Cycle Centre's to further encourage cycling.
This week Birmingham City Council announced that WRD Systems has been contracted to provide GPS tracking and related data for its new fleet of bikes. Using WRD's intelligent Asset Management™ platform the project's managers will be able to gather a wide range of data that they believe will form an invaluable part of the project.
Project Manager John Carrigan says.
"We decided to work with WRD after seeing not only how much information their system can gather but how useful it is in a number of areas.
The system will protect individual privacy by anonymizing start and finish locations of people's journeys and utilizing unique reference numbers not individuals personal identification details. The Big Birmingham Bike users will also be able to log into the web interface to create their own individual accounts to keep track of their cycling.
The platform will give a really surprising amount of data; from individual usage, the health benefits for individuals who receive a free bike, to the amount of carbon offset as well as being able to map use of the Birmingham cycle network.
The platform will generate real time data that can directly impact city planning. When we can map what routes are being used by our cyclists we can determine exactly where new cycle paths need to be installed.
The final factor that really swung the decision for us was that WRD is one of the few companies that manufactures a high quality product within the UK and has an excellent reputation for working with local communities"
Big Birmingham Bikes is expected to be the largest scheme of its kind in the UK and certainly the first time that real time data has played a role in demonstrating increased physical activity, health improvement and city infrastructure planning.
WRD Systems Managing Director Andy White said today.
"We are obviously delighted to be working with Birmingham City Council on this project.
Intelligent Asset Management™ is a platform we have been working on for a number of years now. Our aim has always been to develop the most flexible solution to not only generate GPS and related data but also provide software that presents the data in the most usable format for our customers.
One of the big challenges of this project has been producing a device that needs no maintenance for two years, can be recharged during use and remain completely hidden. Our engineers have worked on the solution for several months now we are pleased with the resulting high capability and low cost solution.
The GPS tracker device WRD will deploy for this project utilizes a hub dynamo for recharging, meaning the device will never need to be taken off of the bike to be recharged and requires no maintenance. The most impressive part of the device is that the team has managed to fit the entire solution inside of the bike frame, meaning no bulky equipment attached to the frame and nothing to spoil the user's enjoyment of their new bikes as well as adding an extra layer of security."
About WRD Systems
WRD Systems specializes in developing custom hardware, software and embedded systems for clients around the world. Founded in 2007, WRD Systems has quickly found its place in the global technology market. Their aim is to bring together talent from a broad spectrum of specialties to develop exciting new products and grow our network of partners. For more information please visit: http://www.wrdsystems.co.uk
