There’s an app for that: How [not] to sleep on the CTA

I’ll admit it, I’m that random dude you always see sleeping on the Blue Line. As I often get few hours of sleep at home, I make it up in transit. Going to school takes me on average 1hr 10mins, so I utilize that time to the best of my ability.

However, one of the many fears of sleeping on the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority for you non-Chicagoans) is that one may miss their stop. Today I did just that, going one stop more than I should have because I was dreaming about what I was going to make for dinner rather than actually getting off and going to go make it. As I always get off on the same stop, this does not happen often, but after a grueling workout at swim practice, it becomes much more common.

I did have a device that could change this though - a smartphone, a device that has taken over our lives in the blink of an eye. And so, while waiting for a train to come back in the opposite direction, pondered this problem. There has to be a better way, as they always say.

Then it hit me, as fast as the train I had just gotten off from a couple minutes ago: why not make an app that wakes you up when you’re about to miss your stop? The idea grew and grew as I got on the return train and made my way back home (again). This app would be simple in design, and yet have many different uses. It would simply poll the phone’s current location using GPS, and then compare it to a set longitude and latitude from the point entered into the app initially (e.g. before the train ride). If the distance between the current point and the destination was less than a certain value, it would trigger the alarm, thereby waking the person up.

Not only would this app be useful for this specific purpose, but it could also serve as a motivator for kids on long car rides, so they can actually see how close (or far) they are from the destination (possibly games or other activities could be added). The possibilites are seemingly endless.

Now I ask: Do you think this is a good idea? Would you buy this app? How could it be improved?

And that is Eric’s idea of the day.

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