A hand-held computer is a small, portable computer that uses an electronic pen or stylus for input rather than a keyboard or mouse.
The following sections provide information on the use of devices using the Android mobile operating system.
Note: Most hand-held devices have touch screens. You may have to slightly alter the sequence of
the steps described in this section depending on the layout of your screen.
Benefits of Hand-Held vs. Survey Sheets
Although survey sheets are still widely used, hand-held computers offer certain benefits to
the checker. Hand-held computers are a convenient and portable alternative to paper survey
sheets. Checkers record the data onto the hand-held computer and the check data then can be
imported directly into the system. This method eliminates the time and effort involved in
manual data entry. It is also possible to receive and send count data from a remote
location. Contact your Trapeze representative for details.
Hand-Held Computers and Ridership Analysis
In order to use hand-held computers with Ridership Analysis, you must first install
Microsoft ActiveSync. The application is supplied with hand-held computers. It allows
communication between hand-held computers and desktop computers.
After installing the program, you can connect the hand-held computer to the desktop
computer.
Note: Consult your ActiveSync documentation for more information about connecting
hand-held computers to desktop computers.
You do not need to synchronize the hand-held computers with the desk top computers because
the hand-held computers only store data. Two files, tpride.dat and tppoint.dat are uploaded
and downloaded between hand-held computers and the Trapeze4 system. These files contain the
data concerning trip groups, trips, and stops. Every time check data is downloaded to a
hand-held computer, a new file is created (tpride or tppoint) that replaces the previous
file with the same Name on the hand-held computer.
Note: Arrival and departure times are
stamped with the time on your hand-held device. Therefore, it is important that you set
the time on the hand-held computer to match your site’s internal time so that the recorded
times are correct.
Like survey sheets, the hand-held computer displays information
such as route, direction, block, and schedule times. Instead of a pen and paper, the checker
uses the handheld device and an electronic pen or stylus to enter data.
While survey sheets are distributed individually to the assigned checker, the hand-held
computer stores all check files (in a sense, all survey sheets). The checkers can select the
trips that only apply to them.
