Adhitya S. Chittur
CS190
BikeQuest Project
Collected Project Requirements

__Purpose__

"One of the most frustrating aspects of using a bicycle as your main mode of transportation is the time required to find safe and efficient bike routes."
	-Mark Dietrich

	Currently, it is difficult for local bicyclists to avoid the large traffic problems and road problems.  All currently available mapping software is geared purely for automobiles, but none exist for bicycle routes.  As we are in an urban area, there are many roadways which are fit for travel by automobiles, but which are completely inappropriate for bike travel.  Since roadways are not rated for bicycles any longer, other than the presence of a bike lane, a different approach to deciding routes is required.

	This project aims to create a bike route finding system based primarily on user feedback of bike routes and/or roads.  User feedback is necessary since there is no standard form of communication for biking conditions, and such information is more critical for bikers than for motorists, as detours can be treachorous for cyclists.
	
__Market Segment__

All local cyclists will enjoy the benefits of using the software to find new/better bike routes.

__Prioritized End-User Requirements__
Class A: Basic functionality
	- Ability to generate a bike route between two points
	- Avoiding unsafe obstacles and roads
	- Change routes based on user feedback
	- Quantify user feedback as to the quality of certain roads and routes 
	- Ability to create a "loop" route so a biker may start and end at the same location
	- Accept user feedback on routes
	- Either web or standalone software interface
	- Address input and output

Class B: Slightly expanded
	- Use multiple criteria for deciding routes, e.g. difficulty, scenery, and traffic
	- Detailed user feedback of roads and routes, including important updates such as snow blockage, construction, etc.
	- Ability to generate loops of a given mileage
	- Clickable waypoint system
	
Class C: Cool features
	- Return multiple routes for user selection, and allow ranking of said routes
	- Keep track of full routes, instead of only dynamically recreating routes; also
	- Implement a probabilistic or random algorithm, instead of a deterministic one, so as to be "creative"
	
Class D: Version 2.0
	- Usable on a GPS enabled device
	

These requirements are ordered in terms of decreasing importance, as a cyclist would see it.

The most time-consuming task will be to actually obtain mapping data.  To this end, "Tiger Maps" are available in the SHAPE file format.  These are US census maps which contain basic road information, but which lack bike-exclusive trails through the area.  It will be necessary to add these routes to create a useful bike route.