Marlow Traffic Lights
Challenge
- The challenge was to create a traffic light system for the client, that could be linked to their online site as well as to a physical traffic light box which is kept on their premises.
- This traffic light system would tell their users when it was safe or not safe to go out onto the river. It would be controlled by a handful of people from the Marlow rowing club, who knew and understood when to change the traffic light system based on the weather, time of year and safety.
- This would be using CiviCRM to help the clients have a better understanding of what conditions are like on the river without having to leave the comfort of their home. Saving time for their members!
Solution
Marlow Traffic Lights System was born:
The system uses a custom-built extension made solely for this purpose and a form to allow authorized people to set the traffic light state. It updates both the website and the physical device by writing to the database and the X410 device via an API hook.
Results
The history shows the lights have been changed 233 times since 2021.
Would we rebuild the Traffic Light System Design and Public Access differently if we were to do it again now?
It would mostly keep the same approach, another possibility would be to use a FormBuilder for the update form, in which people who have access can change the traffic lights.
It is great to see an extension benefit the safety of future rowers for the Marlow Rowing Club and allow their members to be able to decide when best to leave the house to go rowing!
