31–40 of 47 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a little aside, being from Melbourne I was amazed how many toll roads their are driving around Sydney.
Being from Sydney, I was amazed to see you guys have solved this particular problem on your motorways (time to destination based on traffic). Is it good? I was just roadtripping through.
Would you consider this kind of action as 'scraping the bottom of the barrel'? In the design community so-called 'competitions' are considered rorts and shunned by anyone worth their weight. What is ironic is that the NSW govt. probably have spent 50 times the figure working with private companies attempting to develop an acceptable solution, and this stinks of a last ditch effort.
There is a fundamental difference between working on a problem like this and doing design work. If you work on this problem you will probably advance our knowledge in some domain and can even apply the results to other problems (such as network routing). Look at the groups that worked on the Netflix Prize. Most of the leading teams had academics seriously working on them. With a design competition you are basically d…
A tollbooth was taken off this road about 3-4 months ago that was a major congestion point - 2 years of historical data is largely useless I think.
The competition seems artificially restricted based on what it's trying to accomplish. Why limit yourself to past data? We have immense sources of data for events months before they actually happen. Why wouldn't you account for a cricket match/product release/concert that's scheduled to happen a month in the future?
Doesn't seem to be anything stopping ppl from including other data.
http://kaggle.com/view-postlist/forum-29-rta-freeway-travel-...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder why they only offer $10k. It seems cheap, particularly, as you say, they probably spent WAY more than that trying to do this in-house. $10k is honestly hardly worth my time. I guess they're hoping for that one bright high school kid... good luck!
I'll say. There is a lot of work in this, and $10k is not going to attract many professionals. They're obviously out for the talented hobbyist or beginner. Considering how much the RTA budget would be, it's almost insulting. Just having a policeman sit in a car by some roadworks (so-called 'specials') would cost them about $1000/shift. The last time a new road project got opened near me the launch party would have co…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Submissions do not consist of code, merely predictions (at least for the competitions I'm familiar with). I don't think there is anyway they could compel you to give up your code, but I'm no lawyer.
Actually: The winning entry has to be a general algorithm that can be implemented by the RTA. That means that it takes a timestamp as an input and can generate predictions for the next 15 mins, 30 mins, 45 mins, 60 mins etc. Results must also be replicated by the RTA before any prize money is awarded. So it sounds like they are expecting your code.
I agree, money is a factor - but it doesn't have to decide your every move. This is an interesting challenge whether the prize offered is worth your time or not. The entrepreneurs are supposed to bunch of people who likes solving interesting challenges - not a bunch of people who likes solving interesting problems if only it makes you money.
Would you consider this kind of action as 'scraping the bottom of the barrel'? In the design community so-called 'competitions' are considered rorts and shunned by anyone worth their weight. What is ironic is that the NSW govt. probably have spent 50 times the figure working with private companies attempting to develop an acceptable solution, and this stinks of a last ditch effort.
1. a rowdy party or celebration
2. a dishonest scheme