Design and implementation of chatbot using telegram API

Abstract

While driving offers a myriad of advantages and benefits, it is often overlooked that there are unanticipated circumstances in which the time estimated is different from the time taken to travel from one location to another. The time it takes to find an empty parking lot, or even a decent car park that is close to the location could be one possible explanation for this.

A chatbot that aimed to reduce drivers’ time to find an empty parking lot or a suitable car park, particularly in unfamiliar places, was developed on the messaging application Telegram.

Users can key in the location in the forms of a postal code, an address, or sharing of location using location services. The bot would then search for the nearest car parks by computing the straight-line distance between the entered location and the database’s car parks and return the information on the three nearest car parks to the user, sorted according to distance. Information provided by the chatbot includes parking charges, the number of available lots, as well as directions. Directions are provided in the form of an external Google Maps URL that will direct users to the selected car park.