Prime Time Pro Tips: Manual and Auto Refreshing for Heat Maps in Driver Mode
tl;dr - Logging off and on driver mode will do a manual refresh of the PT in heat maps if it has updated in passenger mode.
We now know from my last post (https://www.facebook.com/groups/291907674307218/permalink/352222524942399/) about prime time (PT) showing from heat maps (HM) being refreshed in periodic intervals which contrasts the real time nature of PT from passenger (PAX) mode. This was verified by Gilby et al. in other posts and comments. The behavior for HM refreshing is not consistent in the time it will take in set intervals but one can estimate every 60 seconds.
The last statement refers to auto refreshing and is self explanatory. By leaving the app on in driver mode with PT displayed in various areas at different levels the driver will notice the PT areas changing their respective shapes and shades of pink all simultaneously when HM refreshes. The main drawback of auto refreshing is when you commit to drive towards a PT area when faced with a dilemma to stay or move. A driver arrives there and it is still pink so they ask themselves "Why am I not getting a request?" or "Why didn't I get PT?" once the ride is completed. The answer of course lies in PAX mode since the PT information there supersedes what is displayed in driver mode because it is in real time as mentioned already.
Using manual refreshing in conjunction with the vicinity of the other cars near the PT area in pax mode which is another topic of discussion one can augment the decision making process of staying or moving. This technique does not always work consistently but by logging off and on driver mode the driver can find out if the PT in that area of interest is still there or not hence manual refreshing rather than having to wait for the 60 second auto refresh. It will save the driver time and gas in situations where they are in close range of a PT area but have to move to it by choosing to stay from manually refreshing the HM. The attached picture with three figures is an example of this.
In Figure 1 we have most likely 200% PT that runs several blocks north to south on Westwood in driver mode. The questions that arise are 1) How many cars are near the PT area? 2) Are they disappearing? and most importantly 3) Is PT there when we verify it? The solutions contained in Figure 2 by logging off driver mode has 8 cars nearby and are not disappearing when observed for several seconds. The pin drop over the same PT area in driver mode signifies there is no more PT there. So what happens when performing a manual refresh after we logged off to pax mode and immediately back on to driver mode? The area has no PT in Figure 3 which checks and cross references the information in Figure 2. This example illustrates that we did not have to wait for the auto refresh since we used manual refresh for the HM in driver mode to unravel the fact if PT changed or stayed the same in real time.
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