Case Study: Zoomy (New Zealand taxi app) achieves seamless real-time dispatch and live GPS tracking with PubNub

Zoomy Controls Dispatch and Real-time GPS Maps Using PubNub

Roam Creative, an Auckland-based mobile app studio, built Zoomy — New Zealand’s first real-time taxi app and currently the country’s #1 travel app — which required instant, reliable interaction between drivers and passengers for booking, notifications, and live GPS tracking. Early attempts with long polling and other real-time providers failed due to latency, backend load, poor mobile SDK support, and the operational cost of running a custom real-time network.

Roam implemented the PubNub Real-Time Network with a Node backend and MongoDB lookups, using PubNub Broadcast/Unicast, acknowledgements, and direct GPS publish streams to deliver sub-second, quarter-second GPS updates straight to users’ maps. The result was a smooth, responsive experience, reduced backend overhead, reliable mobile performance, and a production-ready real-time layer Roam could confidently deliver to clients.

Zoomy

Chris Moore

Co-Founder and Director, Roam Creative