Minutes for Transit
Where 2.0 May 22 3:00pm
notes by Cragg Nilson
Transit data not open
Formats
GTFS (ideal), ArcGIS, XLS, CVS-format
Google does not re-publish transit data streams they receive as they feel its the transit org responsibility
Accountability - big factor for public agencies not publishing data. Need to build apps with data that is available, to show value and get the fly wheel turning
By distributing the data, agencies sometimes feel they are forgoing advertising revenue. They want to be the control point with a transit portal that supports advertising.
Urban Mapping - sources public transit data
Status (by Google)
260 cities represented by Google
25 agencies in the US that publish schedule data. (go to their websites to download)
Canada has 1
Australia has 1
Real-time arrival estimates
3 agencies that BART, TRIMED (Portland), Seattle
Some forward looking transit data, are doing developer outreach
Static Data - Routes are published (http://www.avego.com)
Mailing Lists
OpenSource
OpenStreetMap Transit
GTFS Data Exchange
Conclusion: transit data is difficult!
Join the Transit Developers group
iPhone Apps
TransitR (Portland, MUNI, AC Transit)
Avego - carpools, vanpools (global)
Taxi - US based Taxi service
Getting data out of for hire companies
Digital Dispatched Systems
Mobile-Knowledge
$20-50K upfront, and you need a end-customer
Taxi Magic - funded by taxi companies
Charge $1.50
MTC - Oakland, Bay Area organization that aggregates 30 agencies for the Bay Area
Trimed has built a transit scheduling dataset that is released as opensource
Transportation is generally a losing business - losing $0.50 for every $1 spent
Creating a federal incentive for publishing data would be a good idea
Has to be a mutually relationship - app developers must give back by collecting data on ridership, to make service better
Crowd-source the round trip data. Provider riders with the tools to get from A to B
Getting more reach is important.
Some transit companies have been burned as app developers in the past have gone bust after developing a transit app
MyTTC scrapped data and then used a small crowd to source holes
DIYCity - crowd source observed schedule times
Another value for giving out data is accessibility, making data available with disabilities
Campaign in India to force ebook publishers based on disability
App idea: plan a bus route and tell you when to get off
Legislative activity may be required (avego has a lobbist)
Collaborate on open tools
Schedules for transit expire after each quarter: requires update
Issues needs greater visibility in Government
Trials and studies proving open transit data improves ridership