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Center for Urban Transportation Research | University of South Florida
Mobile Transit AppsSean J. Barbeau, Ph.D.
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Overview
• Open Transit Data – Powering Mobile Apps
• Promoting App Development
• What’s Next? The Future of Transit Apps
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OPEN TRANSIT DATAPowering mobile transit apps since 2005
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What is open data?
• Data that is shared with the public– Typically shared via web/FTP site
– Should be updated regularly, with any changes in schedule/routes
– Can be under a particular license
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Why is open data important?
• Allows public to contribute services that are cost/time‐prohibitive for the public sector– Ex. many mobile platforms
• Vendors are unpredictable– Some agencies have shared data only with Google
– When Apple dropped Google Maps, iPhone users lost transit directions
– Apple is relying on 3rd party apps to fill the gap – only possible if open data is available
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General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS)
• Created by TriMet and Google in 2005 • Has become a de facto standard for static transit schedule/route/stop data
GTFS data consists of multiple text files GTFS data powers Google Transit and other apps
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General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS)• Over 500 agencies worldwide have transit data in GTFS format[1]– 49 of top 50 largest U.S. transit agencies share GTFS data, over 227 total
– At least 20 Canadian agencies share open data• Most agencies created GTFS data for Google Transit
– But, GTFS is open‐data format used by mobile apps, OpenTripPlanner, OneBusAway, etc.
• See “GTFS Data Exchange” for list of agencies with GTFS data– http://www.gtfs‐data‐exchange.com/– Or, ask your local agency
[1] City‐Go‐Round, http://www.citygoround.org/, Dec. 4, 2012
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Creating & Disseminating GTFS data1. Understand the GTFS format, and determine how your data will fit
into this format.2. Determine if you will create and maintain the GTFS data in‐house,
or whether you will depend on external organizations for this service.
– Major transit software packages, other tools, can prepare GTFS– Estimated cost for putting data in GTFS format using consultant is
$200‐500 per route– Coordinate with other regional stakeholders, if possible
3. Create a “Terms of Use” license – see other agency examples[1‐5]4. Maximize exposure of GTFS data
– Share via agency website, GTFS‐Data‐Exchange, regional sites5. Share a list of third‐party transit application using GTFS data with
the general public
[1] TriMet (Portland, OR) ‐ http://developer.trimet.org/terms_of_use.shtml [2] BART (SF Bay Area) ‐ http://www.bart.gov/dev/schedules/license.htm[3] Corona, CA ‐ http://www.discovercorona.com/City‐Departments/Public‐Works/Transportation/GTFS.aspx[4] PSTA (Clearwater, FL) ‐ http://www.psta.net/developers/License%20Agreement%20for%20App%20Devs.pdf[5] HART (Tampa, FL) ‐ http://www.gohart.org/developers/terms_of_use.html
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PROMOTING APP DEVELOPMENT
Being Developer‐friendly
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Create a relationship with developers
• Open your GTFS data, and share on GTFS‐Data‐Exchange!– GTFS data should not be
password or login protected• Create a “Developer page” with
access to resources (e.g., GTFS license, data)
• Create developer email list/group for announcements/Q&A/collaboration
• Announce resources on “Transit Developers” group[1]
HART Developer page ‐http://www.gohart.org/developers/
[1] Transit Developers group, https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/transit‐developers, Dec. 4th, 2012
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Be Developer-Friendly!
• Consider publishing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for real‐time AVL data
• Try to adhere to GTFS naming conventions/concepts throughout
• Make sure IDs match among datasets– E.g., tripID in real‐time data matches GTFS tripID
• Try to use developer/mobile‐friendly standards– For transit data – GTFS, GTFS‐realtime, SIRI (see MTA NY BusTime API[1])
– For mobile APIs – RESTful web services and JSON encoding preferred (not SOAP and XML)
[1] MTA BusTime API, http://bustime.mta.info/wiki/Developers/SIRIIntro, Dec. 4th, 2012
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Get the word out!
• After developers have created mobile apps, you want riders to know about them
• Consider an “App Center”[1‐9] to showcase apps [1] TriMet "TriMet App Center." http://trimet.org/apps/
[2] BART "Third Party Apps." http://www.bart.gov/schedules/appcenter/[3] MTA "App Center." http://www.mta.info/apps/[4] CTA "App Center." http://www.transitchicago.com/apps/[5] GoTriangle. "App Center." http://www.gotriangle.org/developers/transit_apps[6] HART "App Center." http://www.gohart.org/developers/appcenter.html[7] MBTA "App Center." http://www.mbta.com/rider_tools/apps/[8] KCATA "App Center." http://www.kcata.org/maps_schedules/app_center/[9] UTA"App Center." http://developer.rideuta.com/DeveloperApps.aspx
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WHAT’S NEXT?The future of mobile transit apps
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Open-source software
• In the past, expensive and proprietary solutions customized for particular agencies have dominated transit software
• Open‐source solutions based on GTFS data provide opportunity for shared investment into a core set of transit information services that anyone can use
• Today, many exciting developments in the world of open‐source customer‐facing transit software– OpenTripPlanner – Multimodal trip planner, with API– OneBusAway – Real‐time transit info, with API
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• Open‐source software –http://opentripplanner.org
• Development spearheaded by TriMet in Portland, with OpenPlans (2009‐present)
• Available for anyone to download, install, modify– (and, with approval,
contribute back)• Non‐profit OpenPlans can
provide installation, customization, maintenance support– http://opentripplanner.com
OpenTripPlanner DeploymentsIn Production:• Portland, OR, USA (TriMet)• Valencia, Spain• Poznan, Poland• Lublin, PolandTech Demo:• New York City• Tampa, FL• Chattanooga, TN• The Netherlands• Ottawa, CA• Pune, India• Spain• Bilboa, Granada, Gipuzkoa ‐ Spain• Dublin, Ireland• Budapest, Hungary• Hamakor, Tel Aviv ‐ Israel• Athens, Greece• South Africa• London, UK• Canberra, Austrailia• Singapore
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OpenTripPlanner – Website
• USF’s OTP Demo for Tampa, Fl ‐ http://opentripplanner.usf.edu– Truly multimodal. Example above is: Bike‐>Bus‐>Bike‐>Bus‐>Bike– Can transfer between HART regional transit and USF Bull Runner campus shuttle
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OpenTripPlanner – Mobile Apps
• OpenPlans working on iPhone OTP app– Will fill transit trip planning gap on iOS6
– Funded via Kickstarter
• CUTR @ USF has created Android tech demo OTP app– Source code on Github– App on Google Play
OpenPlans ‐ OTP for iPhone
CUTR @ USF ‐ OTP for Android
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OneBusAway
• Open‐source real‐time transit information system, originating from University of Washington in Puget Sound– Includes mobile web, Android, iPhone,
and Windows Phone 7 apps– Uses GTFS and GTFS‐realtime– Requires AVL solution to actually track
buses• MTA deployed Bus Time system in NY
– Based on OneBusAway software– OpenPlans and Cambridge Systematics
as vendors – Added Service Interface for Real‐time
Information (SIRI)‐based interface for mobile apps
• CUTR @ USF deployment for Tampa, FL in progress
OneBusAway DeploymentsIn Production:• Puget Sound Region, WA• New York City, NY (Web, SMS, API, No
“official” Mobile Apps)• Detroit, MI (SMS, API only)• Tampa, FL (2013 – Web, Mobile Apps)Tech Demo:• New Zealand• Atlanta, GA
http://onebusaway.org
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OneBusAway - Websites
Desktop browser
Smartphone browserText‐only browser
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OneBusAway – Mobile Apps
Android Windows PhoneiPhone
Support user location, route, stop contextual/personalized informationAll OPEN‐SOURCE!
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Conclusions
• Open data (GTFS) makes transit apps possible• Being developer‐friendly encourages mobile app development
• Open‐source software projects have potential for broad, shared transit information system deployments at low costs– OpenTripPlanner– OneBusAway
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Questions?
Sean J. Barbeau, [email protected]
Principal Mobile Software Architect for R&DCenter for Urban Transportation ResearchUniversity of South Florida
For more info and references, see paper co‐authored by Sean Barbeau and Aaron Antrim – “The Many Uses of GTFS Data” ‐ http://goo.gl/asR96