Mobile Transit Apps. Sean J. Barbeau, Ph.D. Center for Urban Transportation Research University of South Florida

Transcription

1 Mobile Transit Apps Sean J. Barbeau, Ph.D. Center for Urban Transportation Research University of South Florida

2 Overview Open Transit Data Powering Mobile Apps Promoting App Development What s Next? The Future of Transit Apps 2

3 Powering mobile transit apps since 2005 OPEN TRANSIT DATA 3

4 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 4

5 Why is open data important? Allows public to contribute services that are cost/timeprohibitive 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 3 rd party apps to fill the gap only possible if open data is available 5

6 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 6

7 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 data exchange.com/ Or, ask your local agency [1] City Go Round, Dec. 4,

8 Creating & Disseminating GTFS data 1. 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 $ 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 sites 5. Share a list of third party transit application using GTFS data with the general public [1] TriMet (Portland, OR) [2] BART (SF Bay Area) [3] Corona, CA Departments/Public Works/Transportation/GTFS.aspx [4] PSTA (Clearwater, FL) [5] HART (Tampa, FL) 8

9 Being Developer friendly PROMOTING APP DEVELOPMENT 9

10 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 list/group for announcements/q&a/collabora tion Announce resources on Transit HART Developer page Developers group [1] [1] Transit Developers group, developers, Dec. 4 th,

11 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, Dec. 4 th,

12 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." [2] BART "Third Party Apps." [3] MTA "App Center." [4] CTA "App Center." [5] GoTriangle. "App Center." [6] HART "App Center." [7] MBTA "App Center." [8] KCATA "App Center." [9] UTA"App Center." 12

13 The future of mobile transit apps WHAT S NEXT? 13

14 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 14

15 Open source software 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 OpenTripPlanner Deployments In Production: Portland, OR, USA (TriMet) Valencia, Spain Poznan, Poland Lublin, Poland Tech 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 15

16 OpenTripPlanner Website USF s OTP Demo for Tampa, Fl Truly multimodal. Example above is: Bike >Bus >Bike >Bus >Bike Can transfer between HART regional transit and USF Bull Runner campus shuttle 16

17 OpenTripPlanner Mobile Apps OpenPlans working on iphone OTP app Will fill transit trip planning gap on ios6 Funded via Kickstarter USF has created Android tech demo OTP app Source code on Github App on Google Play OpenPlans OTP for iphone USF OTP for Android 17

18 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 USF deployment for Tampa, FL in progress OneBusAway Deployments In 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 18

19 OneBusAway - Websites Desktop browser Text only browser Smartphone browser 19

20 OneBusAway Mobile Apps Android iphone Windows Phone Support user location, route, stop contextual/personalized information All OPEN SOURCE! 20

21 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 21

22 Questions? Sean J. Barbeau, Ph.D Principal Mobile Software Architect for R&D Center for Urban Transportation Research University of South Florida For more info and references, see paper co authored by Sean Barbeau and Aaron Antrim The Many Uses of GTFS Data 22