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Open Debate Simplify Data Traffic

With the advent of technologies such as Google ™ Maps, Web, mobile phones and vehicle tracking it is now possible to provide passengers with up to date information and schedules of real-time bus departure from virtually anywhere. However, for provide these services, organizations must take their time and input and make accessible to the public.

This is where the difficulties and controversies they arise. Most agencies do not have the resources or the ability to create these applications themselves. To avoid this problem, some agencies have opted to publish their data for the general public. Release time and output time data means that information is freely available and accessible for use by anyone. The raw data can be used by developers interested in the maps, mobile applications, and more [1].

As more agencies presented their data, began a lively debate among leaders of public transport, public and community developers. The central argument of the publication of data traffic is because it is perceived by the public, taxpayer-funded agencies, which must be open to all citizens. Meter This is the institutions that can fight be able to earn a welcome developers who wish to pay to access the data. Supporters of public transport and the developers are against it with the conviction that open data allows developers to create applications that make transport systems more user friendly, encouraging more people to ride in transit.

What are the data used for?

Release of data traffic can give passengers access to planning travel advanced technologies such as:

1. This planning tool combines data from public transport planning and technology Google map. Passengers can visit http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/transit/ MDY # and enter your starting point and final destination. Passengers are provided step by step to your destination using public transport. Obtain data on Google Transit ™ is easy and free. To learn how to participate, visit http://maps.google.com/help/maps/transit/partners/
2. Applications Developer Independent Developers use the calendar and the start of real time data to create mobile applications that passengers can access the web or your mobile phone. Applications can provide useful information such as the closest stops the location of a user, the shortest path to a destination, and when the next bus or train. Experience Rider is better without spending agencies time and money to develop these applications.  
3. In store displays output: Use of starting the agency open source database, shops, restaurants and other public places may have monitors that update the database information in real time to the transit area of Options. This encourages more people to use public transport and may also stimulate economic growth as people can buy a coffee or waiting for a bus without fear of missing the bus or train.

The release of data is beneficial?

Free planning data can provide a body with many benefits including:

• Free Mobile Application Development: The free access to transit data allows developers to create mobile applications useful for riders of the agency, without having to invest time or money towards development. Chris Dempsey, deputy secretary of transportation for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, said: "With budgets transport to minimize the country, we see the open data transport as a major opportunity for cost savings. Allowing developers to build software applications using our data is a great victory for our drivers, all essentially no cost to the agency. [2] "

• Increase traffic: mobile applications, such as routing between multiple travel agents, facilitate transit use for new riders to encourage more people to use public transport. "One of the things we're excited about the potential increase in attendance on the bus, and get people excited about the bus "Said Dempsey." These applications give people greater confidence that the buses are unreliable. "[3]

• Improve service Customer: information for planning bike on hand which allows them to use public transport as efficiently as possible. Moreover, where passengers can access real-time bus arrival information, do not waste time waiting for a bus late. This creates more satisfied customers and fewer customer service calls to the shipping address.

• Saves time for the agencies: the time spent doing to meet many requests for data can be recorded as anyone can access data from a central network. Tim McHugh as Chief Technology Officer of TriMet said: "One of the pressures that we as an IT department in a transit agency is that we are small and we can not provide solutions for people to ask. It is difficult to keep pace with technological changes. Making the data available are certain of something we are most familiar, we devote our energies on what it does well trained for the public to consume, and then turn around so they can develop the tools themselves. It's like having an army of programmers who have. "[4]

• More Apps clear: developers can create applications for an organization if the data is released or not, but the accuracy of these applications based on data availability. Scrape the transit points of data is a daunting task, which means that developers can not upgrade your data regularly. This leads to erroneous applications that can actually hinder customer service and a negative image of the institution. Open data access means that developers have always maintained, specific timetables and schedules output to ensure that applications are correct and useful.

• Positive image of the Agency: the agencies working with developers to offer more services to our customers pay as an attempt to make their experience more comfortable transit corridors. This reflects positively to public opinion and encourages more people to use transport.

The only drawback some agencies are providing information to the public is the elimination earning potential sales data for developers. However, because the data are generated by agencies funded by the taxpayer, the general consensus is that the Organizations should not use this data. Organizations that keep your data locked in the hope of selling it, like New York MTA, which recently published their data, have experienced a great game, both for the developer community and transit passengers.

Which published its data?

Today 102 of the 767 transit agencies in the United States have published their data on public opinion [5]. Widely recognized as the leader of this movement, TriMet Portland, Oregon, has offered its traffic data to Google and the public since 2005. From research to Mapquest, Yahoo! and Google, TriMet has been instrumental in creating Travel Planner Google Transit in conjunction with Google Developer Chris Harrelson [6].  

Since then, developers have created over 25 applications using TriMet data to make it easier to mount the transit of passengers. The applications provide a wealth of information, including public transport routes, arrival information, and even warnings nap passengers as close to their destinations. [7]

According Tim McHugh, Chief Technology Officer of TriMet, there was a variety of reasons TriMet decided to publish their data: "We want to give all the information we know to be useful and put it there for others to understand the law uses … We have received requests from clients of the data in specific formats or specific devices and what actually wanted to do was walk around the audience, saying, "Well, well, there are many good programmers out there. Here are the tools you need to do. And they come with lots of creative ways to use the data and make it more useful for TriMet riders who have never had the resources to find. [8]

In the twelve months as the debate has intensified the data, a handful of other large transit agencies have published data, including the MBTA in Massachusetts, CTA, Chicago, SEPTA in Philadelphia, SFMTA, San Francisco, and MTA New York [9].

How to communicate this information

Provide public access Free the data can be simple for any organization. Follow these steps to be short on the road to improving customer service and number of users increases.

1. Export data to the RSS specification Transit General (GTF): Http: / / maps.google.com / help / maps / transit / partners / participate.html Visit and follow the process of publishing data to the GTF. GTF is widely accepted format data in transit. Other formats, including transit communications interface profiles (bottom Turkey) and TransXChange ATCO-CIF, also exist but are not widely used in North America [10]. Publication of data in the GTF will be integrated with Google Transit ™. At present, due to the volume of requests for the agencies, recommended that agencies of signs that are included in Google Transit partner list expected [11].
2. Provide a URL where a food may be downloaded, or create a page developer on a site of agency, as http://developer.trimet.org/, or provide a URL to a third party who is authorized to organize food, such as data exchange GTF (http://www.gtfs-data-exchange.com/ ).
3. Create a licensing agreement or the Terms of Use: A license agreement or terms of use, describe how data can be used by developers. An example can be seen here: http://developer.trimet.org/terms_of_use.shtml.
4. Keep Aware developers Program changes: A simple RSS feeds can alert developers when changes were made to the Planning Agency data so they can update their applications and ensure that they are accurate.

Conclusion

Organizations that the release of their data to the developer community to improve service customer, except time and money, increase traffic and generate a positive image. With open access to data, developers can create applications that make the reasons traffic driving easier for customers without the need for agencies to spend time and money in development. Open, transparent Data is the future of the industry transport. Organizations that provide such data can easily provide customers with practical applications for their transit experience more satisfying and encourage people to use public transport.

[1] "to help make New York better." http://nytransitdata.org. January 7 2010

[2] "A new Web site invites transit agencies to decrypt the information to the public 18. December 2009. Http://syslab.com/blog/2009/12/18/new-website-prompts-transit- agencies-to-open-data-to-the-public. Retrieved on January 7, 2010

[3] "The case of the MTA open data: transparency, savings, and easier to assemble." 23 September 2009. Http: / / www.streetsblog.org/2009/09/23/the-case-for-open-mta-data-transparency-savings-and-easier-riding/. Accessed: 7 January 2010.

[4] code open data open and allow transit innovation. "September 11, 2008. Http: / / www.trilliumtransit.com/blog/2008/09/11/trimet-innovations-in-transit-data publication /. Accessed: 7 January 2010.

[5] "all transit agencies with Open Data." January 18, 2009. Http: / / www.citygoround.org/agencies/?public=public. Accessed: January 18, 2010

[6] "How Google and Portland TriMet establish the open standard data traffic." January 11, 2010. Http: / / Syslab.com/blog/2010/01/11/how-google-and-portland2019s-trimet-set- standard-for-open-data-traffic. Accessed: 18 January 2010.

[7] "TriMet Application Center. "Http: / / trimet.org / apps /. Access: 7 January 2010.

[8] VII. "Open source data and permit the passage open innovation. "11Sept 2008. Http: / / www.trilliumtransit.com/blog/2008/09/11/trimet-innovations-in-transit-data-publishing/. Accessed: 7 January 2010.

[9] "all transit agencies with Open Data." January 18, 2009. Http: / / www.citygoround.org/agencies/?public=public. Accessed: 18 January 2010

[10] "Standard calendar formats. Http: / / opentransitdata.org / wiki / index.php? Title = Standard_Schedule_Formats. Accessed: January 7, 2010.

[11] "Add your transit data to Google Maps. Http: / / / maps.google.com / help / maps / transit / partners / participate.html. Accessed: 18 January 2010.

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