exploring uk bus and train data with transportapi

Exploring UK bus and train data with...

transportapi.com

developer.transportapi.com

Origins

● Maps and geodata● OpenStreetMap● Geo-academics● Open Data

Open Data Mapping Experiments

Transport!

Info screensWeb appsMobile apps Demand for data

● Bite-sized chunks● Nicely formatted● Taming complexity

Ruby on Rails

● RESTful URLs● Model/View/Controller● ActiveRecord

...an API for transport?

From

To

Go!

A

B

“journey planning”

Buses, Trains, Tube

Timetable and Live

Matrix

Bus

Train

Tube

Timetable Live

Reference data

● Stops● Routes● Latitude, Longitude● Codes / IDs● Names (human)

Matrix

Bus

Train

Tube

Timetable Live

Another column

Reference Data

History

● Live data changes recorded over time● Another column?

Matrix

Bus

Train

Tube

Timetable LiveReference

Data

But not just history of live...

History

Matrix

Bus

Train

Tube

Timetable LiveReference

Data

Journey Planning?

● Another column? Not really● Drawing together data from different modes

Matrix

Bus

Train

Tube

Timetable LiveReference

Data

Journey Planning

Matrix

Bus

Train

Tube

Timetable LiveReference

Data

Journey Planning

✓Train

✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓

✓ ✓ ✓✓

✓

✓✓

Open Data Availability?

Bus

Train

Tube

Timetable LiveReference

Data

Journey Planning

Tube

Tube lines

transportapi.com/v3/uk/tube/lines.json

Stations on the Circle line

transportapi.com/v3/uk/tube/circle.json

.html

transportapi.com/v3/uk/tube/lines.html

Tube live departures

“HTML API”

● Ruby on rails encourages● Stripped down HTML● “HTML API”

HTML navigation

● <a href='xxx'> links● Navigation menus

● Fixed website structure● Not flexible building blocks

Tube performanceplatform indicators

Tube performance24 hour clock diagrams

API key & App ID

developer.transportapi.com sign up

3scale hit tracking

tube-radar.com

Bus

near.json & bbox

transportapi.com/v3/uk/bus/stops/near

live bus at a stop

transportapi.com/v3/uk/bus/stop/490005646E/live

timetables● timetabled departures● matching the format of live

route line display

Grid Timetables

operators

Many operators

Operator codes inconsistent

1500 different bus operators

Bus data behind the scenes

Operators → Councils → Traveline regions → TNDS

TransXchange

TransXchange

TransXchange

Live bus feeds

● TfL for London● Patchy elsewhere from Traveline● Mismatched operators● Fallback to timetable

tapi.mobi

Trains

ATOC

National RailNetwork Rail

Department For Transport

TOCs

ORR

Passenger Focus

£5bn tax / year

Train Organisations (and politics)

Layers of train data● Schedules

● VSTP

● Train movements feed

● Activation messages

Live train departurestransportapi.com/v3/uk/train/station/CLJ/live

train-radar.com

Journey planning

Traveline / TfL “MDV”● XML → Restful JSON● Geocoding – alternative

matches. StopIDs

TfL and Traveline "MDV"

● XML → Restful JSON● Geocoding – alternative matches. StopIDs

transportapi.com/v3/uk/public/journey/from/postcode:EC2A+4JE/to/lonlat:-0.13155,51.52798.json

journeymapper.org

car and cycle routing

cyclestreets.net

OSRM car routes

roadworks.orgtdf.roadworks.org

widgets

'UK TravelOptions' iOS app

'Tree Routes' iOS app

Taxi Booking iOS app

transportbuzz.com

Heathrow Airport info screens

IKEA info screens

TransportAPI “instance”

● Branding “white labeling” of TransportAPI● Cloud Servers – Chef deployed● Flexible traffic handling/restrictions

new unified web interfacehandlebars, grunt, and bower

transportapi.js

Thank you

harry.wood transportapi.com

API

OpenStreetMap

Planet downloads

NominatimXAPI

Editors

Contributors

Extracts & conversions

Tile servers

API