massdot developers presentation - december 2009

MASSDOT DEVELOPERSChris Dempsey and Joshua Robin

Massachusetts Department of Transportation

Follow MassDOT Developers on at @massdotdevAnd at the conference website: www.massdotdevelopersconference09.com

SIX MONTHS AGO: MassDOT and its customers want mobile + web applications with info about transit and roads.

MassDOT builds its own app:•Long procurement•Only one application and one audience served•Limited agility to improve the app long term.

Developers try to build their own:•Beg MassDOT for data•Scrape data yourself•Jump through hoops to get data in digital formats•Worry that even when you release a successful application, MassDOT would object


NEW MODEL: OPEN DATA•“Open”

MassDOT data by making it available in standard

formats•RSS, XML, GTFS, etc.•Easy: All data released with the initial Developer Page launch was already available in standard formats and required no work to be

“public

ready”•Harness the power of developers to build interesting and useful applications with our data

•Creates value for both MassDOT AND developers•Better serve customers across many platforms


3rd

Parties distribute this information on TV, Radio, and Websites.

Third parties add value to our data by watching traffic cameras,

flying helicopters, and have members of the public giving real-time reports.

OLD MODELMassDOT and other agencies distribute information

about planned road closures or highway events.

Our customers access this data through their TVs, Car Radios, and over the internet.

3rd Parties distribute through applications on mobile devices and the web.

Third parties add value by presenting service information in a way that is simple and easy for the public to understand.

NEW MODEL: NOT THAT NEW…MassDOT, the MBTA, and other agencies distribute service information and

advisories through the developers page and feeds.

Our customers access service information through the web of mobile devices.

MASSDOT DEVELOPERS PAGE BETAJuly 2009, MassDOT launches the MassDOT Developers as a resource to developers interested in working with transportation

data!http://www.mass.gov/eot/developers


http://www.mass.gov/eot/developers

• RTAs– GTFS Files– Real-time tracking

• MassDOT Highways– Highway construction events xml feed.

•Feed of planned road closures and other events.

• Registry of Motor Vehicles– Branch wait-time XML feed

WHAT DATA IS AVAILABLE?


• MBTA– T-Alerts RSS Feed

•Service advisories and updates– GTFS Files

•Files with route and scheduling information– KML Files

•Station Locations and Routes–NextBus

•Real Time Pilot XML Feed

WHAT DATA IS AVAILABLE?


•Easy place to start:

Our agencies were already exporting data into GTFS for Google Transit

•GTFS is a rapidly-developing international standard for trip-planning (more than 400 transit systems use it on six continents).

•Transit app developer expect it and will use it!•There is already a large market of apps that use

GTFS data.

WHY GTFS IS IMPORTANT


A NEW APPROACH: DEVELOPER OUTREACHIn addition to opening data, MassDOT Developers efforts strive to engage the developer community in a new and different way:

•Monthly meeting with developers•A focus on allowing developers to shape the direction this effort takes beginning with a set of relationship principles•An open conversation through the MassDOT Developers Google Group•Use of Twitter for updates @MassDOTdev•Developers Conference


http://groups.google.com/group/massdotdevelopers


http://twitter.com/MassDOTdev

MASSDOT DEVELOPERS MEETINGSThe MassDOT Developers hold regular developer meetings to:

•Answer developer questions and address developer concerns.•Let developers know about new data sets.•Get to know the developer community

•So they trust us•So we know what they are up to

•Socialize and network•MassDOT Developers Holiday Party


•Respect Resources•Succeed Together•Expect Change•Communication is key•Open, open, open•LegalSee the full document at: http://www.mass.gov/eot/developers

DEVELOPER RELATIONSHIP PRINCIPLES


•MassDOT launched a Google Group as a forum for Developers:–

Gives MassDOT an open forum for announcements and to answer questions and concerns.

–

Allows developers to answer each others questions.–

A forum for collaboration.

MASSDOT DEVELOPERS GOOGLE GROUP


A NEW APPROACH

“This approach is a smart 21st-century alternative to hiring some consultant who develops inelegant software at exorbitant

costs.”Boston Globe Editorial, Saturday, September 5, 2009


• The MassDOT Developer Challenge called on developers to create both applications and data visualizations–

Applications for mobile, web, and other formats.

–

Visualizations using EOT Developers data to tell the story of the MBTA.

• The top submission in each category received a CharlieCard

good for 1 year of rides on the MBTA and

recognition at the Developers Conference

MASSDOT DEVELOPERS CHALLNEGE


DEVELOPER CHALLENGE RESULTS

•6 innovative applications with at least 2 more in development•8 creative visualizations that tell the story of the MBTA.


MASSDOT DEVELOPERS: APPLICATIONS


MASSDOT DEVELOPERS: VISUALIZATION

MASSDOT DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE•200+ Attended the MassDOT Developers Conference on November 14 at MIT.•Opportunity for developers to meet other developers, transportation officials, and other interested parties


www.massdotdevelopersconference09.com


POSITIVE COVERAGE

Finishing up a project at work. Grabbing coffee. Charging a cell phone. Staying warm for a few extra minutes at home.

These are some things MBTA bus passengers may often forgo to make sure they don't miss their buses. But

those inconveniences could soon become a thing of the past thanks to a new T initiative that makes public real-

time bus data.

-BOSTON METRO –

November 16, 2009


POSITIVE COVERAGE

“The best of the brightest of techies—in sneakers and with laptops, instead of suits and legal pads—turned out for a

conference on how MassDOT and technology developers

could work together to provide cutting-edge services to

taxpayers (hello, iPhone

apps)

at virtually no cost.”-

WEEKLY DIG –

November 18, 2009


LONG TERM GOAL: REAL TIME• MassDOT’s

long-term goal is to release and

support a system-wide real-time data feed.•MassDOT Real-Time XML Feed Pilot

underway for 5 bus routes.– Provided by NextBus, inc.

• These applications have the potential to change the way people use transit.


MBTA REAL TIME XML TRIAL

REAL TIME BUS FEED AVAILABLE FOR ROUTES: 39, 111, 114, 116, 117

DATA AVAILABLE AT:

http://www.mass.gov/eot/developers/realtime/


REAL TIME: CURRENT MODEL

3


REAL TIME: IMPACT OF OPEN DATA

3: Open Real Time Data and see what happens…


IN ONE HOUR…A Google Earth Mashup

was created to show the locations of

buses:

IN ONE DAY…A Google maps Mashup

was created to show the locations

of buses:

IN ONE WEEK…A MAC desktop widget was built displaying MBTA Bus countdown information:

IN TWO WEEKS…A simple web application was built displaying MBTA Bus countdown information:

IN ONE MONTH…An LED sign was build showing real-time bus countdown information:•This signs cost $300 to build and the inventor is looking to put

this sign in a Jamaica Plain business

IN FIVE WEEKS…An iPhone

application was built using real-time information.

•The app received positive coverage on NECN and a story in the Boston Herald.

EXAMPLE: PORTLAND, OR

EXAMPLE: CHICAGO, IL


EXAMPLE: CHICAGO, ILCommunity

Advertisement

EXAMPLE: CHICAGO, ILCommunity

Advertisement

Real-TimeBus Arrival

FOR $ 300 IN 24 HOURS


NEXT STEPS FOR MASSDOTDEV•Improve MBTA T-Alerts RSS Feed•Encourage use of Real-Time XML Trial Feed•Encourage diverse applications that serve a wide range of users.•Investigate opening up real-time information beyond Trial Feed.


CONTACT US•

Website: http://www.mass.gov/eot/developers

•

Twitter: @massdotdev•

Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/massdotdevelopers

•

Email: [email protected]


http://www.mass.gov/eot/developers

http://www.twitter.com/massdotdev


mailto:[email protected]

massdot developers presentation - december 2009

Technology