Introduction Bloomington’s Experiences with Google Transit {Please show your pass without being asked}

“Engage the Bloomington community through collaborative projects, programs and services.” City Government Community University

Google Transit A My Agency Google Transit Partner Program B

fare_attributes.txt fare_rules.txt frequencies.txt transfers.txt feed_info.txt agency_name agency_url agency_timezone … agency.txt shape_id shape_lat shape_lon sequence stop_id stop_name stop_lat stop_lon … stops.txt route_id route_short_name route_long_name route_type … routes.txt route_id service_id trip_id … trips.txt trip_id arrivial_time departure_time stop_id stop_sequence … stop_times.txt service_id monday tuesday wedesday … start_date end_date calendar.txt service_id date exception_type calendar_date.txt shapes.txt oogle ransit eed pecification GTFSGTFS

Google Documentation

Where is the data?

Word Files, Spreadsheets, PDFs This bus stops at all 548 stops!

Stop Order

trip_id,arrival_time,departure_time,stop_id,stop_seque nce,stop_headsign BT1N_1,6:30:00,6:30:00,668,1,BHS North BT1N_1,6:35:00,6:35:00,500,2,Downtown BT1N_1,,,501,3,Downtown BT1N_1,,,207,4,Downtown BT1N_1,,,503,5,Downtown BT1N_1,,,504,6,Downtown BT1N_1,,,647,7,Downtown BT1N_1,,,646,8,Downtown BT1N_1,,,505,9,Downtown BT1N_1,,,507,10,Downtown BT1N_1,,,206,11,Downtown BT1N_1,6:41:00,6:41:00,210,12,Downtown BT1N_1,,,211,13,Downtown BT1N_1,,,98,14,Downtown BT1N_1,,,213,15,Downtown BT1N_1,,,204,16,Downtown BT1N_1,6:46:00,6:46:00,214,17,Downtown BT1N_1,,,215,18,Downtown BT1N_1,,,216,19,Downtown BT1N_1,,,217,20,Downtown BT1N_1,,,218,21,Downtown BT1N_1,6:51:00,6:51:00,219,22,Downtown BT1N_1,,,200,23,Downtown BT1N_1,,,184,24,Downtown BT1N_1,,,185,25,Downtown BT1N_1,,,186,26,Downtown BT1N_1,,,187,27,Downtown BT1N_1,,,225,28,Downtown BT1N_1,,,188,29,Downtown BT1N_1,,,226,30,Downtown BT1N_1,,,227,31,Downtown BT1N_1,,,228,32,Downtown BT1N_1,,,229,33,Downtown BT1N_1,7:02:00,7:10:00,230,34,BHS North BT1N_1,,,489,35,BHS North BT1N_1,,,509,36,BHS North BT1N_1,,,194,37,BHS North BT1N_1,,,510,38,BHS North BT1N_1,,,112,39,BHS North BT1N_1,,,113,40,BHS North BT1N_1,,,114,41,BHS North BT1N_1,,,221,42,BHS North BT1N_1,7:15:00,7:15:00,201,43,BHS North BT1N_1,,,513,44,BHS North BT1N_1,,,514,45,BHS North BT1N_1,,,202,46,BHS North BT1N_1,,,203,47,BHS North BT1N_1,,,515,48,BHS North BT1N_1,,,516,49,BHS North BT1N_1,7:21:00,7:21:00,517,50,BHS North BT1N_1,,,674,51,BHS North BT1N_1,,,675,52,BHS North BT1N_1,7:26:00,7:26:00,205,53,BHS North BT1N_1,,,518,54,BHS North BT1N_1,,,519,55,BHS North BT1N_1,,,644,56,BHS North BT1N_1,,,521,57,BHS North BT1N_1,,,645,58,BHS North BT1N_1,,,522,59,BHS North BT1N_1,,,523,60,BHS North BT1N_1,,,524,61,BHS North BT1N_1,,,209,62,BHS North BT1N_1,,,666,63,BHS North BT1N_1,,,673,64,BHS North BT1N_1,,,667,65,BHS North BT1N_1,7:30:00,7:30:00,668,66,BHS North BT1N_1,7:35:00,7:35:00,500,67,Downtown stop_times.txt Published Schedule

Building the Shapes

Building the Feed

Building the Feed

Route Schedules All Trips Into Single Worksheet All Stop Times Into Single Worksheet

Individual Route Shapes All Route Shapes Into a Single Worksheet

Tools

Feed Testing Feed Validator

Feed Testing Feed Validator Schedule Viewer

Feed Testing Feed Validator Schedule Viewer KML Writer

Feed Testing Feed Validator Schedule Viewer KML Writer Random Queries

Launch Process Sign Up Preview Period Pre-launch Checklist Post Feed QA Process Resolve QA Issues Go Live!

Trip planning Organizing your data Standardizing the feed

Project Lessons

Are the right people part of your project?

Robust QC as close as possible to data collection.

Get your data organized!

Google Transit Partner Support googletransitdatafeed Help Is Out There

Demo

Laura Haley – Chuck Winkle –

( X ( Extra: Presentation Zen

Bloomington’s Experience with Google Transit - Summary Contact Information Laura Haley – GIS Manager – Chuck Winkle – GIS Specialist – City of Bloomington Information & Technology Services - Key Points Google Transit provides directions using Public Transportation on Google Maps. Google does not build it; Google gets data from Transit Agencies participating in the Google Transit Partners Program (GTPP). Agencies provide data based on Google Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) GTFS consists of 13 comma delimited text files. Not all elements of the specification are required. Google does a good job of providing documentation and examples. The basic element of the data model is a trip, which is “a sequence of two or more stops that occur at a specific time.” Most traditional routes will have multiple trips throughout the day, but all trips on the route may not be the same. Stops must be identified in sequence per trip.

Bloomington Transit did not have a definite list of stops. Most of our effort went to building stops and stop times files. Stop times are not required for all stops. Google will estimate times for those missing. But, more stop times will improve accuracy. There is a frequencies file that will greatly simplify your feed if you have buses that depart from the starting point at the same time each hour or a fixed number of minutes all day. Mapping related parts of building a GT Feed are stop latitude longitude coordinates (required) and route shapes (optional). Shapes help improve time estimates between stops and provide accurate display of route on Google Maps. You need a shape for each route trip. Shapes coordinates must be in order of travel direction along the trip. Transit agencies may have route management software or other software that have the data you need to build a feed. The GTPP has downloadable tools for extracting data from common transit management software into GTFS. If building your own data set, keep your data organized. In order to review your data you need to be able to view it in a meaningful way. Bloomington used a series of spreadsheets for each GTFS file and further broke down stop schedules and shapes by route. They also included other information such as service schedule, stop types and time point flags to help visualize relationships.

Google and the partner community provide a variety of tools to test and view data through the googletransitdatafeed project web site. There are also tools to manage data, extract feeds, publish schedules, and create shapes from GIS here. Whatever method you use to manage your data, be sure to document it. There can be times that you do not touch your data for a long time once you have a good feed. Include QA/QC throughout your feed building project. Don’t wait until the end to test. Bloomington has some complex schedules because of the university. It may have been better for us to build, validate, and review the feed one route at a time. There is a private preview mode available so that designated accounts can view and test your feed using Google Maps before it goes live to the public. Bloomington’s experience is that trip recommendations contain excessive walking. Including more stop times may improve this. Google Maps now has an option to base trips on least walking as an alternative to best trip which is solely based on time.

Bloomington Transit can now have a trip planning tool on their website and has a single source for their route and stop data. Public GTFS data can be used by third-party developers to build transit related apps including mobile apps. Consider posting your feed on a web server and see what happens. Make use of the Google Transit community to help you. GTPP includes several user forums that discuss issues and ideas. googletransitdatafeed and the GTFS Data Exchange contain lists of public feeds with links to their host agencies. Check out their websites on how they use GT for trip planning and GTFS for apps. Feed Testing & Reviewing Tools FeedValidaor ScheduleViewer & Schedulator KML Writer Random Query Generator * available from googletransitdatafeed (

References Google Transit Partners Program - Google Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) - googletransitdatafeed - Google Transit Data Exchange - XLS Tools for Google Transit - Extras Talking Tech: Presentation Zen For Everyone - Dave Bouwman and Bryan Noyle (DTS) (video) & (summary sheet) TED (Technology Entertainment Design “Ideas Worth Spreading”) - & TEDx (Independent Organized TED Events) -