Alan Bell has used machine learning to develop a program that analyses data from traffic cameras to identify blocked bus and bike lanes. He analysed a section of St. Nicholas Avenue in Manhattan and found that the bike lane was blocked 55% of the time and the bus stop was blocked 57% of the time […]
The Transit Alliance Miami has created a simple graphic display illustrating the time between Miami Metrorail trains (frequency) at the Government Center station. They have taken Metrorail data and displayed it in an easy to understand format. It is an excellent example of how city residents can use open data to analyse and publicise the […]
Over the holidays I had a chance to update crowdsourced-transport.com with new information. Here are the highlights: Crowdsourced Public Transport page – added: WikiRoutes – site where users can add information about public transport routes and suggest improvements (PT Mapping). Digital Matatus – an application for using smartphones to map public transport routes (PT Mapping). […]
The Transit App can now collect tracking data from users to help them predict real time arrival information. This is an excellent tool especially in cities where there is no current real time data available. It’s also quite helpful because it can be more accurate than vehicle GPS signals since these signals may only be sent […]
Getting Smart on Data: Challenges and Opportunities for Transport Authorities from Emerging Data Sources was produced by the Urban Transport Group and presents results of an emerging data catapult meeting held in May 2016. The report presents very helpful and interesting information.
The Boston area public transport operator MBTA held a competition during the summer to select an “endorsed” user application. The agency decided that having a single, full service app can provide a tremendous improvement in customer experience. The MBTA evaluated four apps: Transit App, Moovit, Swiftly and Moovel. In September 2016 the MBTA chose Transit App […]
Transitland is a cool new project from the open-source map developers and transit experts at Mapzen. It describes itself as: “A community-edited data service aggregating transit networks across metropolitan and rural areas around the world” in other words a one-stop-shop for anyone interested in public transport data. It’s a repository of data feeds from public […]
MIT’s Mobility Futures Collaborative and Media Lab’s Changing Places have been developing tools to enable more meaningful citizen engagement in the transportation planning process. The project is supported by the Barr Foundation and makes use of open data. Like this website, the project is designed to help address the difficulties people have in understanding transport […]
TriMet, Portland Oregon’s regional public transport operator, developed a mobile phone game to celebrate the opening of the MAX light rail system Orange Line. The game is called Orange Marks the Spot and was a community scavenger hunt that encourages users to explore the areas and businesses along the Orange Line while receiving special deals and […]
UPDATE – October 2016 – Mini Metro is available on smart phones and tablets … Transit Maps Mini Metro game review from Cameron Booth’s indispensable Transit Maps blog. The Dinosaur Polo Club, game developers from New Zealand, have developed the Mini Metro transport game. According to their website, “Mini Metro is a minimalist subway simulation game about designing […]