Re: [transit-developers] Re: New Public Transport Layer in Google Maps

[Aaron Antrim]

Compliments on the transit layer, Google team.  It's a great (and fast-loading) tool to see the complete transit network in context.  Useful for planning one's life (where to live, work, or travel), rather than just an individual trip (GT trip planner).

I noticed that not every agency in Google Transit is included in the transit layer, and that for some agencies which are included, only rail services are shown, not bus lines.

I am curious how these determinations have been made, because I'd like to be able to produce GTFS data that meet standards for inclusion in the transit layer.

Cheers,
Aaron

On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 6:14 AM, Jehiah Czebotar <jeh...@gmail.com> wrote:

This layer in Google maps is generated from the gtfs data different
transit agencies are giving google. Google has chosen not to generate
it for all the gtfs data they have received at the moment because of
data quality issues or because it's just new, but i'm sure they are
working on expanding that coverage. [disclaimer: i don't work for
google so this is just my unerstanding]

Google generally only accepts data directly from transit agencies, or
from 3rd parties working on behalf of the agencies. They prefer not to
accept so called 'unofficial' datasets like quite a few that i
generate (and for good reason).

If you do work with a transit agency you can start that process here:
http://maps.google.com/help/maps/transit/partners/participate.html

--
Jehiah

On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 4:03 AM, xayide <leir...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello!
>
> I have just read that Google Transit has added a new layer to it's
> maps. You can select "public transport" and all the public transport
> lines are drawn in the map.
>
> I would like to now how is this layer added. I mean, if i upload my
> public transport data in GTFS format, this layer is generated
> automatically? or i need to develop it? if i need to develop it, how
> should i do that?
>
> thanks in advance!

[Jessica]

We would like to include as many agencies' data in the layer as
possible. For the initial launch, we picked 50 cities whose data is
works with Google's system the best and has high quality. We plan to
release more cities soon.

In order to be included in Transit layer, the agency will need to
provide a high quality shape.txt (http://code.google.com/transit/spec/
transit_feed_specification.html#shapes_txt___Field_Definitions) file.
Additional guidelines will be released in the near future. Stay
tuned.

Jess