[News Article] :Third parties are not delivering real-time data but a forecast ..."

[Bain]

http://www.cfra.com/?cat=1&nid=77992

Only OC Transpo Can Accurately Provide Bus Info: City

Josh Pringle
Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The City of Ottawa insists data on real-time bus arrival being used on
an App could have created "false expectations and negative results."

In response to an inquiry from Councillor Marianne Wilkinson, staff
say there are several issues related to the open data model, such as
enabling third parties to deliver OC Transpo real-time bus arrival
information.

Wilkinson filed the inquiry after OC Transpo cut off access to its GPS
data to a developer who designed an application for real-time bus
location information through the open data contest.

Manager of Policy Coordination and Outreach Steve Box says the third
parties are not delivering real-time data but a forecast based on the
data they have, which may not be consistent with actual operations.
Box adds "consistency can only be assured if OC Transpo controls the
information relayed" on each of the platforms.

OC Transpo is working on a real-time arrival project that will fully
integrate into the new technology platform as part of the Next Stop
Announcement System, which will be in operation by the end of the
year.

[swf...@gmail.com]

This is very frustrating.

I am still waiting to hear back from my councillor, but I suspect he was fed the same story.

Read on for my comments on this piece:

On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 12:38 AM, Bain <john...@gmail.com> wrote:

http://www.cfra.com/?cat=1&nid=77992

Only OC Transpo Can Accurately Provide Bus Info: City

Josh Pringle
Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The City of Ottawa insists data on real-time bus arrival being used on
an App could have created "false expectations and negative results."

Well yes, it "could have",  but the question is whether on balance the apps would have been a good thing.   Knowing your bus is actually running is surely a big plus even if the position data is a bit off.

 

In response to an inquiry from Councillor Marianne Wilkinson, staff
say there are several issues related to the open data model, such as
enabling third parties to deliver OC Transpo real-time bus arrival
information.

Wilkinson filed the inquiry after OC Transpo cut off access to its GPS
data to a developer who designed an application for real-time bus
location information through the open data contest.

Manager of Policy Coordination and Outreach Steve Box says the third
parties are not delivering real-time data but a forecast based on the
data they have,

Nearly true, but actually the forecasts of arrival times at stops were actually coming from OCTranspo.    With the addition of a timestamp for the time of GPS readings apps would have had the information they needed.

 

which may not be consistent with actual operation

If a bus reports it is at a particular lat/lon at a particular time I think we can assume that is where it is. 

 

Box adds "consistency can only be assured if OC Transpo controls the
information relayed" on each of the platforms.

Whilst it is true that you cannot ensure all apps use the data in a consistent way unless you control those apps, there are other ways to improve consistency.   A well documented and powerful API will go a long way to consistent use of the data.

Oh, and consistency isn't the only criteria to worry about.   All apps could be totally consistent, but always wrong.   

 

OC Transpo is working on a real-time arrival project that will fully
integrate into the new technology platform as part of the Next Stop
Announcement System, which will be in operation by the end of the
year.

Meanwhile, commuters have to freeze their asses off waiting for buses that may or may not be running. 

John 

[Darren Kipp]

Another article:

http://glenmcgregor.tumblr.com/post/3109175779/no-oc-transpo-api-for-you

:-(

[Aaron McGowan]

Hi Everyone,

Sorry that I have not said too much, or anything at all, yet within this mailing list.

That being said, I am very sorry to hear that transit data and API has been taken offline and cannot be accessed.

If there is anything I can do and or help with in this matter, please let me know.

Aaron McGowan

WWW:  www.amcgowan.ca

Email:   m...@amcgowan.ca

Phone: 519-860-4557

Skype:  amcgowanca

[Dave Schindler]

Another article today in the Metro:
http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/local/article/772990--cash-too-good-to-pass-app.

Front page to boot!

On Feb 9, 3:40 pm, Aaron McGowan <amcgowa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Sorry that I have not said too much, or anything at all, yet within this mailing list.
>
> That being said, I am very sorry to hear that transit data and API has been taken offline and cannot be accessed.
>
> If there is anything I can do and or help with in this matter, please let me know.
>
> Aaron McGowan
>
> WWW:  www.amcgowan.ca
> Email:   m...@amcgowan.ca
> Phone: 519-860-4557
> Skype:  amcgowanca
>
> On 2011-02-09, at 3:21 PM, Darren Kipp wrote:
>
> > Another article:
>
> >http://glenmcgregor.tumblr.com/post/3109175779/no-oc-transpo-api-for-you
>
> > :-(
>
> > On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 8:18 AM, swf...@gmail.com <swf...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > This is very frustrating.
>
> > I am still waiting to hear back from my councillor, but I suspect he was fed the same story.
>
> > Read on for my comments on this piece:
>