The
API
Advantage
Utilizing Cloud Data Sources for
Transit Modeling
Presented By:
Catherine Theresa Lawson, PhD
Chair, Geography and Planning
SUNY at Albany
Alex Muro
Lead Programmer
SUNY at Albany
Intro
AVAIL (Albany Visualization And Informatics Lab)
Part of the Lewis Mumford Center
University at Albany, State University of New York.
Data science lab specializing in transportation, demographic and economic
data.
Emphasis on web based solutions & spatial visualizations.
Today’s topic is Geo GTFS – a geospatial GTFS API (Application Programming
Interface) created by AVAIL.
We are Open Source, Open Data & Open Government advocates.
Executive Order 13642
…to ensure that data are released to
the public in ways that make the data
easy to find, accessible, and usable.
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
Big Data
Noun
1. Data Sets that are challenging to process and analyze using
traditional data manipulation techniques due to their size or
complexity.
2. A popular buzzword that overstates the situational relevance of
tremendously complex or large data sets.
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
Often Heard – “We want to be using big data”
Rarely Asked – “Big data about what?”
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
What’s the big deal about big data?
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
What question are
you trying to answer?
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
Open Data
Free your data. Open Data can:
Encourage researchers and developers to use your data.
Improve data reliability through peer review.
Public participation means public empowerment.
Rapid, distributed development and advancement.
Open Data can be enhanced through the use of an API that allows
developers to create software capable of interfacing with your data.
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
The Lifecycle of Open Data
GTFS From 200+
Agencies
Open
GTFS Data
Repository
Standardization
Publication
Development
Deployment
Enhancement
Innovation
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
Using Open Data
A data repository publishes many sources of standardized data.
http://www.gtfs-data-exchange.com
Available API to download GTFS from their database. (thanks!)
Using their API a developer can;
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Build an application to download compressed GTFS data files.
Decompress files.
Load files into local database.
Process data into geospatial format.
Output data using mapping software.
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
Building a Geo GTFS API
Starting with an Open Data repository.
(i.e. Census API, GTFS Data Exchange)
We do the heavy lifting, once.
Download, decompress, and load GTFS into our database.
Process geospatial information.
Enables development of applications that can pick up where we leave off.
Creating the opportunity for the extension of Open Data to new uses.
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
Geo GTFS API
Accessible, with documentation at:
http://api.availabs.org/gtfs
Use our GTFS API to access Route and Stop geometry (GeoJSON,
TopoJSON).
Extends GTFS with analytic data (Route Headway, Stop Wait Time, etc.).
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
GTFS Analyst Tool
We are going to cross our fingers now, and go to the live website.
http://gtfs.availabs.org
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
GTFS Analyst Tool
http://gtfs.availabs.org
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS
LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
GTFS Analyst Tool
http://gtfs.availabs.org
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS
LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
GTFS Analyst Tool
http://gtfs.availabs.org
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS
LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
GTFS Analyst Tool
http://gtfs.availabs.org
ALBANY VISUALIZATION AND INFORMATICS
LAB (AVAIL) | http://availabs.org
http://availabs.org
Geo GTFS API @
http://api.availabs.org/gtfs
GTFS Analysis Tool @
http://gtfs.availabs.org