Anyone out there who's screen-scraping the TfL website for the tube status information (or using a third-party feed) may be interested to read the following response that I've received to a query I sent in to TfL...
Me: "I wonder if you could pass this query on to whoever looks after the TfL website. Is there any way that TfL could make an XML feed available for the 'tube status' information? This would be really useful for other developers to be able to use in order to create 'widgets' for things like Google Personalised Homepage, the Mac Dashboard, and so on. If you Google 'London Underground XML', you find that some developers have already created these kinds of applications, however they have achieved this by 'screen scaping' the website, which is far less efficient (and more costly for TfL). Whilst TfL may have some reservations about allowing third-party developers to use this data, you should find many benefits, such as encouraging engagement with TfL and public transport, the ability to see other people coming up with innovative uses for your data, and not least, publicity for being 'Web 2.0' and allowing developers to experiment with your data. Please let me know what you think." TfL: "Thank you for your email. I have been informed by our web page design team that this is something we are planning to provide within the next few months. I am unable to give you a date at this time." Good news! Frankie - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
