Hi OSM users, At USF we've been working on an open-source tool, GO-Sync (http:// code.google.com/p/gtfs-osm-sync/), that can synchronize General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) datasets with OpenStreetMap (OSM). The goal of GO-Sync is to allow transit agencies to quickly upload their GTFS datasets to help fill out multimodal OpenStreetMap data (vs. requiring OSM users, who often aren't coordinating with agencies, spend time manually coding these stops), and also allow transit agencies to pull down crowd-sourced modifications (e.g., corrections in stop location, additions of amenities, etc.) by OSM users for integration back into the transit agency's bus stop inventory (and therefore into their GTFS dataset for OpenTripPlanner and other transit apps).
We hope that GO-Sync will allow OSM users to focus on improving existing GTFS bus stop inventories, rather than starting from scratch. Incorrect bus stop positions in GTFS datasets have been one of the biggest challenges we've seen in the testing of our Travel Assistance Device mobile app for GPS-enabled mobile phones (http:// www.locationaware.usf.edu/ongoing-research/<http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=www.locationaware.usf.edu/ongoing-research/> travel-assistance- device/), which alerts travelers to exit the bus at the proper time. GO-Sync is our attempt to help address this problem on a systematic basis, and we hope that this tool is a starting point that the community can build on. We would like your feedback on GO-Sync, although please understand that the tool is a work in progress. We also understand that the ultimate success of this tool from a transit developer's perspective will require willingness and effort (although hopefully not much) at transit agencies to integrate data improvements back into their inventories, so we would also welcome advice as to how to overcome this obstacle. We've gotten feedback from one of our local transit agencies here (HART) that has a GIS analyst, but given that agencies come in all shapes and sizes having feedback from others would be good. If others would like to contribute code/effort/wisdom to the project, please let us know, as we would welcome collaboration. We strongly suggest reading the instructions on the GO-Sync Google Code site before performing any bulk uploads of data into OSM, and please remember that you must have the permission of owner of the data (e.g., transit agency) before uploading that data into OSM. And, as always, please respect other users work/data in OSM. GO-Sync on Google Code: http://code.google.com/p/gtfs-osm-sync/<http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://code.google.com/p/gtfs-osm-sync/> Thanks, Sean Sean J. Barbeau, M.S. Comp.Sci. Research Associate Center for Urban Transportation Research University of South Florida 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CUT100 Tampa, FL 33620-5375 813.974.7208 2D barcode<http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=120x120&chl=MECARD%3AN%3ASean+J.+Barbeau%3BTEL%3A8139747208%3BURL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.locationaware.usf.edu%2F%3BEMAIL%3Abarbeau%40cutr.usf.edu%3BADR%3A4202+E.+Fowler+Avenue%2C+CUT100+%3B%3B> 813.974.5168 (fax) [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> USF Location-Aware Information Systems Lab<http://www.locationaware.usf.edu/> Subscribe<http://lists.cutr.usf.edu/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=locationaware> to USF's Location-Aware Information Systems listserve to be notified by email of new research reports, industry news, etc. and to discuss location-aware technology issues and experiences.
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