Tag Archives: opendata

transport

A tool for composing transit schedules data in static GTFS standard

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Over the last few months I went deep-dive into a project with WRI (World Resources Institute) and Kochi Metro in Kerala (KMRL) to convert their scheduling data to the global standard static GTFS format.

The first phase of the project was about just the data conversion. I wrote a python program that took in KMRL’s data files and some configuration files, and created a static GTFS feed as output. There were many more complexities than I can share here, and Shine David from KMRL was a crucial enabler by being the inside man sharing all necessary info and clarifications.

On 17 March this year, Kochi Metro Rail Ltd became India’s first transit agency to publish static GTFS feed of their system as open data.

See the KMRL open data portal and some news coverage: 1, 2, 3, 4.

See it visualized on a global GTFS feeds map called TRAVIC.
(zoom in to kochi and press fast forward. Can adjust time of day.)

Phase 2 of the project aimed higher : we started work on a program with a graphical user interface that would automate several manual processes and help KMRL update their data as the network grows, publish updated feeds on their own without having to rely on any external entity, and very importantly for their case, integrate bus and ferry routes of Kochi in the near future to build towards a unified public transport dataset and facilitate integrated ticketing. As we progressed into this we realised the potential this can have if we generalise it so that any transit agency can use it.

So, here’s launching..

https://github.com/WRI-Cities/static-GTFS-manager

Did I mention we have open sourced the whole thing? Big Kudos to WRI and especially Vishal who co-ordinated the whole project, for being proactive and pro-open-source with this.

The program runs in the browser (actually, please use Chrome or Chromium and no mobile!) as a website with a server backend created by a Python 3 program. It manages the data in a portable internal database and publishes fresh GTFS feeds whenever wanted.

To play around with a live demo version of the program online, contact nikhil on nikhil.js [at] gmail.com

Note: while it’s compatible to publish this program on a free heroku account, it is currently not designed for multi-user use. That’s kind of not in the basic requirements, as end user is just a transport agency’s internal team. (With your participation we can change that.)

So, why I am sharing about this here: Apart from obviously sharing cool stuff,

With this it’s possible to design any transport system’s static GTFS feed from scratch, or edit an older feed you have lying around and bring it up to date.

Invitation for Collaboration

There is more that can be done with enhancements and integrations, and there are still some limitations that need to be resolved. I’m documenting all I know in the issues section. So I’m reaching out for inviting collaborations on the coding and beta testing front. One motive behind open sourcing is that the community can achieve far more with this project than what any private individual or group can. There’s also scope to integrate many other GTFS innovations happening. Please visit the github repo and engage!

Lastly, big shout-out to DMers Srinivas Kodali from Hyderabad chapter for connecting and lots of guiding, and to Devdatta Tengshe from Pune chapter for helping me learn asynchronous server setup in Python in a lightning fast way (with a working example for dummies!)

Quick links:

– static-GTFS-manager
– https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs/reference/

Data, GIS, map, Reports

Home for All our Maps

Over the years DataMeet community has created/cleaned lots of maps and made them available on GitHub. One of the biggest issue we had was visibility. Larger community couldn’t find them using google or couldn’t figure out how-to download maps or use them. Basically we lacked documentation. Happy to say we have started working on it

The home of all the projects will be

http://projects.datameet.org/maps/

From there you will be able to find links to others, This is the link you can use to share in general. More links below.

Most documentation have description of the map, fields, format, license, references and a quick view as to how the map looks. For example check the Kerala village map page.

There is a little bit of work left in documenting the Municipality maps. I am working on them. Otherwise documentation is in a usable state. P

lease add your comments or issues on GitHub or respond here. Each page has a link to issues to page on Github. You can use it.

In future I will try to add some example usage, links to useful examples and tutorials and also build our reference page. I am hoping

Thanks to Medha and Ataulla for helping to document these projects.

A few days back I also wrote about Community Created Free and Open Maps of India, let me know if I have missed any projects. I will add.

Map links

On github they remain same, We have mainly three maps repos

Hyderabad, Open Data India Watch

Data Policies in Telangana

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Government of Telangana  has launched four IT policies related to data on cybersecurity, data centers, data analytics and open data. Honorable IT Minister K T Rama Rao has announced the intention of separate sectoral policies through the launch of Telangana IT policy in the month of April’16. During the launch he stressed the importance of open data policy for the state. In his own words:

” Telangana will be among the pioneers in the country in coming up with this open data policy. The open data policy is the first step in opening up government data to a host of potential applications. The policy sets the necessary framework in place to operationalize the state open data portal. The policy has many enabling provisions in place for multiple stakeholders. Through this policy we hope to catalyze data and to make data driven decision making possible and development of important solutions for societal benefits. “

These policies were made after several consultations with industry, academia, civil society and various individual experts. Though the policies focus on individual sectors primarily, most of the elements are inter-linked with the common element of data.  While the state government intends to foster its economy and business with the help of data, the open data policy focuses on enabling transparency and human development apart from economic development. Telangana, an IT rich state following open data practices will be a major boost for the ecosystem in India too.

We have been interacting with officials from Government of Telangana since December ’15, providing appropriate suggestions for the open data policy. Dileep Konatham, Director for Digital Media, Department of Information Technology was our esteemed panelist during discussions on Digital India at Open Data Camp Delhi ’15.  Datameet will work with the Government of Telangana to help implement the policy with necessary suggestions for guidelines and community building over the coming months.

Links to the policies launched:

budget, consultation, Delhi

Investing in Data: Pre Budget Consultation with the Finance Minister

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Last Thursday DataMeet was lucky to be invited to a Pre Budget Consultation with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. We were invited to attend with the IT sector group and give some suggestions on how the next budget could invest in open data.

After some consulting with the various city chapter organizers we came up with some recommendations that could appeal to this audience.  We decided to emphasize that government data is a financial asset that needed to be invested in, in order for it to reach its optimal economic impact.  A stance the US government made in it’s open data policy.

You can read the note we submitted here:

The meeting was Thursday morning in Delhi at the Finance Ministry offices, Sumandro came to represent CIS and I attended to represent DataMeet.

The Finance Minister was there along with the Secretaries;
Shri R.N. Watal, Finance Secretary, Shri Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, DEA, Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, Revenue Secretary, Ms Anjuli Chib Duggal, Secretary, Financial Services and Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA).

It was a round table and the participants were organized by software and hardware, and we presented in the order we were seated.

  1. Shri Ramadas Kamath, Infosys,
  2. Shri P.V.Srinivasan, WIPRO,
  3. Shri Anil Chanana, CFO, HCL,
  4. Shri Pauroos D Karkaria,TCS,
  5. Shri R. Chandrashekhar, Chief Economist, NASSCOM,
  6. Ms Nisha Tompson, Founder, Datameet,
  7. Shri Vinod Sharma, Chairman, Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council,
  8. Shri Nitin Kunkolienker, Vice President, Manufactures Association for Information Technology (IT),
  9. Shri Rajoo Goel, ELCINA Electronic Industries Association of India,
  10. Shri Hari Om Rai, Co-Chairman Task Force on Mobile Phone Manufacturing,
  11. Shri Suraj Saharan Ajit Pai, COO,Delhivery,
  12. Shri Sumandro, the Centre for Internet & Society and
  13. Shri Vikas Jain, Member, Task Force on Mobile Phone Manufacturing

While most of the suggestions were related to tax breaks, subsidies, and trade issues, I was able to introduce the idea that the Government of India’s data is an economic asset that can help create markets, increase innovation, and allow for more accountability in scheme implementation. In order for the data to do these things it has to be opened up and that means the government must invest in the NDSAP policy and focus on data standardization, cleanup,  and collection. Also policies need to be reviewed and revamped in order to keep up with demand and use of data. Like the mapping policy should allow for more contributions from private sources and crowdsourcing so the Survey of India can keep up with demand for geospatial information. The Copyright Act also needs a clarification on the status of data and the Ministries must be willing to release data under open licenses.

In all the meeting was short, with the main focus being toward how to encourage manufacturing sectors because of the Make in India initiative. I was happy to be there and mention ideas and concepts that were not being discussed in rooms like that one and to also offer a perspective on open data.

We hope to keep in touch with the Ministry and continue to take advantage of any opportunity to share our experiences and views on how an investment in data can be a huge economic asset to India.

You can see the Government’s Press Release here.