WMATA data!

Hey! WMATA has finally released it schedule data in a usable format! Except also, it hasn’t.

I’m sure the 404 will be cleared up soon, but it’s secured by a captcha, which makes me a little worried. Throughout this process WMATA was insistent that its schedule data was so vast, complex and ever-changing that it needed to be updated on a daily basis (if not faster!), and that those low-tech hillbillies at Google didn’t seem to be up to the task. As you might imagine, I have my doubts about that. But if it’s true, they need to provide an interface for downloading the data that can be used without daily human intervention. They may have, in the form of their RSS feed — it points to the same missing URL as the one behind the license agreement. If there’s actually no security enforced by the captcha then this’ll be fine, although idiotic. If there is, then RSS won’t be sufficient. Which of these is the case won’t be clear until the data’s actually up.

On a personal note, I’m flattered by how many people have been looking in my direction for interesting uses of this new WMATA data. It’s my own fault, of course — I’ve done a bunch of Metro-related projects, and although GreaterGreaterWashington deserves all the credit for this data release, I did have at least a peripheral role in pestering WMATA for GTFS data.

But I should probably start managing expectations now: the most obvious use of the data — a mobile/iPhone app — requires a skillset I haven’t got. Not that that’ll stop me from trying, but it’s likely that someone else will beat me to market and do a better (if not cheaper) job, particularly since this window between the 2.0 and 3.0 iPhone software is a weird time to begin looking at developing map-based applications. On the web side, Google Transit itself will presumably provide a comprehensive solution.

With all that said, I certainly intend to have a look at the data and see if I can do anything neat with it. Either way, the important thing is that regardless of who manages to do it first, riding the bus in DC is about to get a lot easier.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 11:49 am and is filed under tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.