HART released our General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), or scheduling data, about a month ago and we now have the first "app" created using the data.
Mapnificent.
Mapnificent is a free web-based application that utilizes HART scheduling data (times, stops, frequencies, etc.) to formulate and display the results over Google Maps. You can drag the pin around for different locations, use the slider for different maximum times, and go to settings to choose times and days of week. You can also drag the pin around to find the half way meeting point between friends living across town.
Mapnificent was created by a 23-year-old graduate student named Stefan Wehrmeyer, a graduate student in Germany. "I hope people use it to find the best place to live, work and meet, said Wehrmeyer on his blog. "That they discover new things about their public transport system."
If you would like a more in depth look of the functionality of Mapnificent, please watch the video below. Wehrmeyer gives a great tutorial on using Mapnificent to accomplish a number of tasks.
Mapnificent from Stefan Wehrmeyer on Vimeo.
Mapnificent is now live in Tampa and can be found by going to www.mapnificent.net/tampa
Reminder: HART does not endorse any 3rd party applications, including Mapnific
ent . However, we do support providing our patrons with options, and having our data open for public consumption and ingenuity.
If you are interested in developing a 3rd party application, please visit the HART Developer's page located here.
This is pretty darn cool (though the link to the service in the posting itself is a bit broked, the real URL is http://www.mapnificent.net/tampa/). So, basically, you move the pin over any location in Tampa and the irregular white area that shows up after calculation represents all the places you can be from that pin in the time you designate. The irregularity of the white space is due to the transit times/lines that were factored in. Awesome! It's a little revealing too. It seems like from this you can tell which lines are most funded and/or frequent...It's easy to go far away from some places in just 15 minutes, yet, not nearly as fast as places just around the corner. This sort of helps reveal those ironies and helps planning.
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