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Crowdsourcing: BMTC Vajra Route info database - I

A few folks at Praja are trying to create some handy, cool and easy to understand maps for buses. In the initial phases their focus has been on the volvo routes.

Attached is the completed vajra map. The plan is that there will be one more map/side which will accompany this map, which shows each route individiually in a straight line - showing ALL the stops. Now to create this map, we need to collect data regarding the list of all the stops the bus stops at. This complete info is not mentioned on the BMTC site.

Can we do this true Praja style? Below is the first list of bus routes. We will make 2 more posts to cover all the vajra routes. We need to make sure that all the bus stops covered by the route are covered in "via places".

How to fill the table?

If you have bus stops to add, make sure you do that in the correct order. Suppose I have to add murugeshpallya to route number 335E. Since it comes between Manipal Hospital and AECS Layout. I will add it in between the two. Then I will add my praja-id under the "revised by" column. Since the bus route is not complete yet the answer to the last column is No. If you think the route is complete change that to yes so that we can get working on that.

335E

Majestic (KBS)

Kadugodi Bus Station

Mayo Hall, Manipal Hospital, Murugeshpallya, AECS Layout, ITPL

          shekhar_mittal  No

 

If you are having trouble adding it urself, just make a comment below this wiki and we will make the changes ourself.

 

 

Route Number Origin Destination Via Places Revised by Is it final?

2

Majestic (KBS)

J.P.Nagara PH VI

Corporation, JC Rd./Lalbagh Rd, RV Road, Lalbagh Main Gate, South End Circle, Jayanagara 4th Block, 9th Main Jayanagar, SSMRV, J P Ngr 15th Cross, Sarakki

 Narayan82  yes

195

Chandra Layout

Shivajinagara Bus Station

Income Tax Layout, Vijayanagara, Tol Gate, Magadi Road, Rajajinagar 6th Block, Okalipuram,  Majestic (KBS), Maharani College, Vidhan Soudha, GPO, Indian Express

SB_YPR  Yes

276

Majestic (KBS)

Vidyaranyapura

Central Talkies, Malleshwaram Circle, Malleshwaram 11th Cross, Malleshwaram, 15th Cross, Malleshwaram 18th Cross, IISC, Sadashivanagar Police Station, Devasandra, CPRI, MS Ramaiah Hospital, Kuvempu Circle, BEL Circle, BEL Hospital, Nanjappa Circle,...

 IDS  No

365

Majestic (KBS)

Bannerghatta National Park

Maharani College, Nruptunga Road,Richmond Circle, Shanthi Nagar, Wilson Garden Police Station,Dairy Circle, jayadeva fly over, Bilekahalli, Arekere Gate, Hulimavu Gate, Meenakshi temple, Kalena Agrahara, Gottigere, Bannerghatta

 Narayan82  Yes

505

Electronic City

ITPL

Bommanahalli,Agara,Marathahalli Bridge, Kundalahalli Gate,Sri Sri Sathya Sai Hospital.

   

201R

Srinagara

C.V.Raman Nagara

Mysore bank colony,Hosakerahalli, Kamakhya, Banashankari, Jayanagar 5th Block, Jayanagar 9th Block, BTM Layout, Madivala, Koramangla water tank, Dell, Domlur 100 ft road,Indiranagar 100ft road,CMH Road/CMH Hospital, Thippasandra Cross, BEML Gate, Bagmane Tech park.

 SB_YPR  No

258C

Majestic (KBS)

Nelamangala

Central Talkies, Malleshwaram Circle, Malleshwaram 11th Cross, Malleshwaram, 15th Cross, Malleshwaram 18th Cross, IISC, Yeshwanthpura, Goraguntepalya, Peenya, Jalahalli Cross, Dasarahalli, Makali, Binnamangala

 SB_YPR No

276G

Vidyaranyapura

Electronic City

Sadashivanagara Police Station, Maharani's College, Cauvery Bhavan,Shantinagar,Wilson garden,Dairy circle,Silk board,Bommanhalli,Singasandra

   

305D

Majestic (KBS)

channasandra

Halsoor, KGF, ITPL

   

331A

Shivajinagara Bus Station

Kadugodi Bus Station

Trinity Circle, Command Hospital, Domlur, Kodihalli, Manipal Hospital, Murugeshpalya, HAL, Marathahalli, Kundalahalli Gate, Graphite India Ltd, ITPL, Hope Farm,

 SB_YPR  No

333P

Majestic (KBS)

ITPL

Corporation, Military Accounts, HAL Main Gate,

   

333R

Majestic (KBS)

Marathahalli Bridge

Maharani's College, Corporation,Domlur HAL Main Gate

   

333T

Nagarabhavi BDA Complex

ITPL

Pappareddypalya, Ambedkar College, Nagarbhavi Circle, Chandra Layout, Income Tax Layout, Vijayanagara, Tol Gate, Magadi Road, Rajajinagar 6th Block, Okalipuram,  Majestic (KBS), Maharani College, Corporation, Mayo Hall, Command Hospital, Domlur, Kodihalli, Manipal Hospital, Murugeshpalya, HAL Kalyanamantapa, Marathahalli, Kundalahalli Gate

 SB_YPR  Yes
333W Majestic (KBS) Doddakenahalli Wipro Corporation, Richmond circle, Domlur, Manipal, HAL, Marathahalli, Belandur ss87 No

335E

Majestic (KBS)

Kadugodi Bus Station

Corporation, Mayo Hall, Command Hospital, Domlur, Kodihalli, Manipal Hospital, Murugeshpalya, HAL, Marathahalli, Kundalahalli Gate, AECS Layout, ITPL, Hope Farm

 SB_YPR  No

335EA

Yeshwantpura

ITPL

Swastik ,KR Circle, Corporation

   

356C

Majestic (KBS)

Electronic City

Corporation, Shantinagar, Wilson Garden Police Station, Dairy Circle, Madiwala, Bommanahalli,

 SB_YPR  No

356M

Majestic (KBS)

Anekal

Corporation, Shantinagar, Wilson Garden Police Station, Dairy Circle, Madiwala, Bommanahalli, Electronic City, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Chandapura

 SB_YPR  No
356N Majestic (KBS) Narayana Hrudayalaya Corporation, Shantinagar, Wilson Garden Police Station, Dairy Circle, Madiwala, Bommanahalli, Electronic City, SB_YPR  No
365 J Majestic (KBS) Jigani Corporation, Shantinagar, Wilson Garden, Dairy Circle, MICO check post, IIMB, Arekere Gate, Hulimavu, Meenakshi Temple, Gottigere, Bannerghatta SB_YPR No
 365  Majestic(KBS)  Bannerghatta national park Corporation, Shantinagar, Wilson Garden, Dairy Circle, MICO check post, IIMB, Arekere Gate, Hulimavu, Meenakshi Temple, Gottigere, Bannerghatta SB_YPR  Yes
356Q Majestic(KBS) Electronic city Corporation,South end, Jayanagar 4th block, BTM, Silk board, Bomanahalli        ss87  No
10 Majestic(KBS) Avalahalli BDA Lyt  Cottonpet/Goodshed Road, Chamarajapet, Hanumantanagar, Srinagar, Muneshwara block Srivastava Yes
45G Majestic(KBS) Chennammana Kere Cottonpet/Goodshed Road, Chamarajapet, Hanumantanagar, SBM Bank colony, Hosakerehalli Cross Srivatsava Yes

360B

 Majestic(KBS)

 Attibelle

Corporation,Shantinagar,Wilson garden,Dairy circle,Silk board,Bommanahalli,Electronic city,Chandapura   ss87  No
362E Shivajinagar Electronic city Brigade road junction,elgin,Adugodi,Madiwala,Bommanahalli  ss87  No
365P Majestic (KBS) Anekal Corporation, Shantinagar, Wilson Garden, Dairy Circle, MICO check post, IIMB, Arekere Gate, Hulimavu, Meenakshi Temple, Gottigere, Bannerghatta, Jigani
 SB_YPR  Yes
373G Srinagar Electronic city Hanumanthanagar, Basavanagudi, Jayanagar 4th block, BTM, Silk board, Bommanahalli    
373GR Rajarajeshwari nagar  Electronic City Nayandahalli, BTM, Silk board, Bommanahalli     
375A Kengeri Shirke Electronic city  Kengeri, JSS, Chennasandra, Uttarahalli, Banashankari, BTM, Silk board    
402T Yelahanka Satellite Town ITPL Hebbal, Mekhri Circle, Majestic, Corporation, Domlur, HAL, Marathahalli    
411L Shantinagar ITPL Wilson garden, Shantinagar, Dairy circle, Koramangla Water tank, DELL, HAL, Marathahalli    
500A Hebbal Banashankari Nagavara, Hennur Cross, Kalyana Nagar, Channasandra, Tin Factory, K.R.Puram Rly. Station, Marathahalli, Bellandur, Agara, Silk board, BTM Layout, Jayanagar 9th Block, Jayanagar 5th Block  SB_YPR  No

 Below is the live view of the spreadheet meant for preparing a feed for Google Transit. If you want to contribute open this link in a separate window.

AttachmentSize
Vajra_Map_1.pdf453.98 KB
Route 100.JPG20.73 KB

Comments

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

Google Transit Worksheet

 Now you can see the in-progress Google Woksheet within this page. Update is progressing slow, but steady. 

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
pathykv's picture

Google Bus routes

The link does not give bus route info.

Any other link?

K,V.Pathy

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

Finally BMTC launches limited edition of Google Tranist

 Check this link    and today's news article.  

.....

“We believe that this initiative will be highly useful for the millions of people who use BMTC buses for their travel and daily commute. We are proud to be the first bus service to provide this kind of service on Google Maps to its commuters. The collaboration with Google is another step in this direction to make it even easier for the public to plan their trips with transit information on Google Maps”, said Syed Zameer Paasha, managing director, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC).

Manik Gupta, head of Maps and Local Products, Google India said, “We are extremely happy to collaborate with BMTC to offer this service to commuters in Bengaluru. Google Transit's goal is to make public transport information easily accessible and useful, and we are delighted to extend our Transit offering to include buses.”

He added that they have on offering the users a easy way to get all the information they need to plan their trips as per their convenience. Commuters can get all the information like showing bus frequency, route, and travel duration.

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

No, we are not claiming

While we are not claiming ownership of data, just did not want invite any legal complication, thats all. So I have just put some phrase there , not a claim, to be on safer side. Let us close this discussion here regarding IP labelling and legal stuff.

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Srivatsava's picture

Why should it be a problem?

Bheema/Arun,

1. Are we 'claiming' copyright/ownership of the data? If not, we should be fine.

2. BMTC has only introduced these routes. But, it is not that BMTC 'owns' the information about the route. This knowledge is already in the public domain. If I say that Manmohan Singh is the prime minister of this country, nobody (including GOI) can claim ownership to such a piece of information.

3. In my opinion, we should not bother to host the feed nor should we deal with Google ourselves. BMTC is already working on a Google Transit feed (by the end of the month, it should be having the feed with info for the branded services - Big10, Big Circle, Vajra and Vaju Vajra). We just have to pass on this information, labelling it as crowdsourced info, to BMTC and let them deal with Google/thirdparties. Let us not 'hope' to play a role that can be percieved as competing with BMTC.

Also, why would Google host or rely upon data given by  Praja. Look at what Google writes at http://maps.google.com/help/maps/transit/partners/participate.html

If you provide a transportation service that is open the the public, and operates with fixed schedules and routes, we welcome your participation - it is simple and free

So, let the responsibilty of data (and 'ownership') remain with BMTC!!

-Srivatsava V

planemad's picture

license

Thanks bheema for bringing this up.  IDS, having a disclaimer still doesnt make the copyrights status of the data clear.

If there are restrictions use use, it should be mentioned clearly. It would be a shame if at a later date, bmtc or some other organisation says that the data belongs to them and cannot be used without permission. Since praja has made this base data of bus stops available, it would be good if you could clarify from the original source if it is ok to put this in the public domain, which would benefit maximum people and let them make use of the data without restrictions.

 

 

idontspam's picture

  If yes, please let me know

  If yes, please let me know the phrases to be displayed there to protect crowdsourced data from any legal stuff

Content is being provided in public interest from various sources whose accuracy Praja.in has not verified. The data is being provided on an as-is where-is basis with no warranties implied or otherwise. Praja.in is not responsible in any way for any consequential damages or liabilities arising out of subsequent usage of the data.

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

A word on opensource

 Today I was chatting with planemad causually. There came a concern of IP and ownership of data. Can any Praja  provide input regarding opensource legality and any other issue of crowdsourcing such data. Do we need to display any IP label licensing etc in Google Transit Data Document? If yes, please let me know the phrases to be displayed there to protect crowdsourced data from any legal stuff.

 

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
planemad's picture

Hi bheema, i just noticed

Hi bheema, i just noticed that i had posted #busroutes.in instead of #busroutesin

I was really hoping to see you, sorry for the goofup. The chat logs are here. We'll have another meet in a couple of days, i'll let you know.

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

 @planemad: Me and ss87 joined the IRC link

 Me and ss87 joined the call, was the timing wrong? We did not see anyone there at 10PM 10-Aug-2010, Tuesday.

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

I will try to join the meet,

I will try to join the meet, but not sure. Meanwhile I am continuing to focus on data gathering in manual mode, though I am aware its very HUGE amount of work collect data manually. I appreciate your effort to converge the efforts into gtfs feed from busroutes.in.  I am sure arun and team will have this link, but just to mention, here is the link to gtfs specification. Proably from there, you guys can pick up the thread.

Shastri,

I have read in few forums that Google guys take few months sometimes upto a year to open up Google maps even for preview mode. I heard even New York city not opened Google Maps. So is it the good time to start  to communicate to Google?

 

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
shas3n's picture

Thanks Arun, I wont be able

Thanks Arun,

I wont be able to attend the IRC meet (I am in a wrong time zone) but have applied to join the Google group. Will check the IRC history after the meet.

Hope to contribute to the project and make it a great front end for GTFS data crowdsourcing.

 

-Shastri

planemad's picture

Developing a dedicated crowdsourcing site

Bheema, me and a bunch of others who have put together http://busroutes.in are have an IRC meet tomorrow, tuesday night 10pm.

The plan is to figure out the way ahead to rewrite the app to help crowdsource and geocode transit data to create a GTFS feed. As you have a good knowledge of this format you can share your expertise as well as ideas that you have for the bangalore gtfs feed.

Of course, the meet is open to anyone who is interested in joining the discussion

IRC: freenode#busroutes.in

Busroutes.in google group

 

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

About shape files

FAQ on the shapes.txt. Cross posted from Google Transit Document

 15.Is there is easy way to create shapes.txt files with help of visual aid? Yes, please use this link. This tool works with Google Mymaps. Please use your route ID as shape ID. And thats the title of the line object. I will be attaching a sample screenshot in couple of hours.

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

Good Question

 Hi Sanjay,

I appreciate your efforts. However this question raised earlier by ss87. Here is the answer:

Buses may stop in different places for example : Garvebhavipalya. The stops for Hosur Road towards Hosur(South) and towards silk board(North) are at least 50 meters away. So ensure seperate entries for them. Example : Garvebhaipalya(N) and Garvebhavipalya(S) with distinct stop codes. Append new row with new data in stops.txt.  Another way is to add direction. Example in stops.txt: Richmond Circle(Towards Mayohall) and  Richmond Circle(Towards Corporation)

Further when you create trips, you should specify in column "direction_id" 0 being onward journey and 1 being return journey in same route. This means, you can have different places for same stop in same route. Even return route may be different if some one way restriction imposed. Check for route no.100. Open trips.txt you will find 2 trips with 1000600 and 10006001(check for direction_id column)

Should you need more clarity, feel free to contact me.

 

 

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
sanjayv's picture

Question on multiple bus stops

Hi Bheema,

  I was trying to get this old timer Bangalorean friend of mine to pitch in with the stops.txt part.  He was stumped when in some locations, he felt there are multiple stops because of 1-ways and multiple directions (buses from City market go one way and those from Majestic go another way).  How to handle such situations? 

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

@ids

 I was talking about computation considerations. I have made speed as input parameter in trips.txt. We can play with the same, be cautious it will change stop timings :). Once you complete playing with speed, revert to original value. Also you can play "signals" in stop_times.txt. You see how the re-compuation done to arrive stop times. 

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
idontspam's picture

Avg speed

 Any comments and inputs regarding speed calculation factors?

You can take 20kmph as avg speed of bus in Bangalore

Naveen's picture

Bheema - Great going

Good progress on stops.txt !

Could you tell me where you obtained data about the no. of stops (ie.1764 stops) ? As per BMTC route booklet (slightly outdated), there are only some 1200-odd, but the data does not include many areas outside ORR.

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

Further update

 Today we can see geocoding completed nearly 700 stops out of 1700. Nearing 50%. But as priority is given to popular stops, we can say we have covered 60% ! Also today added single trips for all G-series routes. one or two vajra routes are also included with single trips. Feel free to explore raw data. . Click here to view or start/continue contributing ! We need to geocode for 1000 stops more !!!

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

About BMTC timings for each stop

 FAQs updated.

 

13.Tell me about distance calculations and travel time estimations "As we do not have accurate arrival/departure timing available , we are estimating based on distance between stops. The distance formula is taken from www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html  Thanks to that author. Now you bangalore local conditions will not match with direct speed calculations. So have implemented few factors which add to travel time.

a) In trips.txt u will see few columns in last => average speed, peak days(not used) and peak hours(not used).  

b) In stop_times.txt you will see new columns added to right most. est_distance,signals and est_traveltime."

Adugodi 12.94374134 77.60809779

Adugodi Pol Stan 12.93916147 77.61021137

Distance in KM 0.5583975385843

So now arrive at following computation

est_distance=using formula at cell C19

est_traveltime =est_distance*avg speed for trip+(no of signals*3 minutes). Formula is given below for techies:

=L243/VLOOKUP(A243,trips.txt!$C$1:$K$2501,7,)+M243*(3/60)

(est) time of arrival= departure time of last stop + est_travel time

(est)time of departure= arrival time+ 2 mins

Note: No computation for trains as we have time tables

Any comments and inputs regarding speed calculation factors?

 

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
shas3n's picture

Arun, What GTFS community

Arun,

What GTFS community currently lacks is an easy-to-use tool to create route information interactively. As you rightly mentioned, busroutes can fill that gap with a code rewrite.

Do you know if busroutes roadmap includes a code rewrite in the near future?

 

-Shastri

idontspam's picture

Nice link Bheema.

I particularly quote the below observation from that link which is the crux of Route rationalization we have been harping on in these forums for a while now

 ...entire city can be covered with very few Trunk Routes and hence the number of trunk routes that is needed will be much less than the current system. In the case of Bangalore, BMTC is yet to implement Grid Based services on full swing. But they say that they have identified 15 Trunk Routes for the entire city, which is much better than current 1700 randomly oriented bus route system in the city.

 

planemad's picture

Shastri, you are quite right

Shastri, you are quite right about GTFS and that definitely seems to be the way forward in the long run, especially given that there's a strong community around it developing open source tools. The way ahead for busroutes.in is also to shift to GTFS data and turn it into an interface to crowdsource public transit info for any city and convert it into a gtfs feed for google transit.

Doing it manually using spreadsheets is a little time consuming and might also result in duplication of effort, not to mention difficulty in keeping the data uptodate. Even chennai city connect is trying to do this manually for buses in chennai. A visual tool is desperately needed that can automate this process to create the gtfs feed. The current architecture of busroutes.in itself is not enough and needs a major rewrite to collect bus stop location and not just stage points. Its a complex coding challenge, but it definitely needs to be done for the benefit of the public.

 

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

Complimentory reading:  A

Complimentory reading:  A  paper regarding  BMTC bus route advisory algorithm  from a PES student. A good read.

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

BMTC Booklet

 Today I got a booklet from BMTC Majestic. This is compiled by Integra. Can anyone tell me accuracy in terms of percentage? Is it reliable for data update to Google Transit?

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
shas3n's picture

Busroutes approach v/s GTFS approach

Planemad,

Thanks for mentioning http://busroutes.in

In fact, Bheema and I had an offline discussion about using Busroutes.in when we started doing this.

We concluded that busroutes.in presented a wonderful way to crowdsource the data. We considered hosting an instance of busroutes on praja.in itself and carry on from there.

The biggest problem with that approach was that we do not believe we could realistically beat the popularity of Google maps among Indian users. Hence we just went ahead and decided to stick with GTFS.

So busroutes.in presents the best way to collect the data and GTFS remains a way to share it with the world.Since we have just begun, I believe there might be a combination strategy that uses both these strengths.

If we could come up with a busroutes.in to GTFS translator, we can collect all the data on busroute.in directly (or on an instance on Praja.in server) and prepare GTFS bundles for Google to pick up.

That way we keep the route info up-to-date through crowdsourcing without depending on BMTC or BMRC and share it on Google where most people can use it.

Do you think it is easy to write a translation tool? Any python wizards on praja who can do this?

Shastri

-Shastri

planemad's picture

mapping tool for crowdsourcing

It is exactly for this kind of a task that the http://busroutes.in project was started. The codebase is opensource at http://github.com/yuvipan... built on django/openlayers/postgresql

Any python geeks wants to have a go at hacking the site and modifying it to collect bmtc data directly in gtfs format, please shoot me a mail arun.planemad@gmail.com

We can also try figuring out how the openstreetmap project can be used, to avoid duplication of effort at mapping bus stops. [geek part> existing bus stop data from the osm database for bangalore can be downloaded using this request ] Not all the bus stop data in osm is verified, but if the osm and the current praja stop database can be merged, it makes more sense in the long run. 

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

 500 stops geocoded, 15 BIAS

 500 stops geocoded, 15 BIAS trips added, Almost all trains covered ! Slow but steady updates.. Keep watching and contributing..

 

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
shas3n's picture

Google transit updates and CRS data

Hi all,

A few updates:

  • a few of us have been adding information slowly and steadily. Bheema has uploaded more or less complete information on the Commuter Rail schedules. If any CRS enthusiasts want to work with data, please feel free to get in touch on this thread so that we can coordinate the effort meaningfully.
  • we are making the data available for all Praja to experiment with. You are free to download this zip file (we will maintain the latest version at that link). Please do not send modified files back to any of the team members. It would not be easy to merge changes. All modifications must be done on the shared Google spreadsheet, linked in an earlier comment by Bheema.
  • for the more technical minded, you can use Google transit schedule viewer to see the data on a map. See attached screenshot. Obviously, this is different from Google transit's actual user interface. Currently only CSR data is fully loaded so scroll down to route names starting with LR to see any meaningful information.

 (Click for larger image)

We hope this update excites more volunteers to contribute towards generation of the data. Please go over to the spreadsheet and start adding data!

-Shastri

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

 By the way anyone has idea

 By the way anyone has idea about private buses and other shuttles who runs services systematically? We can add them too, we are not reserved for Govt, services. Dont you agree with me? I think 75% accurate data will do.

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

 Now have data for 30 more

 Now have data for 30 more trains which pass through city and will have at least two stops within city. Stations within Anekal, Devanahalli, Whitefield and Bidadi bounds are thought as city stations. Mainly concentration is on getting raw data now.

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

Crowdsource data update

  • 300 of 1764 stops are geocoded . I would request local people to update unfilled geocodes for bus stops near to you. Click here to start/continue contributing.
  • 2175 routes added
  • 9 Local Train trips data added to begin with.
  • Timing data for each stop added for 33 stop points.

Its just beginning. Long way to go...

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

Transit Data update

 I have added relavant railway routes to document. Thanks @ss87 for queries. Here are the responses.(added to help section too)

Cross posted from Google Transit data document help section:

10. What are stop codes(in routes.txt) that starts with R? They are local train stops, so mark by looking at railway stations. You will find corresponding data in "trips.txt" too.

11. If bus stop in different places for same stops, how to handle? Good question: Buses may stop in different places for example : Garvebhavipalya. The stops for Hosur Road towards Hosur(South) and towards silk board(North) are at least 50 meters away. So ensure seperate entries for them. Example : Garvebhaipalya(N) and Garvebhavipalya(S) with distinct stop codes. Append new row. Dont insert near to it

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

 @idontspam, thanks for info.

 @idontspam, thanks for info. I will update those few services as local trains for now and let us update data when local train dream becomes true one day. I will search data at NammaRailu blogs. 

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
idontspam's picture

Local Trains

 Request: We need full time table of local train services which cover all 34 local stations as mentioned in Praja somewhere.

There doesnt exist a local train service for Bangalore, we are still campaigning for one :) Only YH & YD trains run on 2 segments. The timings should be in the NammaRailu project blogs.

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

BMTC Google Transit data update.

 235 of 1764 stops are geocoded with exceptions. I would request local people to update unfilled geocodes. The left out stops could not be found on google maps. Hence only local guys can help there.

Another Good news : I have added Namma Metro, Existing Commuter Rail System(South Western Railway local trains) as local transit agencies. This means we are providing integrated data to Google Maps. In other words, when Google Transit for Bangalore is launched it should suggest an all possible ways to public travel in Bangalore to a Googler.

Request: We need full time table of local train services which cover all 34 local stations as mentioned in Praja somewhere.

And Prajas, keep updating https://spreadsheets.goog... as you get time..

 

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

Help and Status

Cross posted from the Google Transit Doc above.

1. How to grab latitude longitude value?

Go to http://maps.google.com/ma... then enable "LatLng". After adding, if you right click any point you will see the new menu item "Drop LatLng Marker". Select the value and copy it. Sample image is shown in sheet.

2. If I dont get stop names?

In Google Maps try to find businsess near to it when asked.

3. Best practice

Even though you find a place, try to find exact bus stop and then give geocode. We are interested in bus stop, not actual place. It may not marked in "Maps" mode, so always use "Satellite" mode with highest zoom level, you will be able to see bus stops.

4. Can I change column titles?

No, the format is designed as per google specs. However, you can request to change using this "help section".

5.Do you have backup copy in case?

Yes, I do take a backup daily , but overwrite previous days backup

6. How did you arrive at this format and sections?

Taken from Google.http://code.google.com/transit/spec/transit_feed_specification.html So please update only data. Not the format itself

7. Where are we now, in terms of whole project?

1 Feed data to this excel sheet - In progress (5% Complete approx)

        2. Moderate and validate data in this excel sheet (0% Complete)

        3. Validate data programmatically using Google Tools(0% Complete)

        4. Host validated feed in webserver (0% Complete)

        5. Approach Google for linking feed to Google Transit(0%)

        6. Preview and validate in Google Maps (0% Complete)

        7. Launch and validate live maps randomly(0% Complete)"

8. Would it not make sense to take 3 sample routes and perform activities 1 to 6 for those routes ? IMO, it will help to validate the whole process, remove glitches if any in the process, and also serve as a proof of concept/show case to get more interested

Sample data for one route (171) is complete til step 3. I am looking forward next steps from BMTC. I have requested Srivastava to co-ordinate with BMTC officials. I will keep posted in praja site regarding this.

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

Here the authentication link

Here the authentication link to Google Transit Doc. Hope this would work for everyone. My apologies.

https://spreadsheets.goog...

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
nl.srinivas's picture

Would like to pitch in

Hi Bheema Upadhyaya,

   Google transit is indeed the way to go. I also (still) cannot access the google doc you shared.  I guess you have tried the "Publish to the web" option in sharing?


Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

 Submssion: I am new to

 Submssion: I am new to Google Docs.

Hence experiments with access levels too. Yesterday I saw people accessing it but it showed anonymous. Now again made it public so that all people can edit without sign-in, though it will show anonymous. But there is a column called comment. Request people to put their names and comments there.

@silkboard: Can you try again. Hope this time it should be ok.

@idontspam: It is too early for prototype. For a working prototype all sections of that worksheet has to be updated with relavant date. Then we have to host process data as a feed to Google. Then we have to contact Google to pick data from feed. Once they(Google) are ready, they will give a preview link. Let me know if you further clarification. Sorry for misleading you, I was just mentioning that I completed 140 routes data to a specific section("routes.txt").  It was just to promote, so that public take more interest :)

Update:  150 of 1764 records updated in "stops.txt"

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
silkboard's picture

says no access

Was trying to see the sheet, says you don't have access.

If you can open the sheet to all (read access), I will try embed the sheet here so that updates can be seen by all as you edit there.

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

Will check and respond

Hi Shastry,

 

Will check and respond...

 

-Bheema

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
shas3n's picture

Check your PM

Bheema/SS87,

I sent a private message to you through Praja. Can you please check?

Shastri 

-Shastri

idontspam's picture

 Good Going Bheema! Do you

 Good Going Bheema! Do you have a sample of how it looks with the current 140 stops?Curious to see a prototype. 

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

Update on Google Transit integration

 Good news ! Me ,SS87 and many others are actively updating this goole doc spreadsheet   which is a base for Google Transit as feed data. Request to all is go through same and validate. Also huge amount of data update is required in "stops.txt" section. I have done upto busstops starting with letter "A". I have missed lots of bus stops , as I am not sure of their location. If some one know please update above google doc.

Note : Our first targets are "routes.txt" and then "stops.txt" sections of this google doc. You can find "help" section if you scroll right to extreme.

Its easy to work with Google maps and Docs...

Update: around 140 bus stop data updated out of 1724 bus stops..long way to go..

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

@ss87

 Hi ss87,

As per GTFS route description should be short description. Example : Via KR Market, Peak Hour Service etc... You(Anyone) are welcome to update the info. Regarding frequency details  please refer to "stoptimes.txt" section of the goole doc spreadsheet  which I have been updating.

 

Also, I am planning to add columns to trips.txt. They are "no. of signals" and "peak times". These columns should help us to estimate for reduction in average speed of bus. But no solution of traffic jam caused delays :(.

 

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
ss87's picture

 In route description can we

 In route description can we add the route taken by the bus or has it been entered somewhere-kindly clarify

 

Also can we have a column for frequency-We have buses at frequent intervals and people generally will know their area routes which can help.

Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

BMTC Google transit integration

 I have been updating this  link to create a database which will become feed for google transit. I have updated stop and routes from narasimhadatta's website, and want to give full credit to him for collecting the bus stop names and route numbers. Now same is available in the link above. Now we have to go further. For each a stop we need gecode(latitude/logitude value). May I request the interested people to update "stops.txt" section with geocodes, which are familiar. Also people can participate to validate the geocodes by confirming it in last column. Geocodes can be grabbed from any map application like Google Map or Google Earth.

 

Update: Anyone can edit now. no restrictions.

 

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"
Bheema.Upadhyaya's picture

All same

@silkboard The above link is from google docs(your and my thought in synch). I have made this link as editable for everyone to achieve crowdsourcing efforts. So give a try to edit "stop.txt" sheet and to add some data. Lets see how it works. Once we have reliable data(which is really precious), I dont think we can integrate same anywhere ! Even BMTC can use for its purposes. Its a vast and detailed excel sheet if data is filled in with full accuracy, you will appreciate once you go through the sheet.

Let me know if you can not open or edit the link

Happy to see that thread has become active again.

" My mantra to public bodies=> Enable->Educate->Enforce. Where does  DDC  fit?"

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