Integrating public transportation data: creation and editing of GTFS data

Abstract

The current state of standardization related to representa tion and exchange of data about public transportation systems is still at its infancy, which leads to severe interoperability issues in projects that depend on the data from several diverse sources. In many cases, the interoperability issues arise from the use of rudimentary information systems, or even paper-based procedures, to manage operational data such as schedules and tariffs. In these cases, exchanging data with external systems is very difficult. This paper describes the development of a web-based application aiming to simplify the creation and editing of public transportation data that could be easily exchanged in a normalized format. This description is preceded by a discussion about a data model that could ease data interoperability. Here, the GTFS reference, with some adjustments, is used as a guideline for the definition of such transportation data model.