Getting from A to B with FME
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Stadtwerke Münster became Germany's first public transit authority to publish data on Google Transit, allowing customers to easily find transport connections using transformed bus timetable and route data via FME. The initiative aims to improve multimodal transport accessibility with a focus on real-time transit data. Key challenges included resolving data inconsistencies and converting formats to meet the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS).
Getting from A to B with FME
- 1. CONNECT. TRANSFORM. AUTOMATE. Getting From A to B with FME Benjamin Quest con terra GmbH
- 2. Abstract ! Stadtwerke Münster was the first public transit authority in Germany to publish their data to Google Transit and to enable customers to easily find their best connection from one location to another. The multimodal transport options are easily accessible on any device including mobile phones. Stadtwerke Münster used FME to transform timetables and bus route data form the existing management systems into the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) used by Google Transit. FME helped to proof and harmonize the bus timetable data coming from heterogeneous data sources within the transit authority. The next step in the very near future will be the support of real time transit data delivery to customers powered by FME.
- 3. Agenda ! Destination ! From A: Source Data ! To B: Destination Schema ! Quality Assurance ! Some Obstacles ! Herr Müller ! Road Ahead
- 4. Client: Stadtwerke Münster ! Contractor for electricity, heat and water ! Local public transport agency ! 115.000 passengers per day ! 100.000 arrivals and departures per day ! 170 busses ! 400 km bus network ! 600 stations ! 18 bus routes + 6 night bus routes ! 16 taxi bus routes
- 5. Customer Information ! Time tables at bus stations ! Ticket and time table information on website ! Fahrgastinformationssystem FIS ! Departure times at bus stops ! Apps for Android and iOS
- 6. Destination ! Promoting multimodal routing in the city of Münster ! Make Stadtwerke Münster the first public transport agency on Google Transit in Germany ! " Transform and transfer timetable information to Google Transit ! A typical FME challenge: Getting the data from schema A to schema B
- 7. From A: Source Data ! Multiple applications, databases and files ! Export formats on national VDV standards but heterogeneous: ! ASCII CSV (with/without header) or XML ! " Use of VDV DIVA exchange format (DINO) based on CSV
- 8. To B: General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) ! Open standard ! ZIP archive with CSV files ! GTFS real-time extension ! Binary format ! Specification discussion board agency routes calendar stop_times trips … … …
- 9. Quality Assurance I ! QA with FME reviewing the data and during the workspace design process ! For example: completeness of data ! Route names ! Destination descriptions ! Route geometry ! Bus stop description (example: “entrance only”) ! Taxi bus " bus on demand
- 10. Quality Assurance II ! Using Google tools within FME ! Python shutdown script ! Creation of HTML report with Feed Validator ! Creation of batch file with shortcut to Schedule Viewer
- 11. Google Tools Google Feed Validator Google Schedule Viewer
- 12. Obstacle I: Non or Almost Non Spatial Data ! ~600 bus stations ! ~1200 bus stops, but ! 50 without location ! 200 located on the centerline of the street ! 300 located wrong ! Solution ! New survey with GISPAD, placing and controlling using ArcMap and orthophotos
- 13. Obstacle II: “Stops_to_close” Warnings ! Bus stops with redundant representations in the source database ! One bus stop, but different identifiers for multiple routes (bus, night bus, taxi bus) ! Exactly same coordinates, sometimes discrepancy in centimeter scale ! FME solution: DuplicateRemover + FeatureMerger (Duplicates) on coordinates rounded to meters
- 14. Obstacle III: Coordinate Offset ! Source coordinate system: DINO ! EPSG:31467 / DHDN GK Zone 3 ! Destination coordinate system: GTFS ! EPSG:4326 / LL WGS84 ! Insufficient results with high precision transformations BeTa2007_NTv2 and 7 parameter ! 5 meter offset
- 15. Obstacle III: Coordinate Offset ! FME Solution: Implementing Google transformation parameters in MyCoordSysDefs.fme Default Transformation “Google” Transformation
- 16. Obstacle IV: Representation of Stop Times ! DINO (source database) 1. Departure at 12:23 from station x 2. Next stop in 60 seconds at station y 3. Next stop in 120 seconds at station z ! GTFS 1. Stop at 12:23 at station x 2. Stop at 12:24 at station y 3. Stop at 12:26 at station z 12:23 + 60 sec + 120 sec 12:23 12:24 12:26
- 17. FME Solution ! Use of VariableSetter and VariableRetriever to calculate the absolute time schedules for every route ! Less runtime than using FeatureMerger
- 18. Obstacle V: On Demand Taxi Busses ! A lot of stops with the same departure time ! GTFS doesn’t allow identic departure times on consecutive stops
- 19. FME Solution ! “Removing” redundant stop times ! Sorter + VariableSetter and VariableRetriever
- 20. Feed Publication ! Google Transit Partner Portal ! Publication of feed by partner ! 2 options ! Upload of csv files ! Feed via (Secured) URL ! Individual review by Google at 1st upload
- 21. Google Transit Partner Portal ! Visual route control by user
- 22. Project History ! Final review and approval by Google in July 2012 ! Publication of German railway timetables in August 2012 ! Go live in November 2012 as the first local public transport agency in Germany together with City of Munich ! " Destination reached!
- 23. Herr Müller ! Visiting Münster for the first time ! Likes to go from the mainstation to Münster castle
- 24. Road Ahead ! Implementation of real route geometries ! Implementation of GTFS real time ! Real time departures and arrivals ! Delays ! Shifted or inactive stops (constructions) ! Real time vehicle locations
- 25. Thank You! ! For more information: con terra GmbH fme@conterra.de Benjamin Quest b.quest@conterra.de @benjamin_quest CONNECT. TRANSFORM. AUTOMATE.