If you’re interested in this kind of stuff definitely check out DIYcity.org—John Geraci (Outside.in founder) kicked it off a few weeks ago as a hub for this kind of development:
Twitter bots, aggregators, social software, mobile apps - we use these things more and more in our daily routines to make our lives better. But can we also use them to remake our cities altogether? How can these technologies be applied to transform urban spaces, changing them from the centralized, hard-coded things they are today into finely-tuned, fluid, user-operated systems that are efficient, sustainable and fit for life in the 21st century?
The MTA is one of the big topics of interest, and some of the folks involved have already talked to them…no progress yet, but it’s a start. (And yes, part of my enthusiasm is that I’ve been helping out from the start, just because this is such an incredibly great area to develop.)
Not to nerd out, but this is the future. BART (SF subway) opened all their data to developers… which means anyone can build apps that help people Miss Trains Less Often. Here’s an XML feed of what trains are arriving when: (feed updates every 60 sec)
… basically this is the type of data that drives the signs you see on the L train ("Next Train: 25 minutes"). Now imagine building this into an iPhone app or something so whenever you are standing over a subway station (GPS!) the phone can tel you whether it’s worth going in and paying the $2 (vs. you sitting around waiting 45 mins for the next train)…. or your phone buzzing with an SMS before you leave your apt for work / airport/ night out letting you know the F train is on fire / delayed 20 minutes / etc
Unfortunately, I don’t think the MTA has this type of data for all their trains, but this is where the space is going. Awesome, eh?More info on BART’s API here. (btw, I even love the casual language they use to explain how the API works. Well done, BART)
(via dpstyles™)
