Comments on: True Public Service: MyTTC is Live http://blog.mukodu.com/2008/07/22/true-public-service-myttc-is-live/ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:24:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Oshoma Momoh http://blog.mukodu.com/2008/07/22/true-public-service-myttc-is-live/comment-page-1/#comment-231 Oshoma Momoh Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:27:48 +0000 http://blog.mukodu.com/2008/07/22/true-public-service-myttc-is-live/#comment-231 Ollie: It sounds like you know more about it than me. My comments were based on earlier discussions with Kieran and others, from which I understood the TTC had raw data they were unwilling to share. Again, in what form, I don't know, but I assume there had to be at least text files produced somewhere along the path to generating PDFs. Thanks for sharing the gory details! Ollie: It sounds like you know more about it than me. My comments were based on earlier discussions with Kieran and others, from which I understood the TTC had raw data they were unwilling to share. Again, in what form, I don’t know, but I assume there had to be at least text files produced somewhere along the path to generating PDFs.

Thanks for sharing the gory details!

]]> By: Ollie Saunders http://blog.mukodu.com/2008/07/22/true-public-service-myttc-is-live/comment-page-1/#comment-230 Ollie Saunders Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:33:48 +0000 http://blog.mukodu.com/2008/07/22/true-public-service-myttc-is-live/#comment-230 Well the reason I mention it is because I spoke to somebody last night who claimed, with some authority, that no such database exists. Also the TTC service summary is almost certainly hand maintained. I worked with Kieran and Kevin to try and parse the document and we found a huge number of inconsistencies, things that an automated process simply wouldn't do. This is partly why it was so difficult to parse. So in order to parse the document we tried to write a list of inconsistencies. Once the list grew to the size it did Kieran opted not to write a parser but instead develop a small toolkit that would be used to crunch the data in a way that could be humanly inspected and corrected before being imported into the MyTTC database. I think it took him almost a month in the end. Well the reason I mention it is because I spoke to somebody last night who claimed, with some authority, that no such database exists.

Also the TTC service summary is almost certainly hand maintained. I worked with Kieran and Kevin to try and parse the document and we found a huge number of inconsistencies, things that an automated process simply wouldn’t do. This is partly why it was so difficult to parse.

So in order to parse the document we tried to write a list of inconsistencies. Once the list grew to the size it did Kieran opted not to write a parser but instead develop a small toolkit that would be used to crunch the data in a way that could be humanly inspected and corrected before being imported into the MyTTC database. I think it took him almost a month in the end.

]]> By: Oshoma Momoh http://blog.mukodu.com/2008/07/22/true-public-service-myttc-is-live/comment-page-1/#comment-228 Oshoma Momoh Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:13:18 +0000 http://blog.mukodu.com/2008/07/22/true-public-service-myttc-is-live/#comment-228 Ollie, it's anecdotal. Certainly they have raw data in some digital form, for you need something digital in order to generate (and re-generate) the current TTC route maps and PDFs. Whether the source data is stored as a database, or a set of spreadsheets, or stone tablets, I don't really know. Ollie, it’s anecdotal. Certainly they have raw data in some digital form, for you need something digital in order to generate (and re-generate) the current TTC route maps and PDFs. Whether the source data is stored as a database, or a set of spreadsheets, or stone tablets, I don’t really know.

]]> By: Ollie Saunders http://blog.mukodu.com/2008/07/22/true-public-service-myttc-is-live/comment-page-1/#comment-227 Ollie Saunders Thu, 14 Aug 2008 04:18:32 +0000 http://blog.mukodu.com/2008/07/22/true-public-service-myttc-is-live/#comment-227 I'm curious, how do you know that the TTC has a database of transit information? I’m curious, how do you know that the TTC has a database of transit information?

]]> By: MyTTC.ca « Catenary http://blog.mukodu.com/2008/07/22/true-public-service-myttc-is-live/comment-page-1/#comment-210 MyTTC.ca « Catenary Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:36:17 +0000 http://blog.mukodu.com/2008/07/22/true-public-service-myttc-is-live/#comment-210 [...] in Canada, Vancouver, Fredericton, Ottawa, and Montreal. No Toronto, though. According to Oshoma Momoh, the Toronto Transit Commission does not share its raw transit data with the public. Getting the [...] [...] in Canada, Vancouver, Fredericton, Ottawa, and Montreal. No Toronto, though. According to Oshoma Momoh, the Toronto Transit Commission does not share its raw transit data with the public. Getting the [...]

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