Desk
Feeds & Standards
GTFS, GTFS-Realtime, GTFS-Flex, GBFS, GOFS, and the specifications themselves.
03entries
On this desk
Explainers
Explainer
What GTFS is, and how a transit feed fits together
GTFS is the open format that puts transit schedules into your maps app. Here is what a feed contains, how its files join together, and why it became the default for transit data worldwide.
Explainer
What GTFS-Realtime is, and how a feed works
GTFS-Realtime is the standard for live transit data: what a feed carries, how Protocol Buffers structure it, and why the quality rests on the systems behind it.
Explainer
How real-time arrival predictions actually work
The countdown on the sign is a prediction, not a readout of a bus you can see. Here is the data chain behind it, from the vehicle's GPS to the feed the sign reads, and the three ways agencies turn location into a time.