[Transit-tools-developers] another topic: multiple transit systems

[Chris S. <ch...@ch...>]

Good news! I just got word we have been granted an exception from the
NextBus web site's terms of use to allow us to scrape for Streetcar next
arrival information.

 

So this legalizes the use of code I have already prototyped.

 

But it raises a UI issue. How do we treat multiple transit systems? Right
now the UI is all about TriMet.

 

There are two options I see at the moment:

 

1)       Model Streetcar as a TriMet route. This is actually pretty easy
because TriMet already tracks Streetcar schedules (but not real time data)
and has a route number and stops assigned. The downside of course is that
somewhere the code needs to know to use a different method to get the real
time data.

 

2)       Rearchitect the UI to allow for multiple transit systems. This
would allow us to bring in CTRAN or other systems at some point in the
future. There are some challenges however:

 

-          Need to revamp UI

-          Need to add a layer to the route/stop modeling to deal with stops
that are common to multiple systems

 

What do people think?

 

Chris