Public transit made easy
Posted by T.V. Raman, Research
Scientist
From time to time, our own
Raman shares his tips on how to use Google from his
perspective as a technologist who cannot see — tips that sighted
people, among others, may also find useful. - Ed.
A little over a year ago, I blogged about
id="r7wx" >our simple textual
directions as an alternative to the popular graphical Google
Maps interface. Those directions help me orient myself and learn my
way around. But in the interest of safety — my own and others! –
I choose not to drive and rely heavily on public
transportation.
Now that Maps has textual directions in place, it's easy to
build on top of that interface to introduce new innovations that
become immediately useful to someone like me.
great example of this — it helps me locate public transportation
options and does so in the text format that I need. In addition, it
offers several nice features to help me plan my trip:
I can specify the desired departure or arrival time.
It will show more than one trip choice, allowing some
flexibility with respect to when I'd like to start.
It estimates the amount of walking required to get to a transit
stop/station.
It identifies the length of waiting at each transit point.
It estimates the comparable cost of transportation options,
where available.
But these aren't the only benefits. Behind the scenes is the
>Google Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), an
open data format used by public transit agencies to upload their
data.
id="w5r9" >Several agencies are already using these public
feeds. Though GTFS is never seen by commuters directly, it opens up
a wealth of possibilities with respect to accessibility and
alternative access, such as building custom user interfaces and
specialized route guidance applications that are optimized for
people with special needs.
Though we added this alternative view to enhance the
accessibility of Google Maps for blind and low-vision users, we
hope that everyone finds it a useful addition to your commute
arsenal. So next time you use the Maps graphical interface, give
its cousin, the simple textual directions, a try — there might be
times when you find yourself using it even if you can see.
And here's to ever more open data feeds from the various
public transport agencies!
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