For some time TriMet has had an ‘unofficial’ SOAP/XML web services interface to some of their data, including real-time arrival (also known as AVL – automatic vehicle location) data.
Portland Transport uses the SOAP interface for our Transit Surfer, Transit Board and SMS interfaces for real time arrivals.
They didn’t advertise it, but if you knocked on their door and asked nicely, the would tell you where it was.
Now they’ve taken it to the next level with a full-blown (and documented) set of REST interfaces (and as a web developer, I can tell you that REST is much better for ‘information’ type web services).
I got a sneak peek a few weeks ago, and have already begun to shift some of our infrastructure to use the new interfaces.
TriMet has announced the interface (which requires registration and an API key) on a transit industry list, so I think I can let Portland Transport readers in on the info. You’ll find the documentation at:
Thank you, TriMet!