Transit, both schedule data and real-time vehicle location (AVL – Automatic Vehicle Location) data, has been the poster child and first set of killer apps for open government data. Here’s a nice survey article on the topic: http://wagner.nyu.edu/blog/rudincenter/open_data_guide/

It appears that our favorite Transit Appliance platform, the Chumby, is on its way out. The best opportunity for a low-cost (sub $200) small-format (under 12″) device as a replacement is probably an Android tablet. Here’s what we need to make it work: 1) Ability to configure a WiFi connection and have the device remember…

This evening a Transit Appliance application was awarded the Grand Prize in the TriMet/Travel Portland/City of Portland “Tour PDX” app contest. The presentation occurred at the Software Association of Oregon Ignite event. Our app “Transit Board Hotel™” was the winner. The app was developed on top of the Transit Appliance architecture stack by my Transit…

At yesterday’s Transportation Safety Summit I had the chance to demo four different Transit Appliance models (neatly displayed on an Ikea-hacked display stand). The new model that we unveiled is… an iPad in a wall-mount frame. This one is decked out in the logo and colors for Jefferson High School, where the summit was hosted.…

It’s been a while since I talked about our Transit Appliance project. But after a period of relatively slow activity, things are starting to heat up: Last month we installed a flat-screen Transit Appliance at a major public sector employer in the Lloyd District. But since it’s on the wrong side of a security checkpoint,…