The door-to-door concept is not only about being there at the beginning of the journey - it’s about a fully integrated service, which offers real-time intelligence and compliance knowledge at every stage of the trip. Carlson Wagonlit Travel wants to empower the fluid and hyper connected traveler. The new species named Homo connecticus. Look at the latest version of this presentation (enhanced with information about API, transit information, open data, and new door-to-door tools found).
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Rise of multimodal (or multi-mode of) transportation
Multimodal is a way to combine metro (subway), train, bus, bicycle, walk or car to go from one place to another.
The other terminology used is "door to door", in that case, you have to add taxi and black car (car with chauffeur).
Some important distinctions should be noted when speaking of multimodal search:
Planning vs.. Booking: some routing includes prices some not
Routing could be based on actual timetables or only on approximate ones
For example some do not use actual timetables (they use information like: 'one train every hour' and might then be wrong by up to an hour), most others do.
Multimodal is emerging mainly due to the high speed train network, but also to reduce CO2 emission. So they are generally also taken into account as search parameters.
Transit open format as open protocol and API provided by Google : GTFS platform and API
The General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) defines a common format for public transportation schedules and associated geographic information.
GTFS "feeds" allow public transit agencies to publish their transit data and developers to write applications that consume that data in an interoperable way
GTFS-realtime is a feed specification that allows public transportation agencies to provide realtime updates about their fleet to application developers. It is an extension to GTFS
EU standard named Service Interface for Real Time Information (SIRI)
XML protocol to allow distributed computers to exchange real time information about public transport services and vehicles.
The smart cities agenda is transforming how cities manage their infrastructure and how they communicate with citizens and local businesses.
Open data and the use of sensor technologies to provide real-time feedback on the use of urban infrastructure are two components at the center of what is considered a “smart city.”
Cities around the world are opening up their public transport data to enable third-party developers to create new commercial and social good products.
Public transport is often a good starting point for cities looking to open up useful data sources as part of a smart cities agenda.
Government and cities providing “open data” through portal
2. Making Data Accessible
Government and cities providing API through partners
Government and cities using a marketplace to trade data
3. Making Data Valuable
How are developers using public transport APIs to empower a smart cities agenda and what is the progress of city authorities looking to make their transportation systems smart?
Need a political involvement and change management
The political and cultural factors that may cause city authorities to be reluctant about opening data, or when they do so, to poorly manage the release so that the data is next to useless.
Need also some tools
Open Data Tools: CKAN, Junar, Socrata, Azavea, Open Data Soft
Data Exchange Platform: Datahub.io
API: ProgrammableWeb lists 293 transportation APIs Of which 83 are related to public transport (either APIs from specific cities releasing their public transport data or aggregate service providers offering APIs for route planning or mapping).
1. The first is created by volunteers who just scrape the data. As the API creators are also the reusers, the format and vocabulary for their responses and resources are often custom made for their specific use case.
Examples: Swiss Public Transport API, Belgium iRail
2. A second type of APIs are the ones created by data owners or the transport companies themselves.
They are set up in order to stimulate reuse for use cases they have in mind. The problem with these APIs is that often there are rate limits; it is hard to get through the user agreements; they have awkward SOAP/XML constructions; and they don't follow existing specifications such as SIRI or GTFS-realtime.”
Examples: Dutch Railways, French National Railways
3. A third type of APIs are the ones created by a consortium of reusers and the data owner.
The API comes to exist after different people with different use cases are putting forward some resources they need, when they also add how the response should look like, and maybe help build these APIs on top of Open Data.
The Transport API has about 600 developers, and while initial growth focused on smartphone apps, it is seeing greater uptake among hyperlocal applications offered by larger enterprises.
Becoming a data aggregator is one approach to commercialization that may suit some developers. For Transport API, the opportunities to service new markets is continually growing.
Commercial API license model has drawn in hyperlocal customers like ScreachTV and Toothpick
It is also servicing large government authorities and global franchises operating in the U.K.
Heathrow airport populating their kiosk screens and websites.
API: Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York (MTA)
The Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York (MTA) provides the MTA API for access to New York’s subway and bus GTFS data feeds.
A new policy will require developers to register for an API key before being granted access to the API data.
Since the MTA began publishing its open data in 2008, over 200 mobile apps using MTA data have been launched by the developer community
MTA’s terms and conditions of use require developers “to download and host the data on the developer's or a third party's server and to make the data available to others who will access the server provided by the developer.” (Original emphasis in the terms and conditions.)
The state of Queensland, in Australia, has responsibility for managing public transport services for its cities, including Brisbane.
Its Department of Transport and Main Roads’ TransLink division has released the OPIA API, which strongly recommends that developers build their own server-side service that wraps the TransLink API and to use caching of all data except the data needed for immediate journey planning.
Writing an API on top of existing APIs, perhaps by augmenting additional information, is definitely a viable business model.
This is the approach TransiCast has taken:
specialized in aggregating transit data across North America
working on curating public transportation data access on GoogleTransitDataFeed since 2006, with no association with Google
Out of the 300 feeds covered, about 20 require API keys, and they keep those as issued by the agency to developers, to place calls to the agency web services
Transit open format and open API Creation of an ecosystem
Several companies leveraging real time traffic information in their tools and physical products
Moovit and Ototo: mobile app leveraging crowd information and delivering door-to-door public transport information.
Scout, now using Open Street Map and offering both GPS, and traffic information.
OMG transit offers multimodal search and transportation options and booking
Transiteditor and TransitScreen : Making transit information ubiquitous in buildings and other public spaces
OneBusAway experiment
Transport for London: Multi-modal web site with live information
Tunnel Vision Uses Augmented Reality to Animate NYC Subway Maps.
Conveyal – working with OpenTripPlanner and created new JavaScript framework for stylized transit map display. Involved in the Mobility Lab Tech Initiative.
Funded through a Demonstration grant by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
This project will provide travelers with personalized information that reflects their transit needs, pulling in the most cutting-edge trends happening at the intersection of the transportation and technology industries:
Open transport data standards such as GTFS and openstreetmap
Multimodal trip planning engines like OpenTripPlanner, and
Web-based visualization tools such as the D3 library.
The goal is to answer more fundamental questions about:
How the important places in a person’s life are connected via various travel options
How robust those connections are, and
How they fit into a larger travel decision-making context.
Much of the initial work has been focused on the design and development of a new transportation visualization package
Called Transitive.js, which visually articulates personalized transportation data, drawing inspiration from stylized transit maps.
Additionally, work has begun on customizing OpenTripPlanner to generate summaries of transit options.
Rather than emphasizing the details of a specific journey at a specific time of day, the project aims to build features that help people explore and contextualize transport options as a holistic system.
By showing how key places are connected, different transport options may become more easily identified as a logical part of daily routines.
Improve the transit experience of commuters by giving them access to transportation information via a web enabled mobile device from any location.
Joint project between Cisco, City of Seoul and city of Amsterdam
The PTA consists of a number of solution elements including:
A personal travel planner which among other functions allows the user to select the optimal modes of transport for their journey, schedule travel activities and reduce their carbon emissions.
Carbon Calculator which informs users of their carbon footprint over time (daily, weekly, monthly and yearly)
Real Time Router which allows the user to optimize their trip as and when conditions change (e.g.: traffic accidents).
Transportation Information Service providing information about public transport options, routes, arrival times and schedules.
RideScout is a startup looking to simplify transit options for people on the go.
uses Google App Engine, Google Datastore, and Python and Django.
As the company adds new data sources from across the country, it plans to eventually make it easy to plan a trip from California to D.C. with a single search
Urban Engines: Big Data to the Rescue for smart cities
Without embedding any sensors in the subway or video cameras watching the platforms, Urban Engines can tell:
things like how long commuters were waiting, how many trains went by that were so full commuters couldn’t get on and what the volume of each train car was throughout the day.
It only needs the data from when the commuter enters and exits the station, and by knowing the aggregate of all the commuter data at the same time, it can infer how the system is operating.
Essentially, Urban Engines is taking the smallest and cleanest amount of data possible to map out the entire public transportation network.
Could be used also inside airports or in any place where mobility could be tracked
The 20th Century Was The Era Of Nations, The 21st Century Is The Era Of Cities
At the largest international airports passenger terminals are morphing into luxury shopping malls and artistic and recreational venues, as well as locations to exchange knowledge and conduct business.
Airports have evolved as drivers of business location and urban development in the 21st century
In the same way as did highways in the 20th century, railroads in the 19th century and seaports in the 18th century.
Not so long ago, airports were built near cities, and roads connected the one to the other.
This pattern—the city in the center, the airport on the periphery— shaped life in the twentieth century.
Today, the ubiquity of jet travel, round-the-clock workdays, overnight shipping, and global business networks has turned the pattern inside out.
Soon the airport will be at the center and the city will be built around it, the better to keep workers, suppliers, executives, and goods in touch with the global market.
This is the aerotropolis: a combination of giant airport, planned city, shipping facility, and business hub.
The aerotropolis approach to urban living is now reshaping life in Seoul and Amsterdam, in China and India, in Dallas, etc.
The aerotropolis is the frontier of the next phase of globalization!
Aetropolis Origins The term was first proposed by New York commercial artist Nicholas DeSantis, presented in the November 1939 issue of Popular Science: Skyscraper Airport for City of Tomorrow
An urban plan in which the layout, infrastructure, and economy is centered around an airport, existing as an airport city.
It is similar in form and function to a traditional metropolis, which contains a central city core and its commuter-linked suburbs.
Airport city: business or tourism destination in its own right.
is a term for an "inside the fence" airport area including the airport (terminals, apron, and runways) and on-airport businesses such as air cargo, logistics, offices, retail, hotels and even entertainment and theme parks
Total Airports revenues target from non-aeronautical = 40–60%.
Time has named it as one of 10 ideas that will change the world
The airport city is at the core of the aerotropolis
The term was revived and substantially extended by academic and air commerce expert Dr. John D. Kasarda in 2000
As economies become increasingly globalized and dependent on electronic commerce, air commerce, and the speed and agility it provides to the movement of people and goods, has become its logistical backbone.
Some aerotropolises have arisen spontaneously due to demand, but a lack of planning and infrastructure development can create bottlenecks.
Principles of urban planning and sustainability are essential to the creation of a successful aerotropolis.
Google uses NFC and QR codes to offer entertainment downloads at airports
Door to Door technology will be used to make you find in the airport everything you need … Personalization and great experience.
Latest example to date: Domestic passengers flying from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane airports can now download movies, music, apps and books direct to their Android device using Near Field Communication (NFC) and Quick Response (QR) technologies.
Multimodal and door-to-door Major web sites and apps
Rome2Rio web site and app
Offers a multi-modal, door-to-door travel search engine that returns itineraries which may include air, train, coach, ferry, mass transit and driving options to and from any location.
Displays the carbon footprint of each route (using Offset Options)
KDS Neo
KDS Neo is a door-to-door travel booking solution for corporate travelers. It delivers complete, bookable, door-to-door itineraries and also predicts related expenses. Each search returns at least 4 complete but editable proposals:
Recommended - best balance of cost, time, policy, convenience
Cheap – The cheapest reasonable itinerary
Quick – when time is money, the fastest way to get to your meeting
Green – when keeping carbon cost low is important.
Multimodal and door-to-door Major web sites and apps
TravelStoreMaker
Bulgaria-based TravelStoreMaker has developed software that supports the planning of complex itineraries across multiple modes of travel, with content coming from many sources
Wanderio
Door-to-door multimodal tool used for B2C (Air, Rail, Bus, and car)
Use Rome2Rio
FromAtoB
Door-to-door multimodal tool used for B2C (Air, Rail, Bus, and car)
French multimodal search engine that indexes fares for trains, buses, airplanes, cars, and rideshares. It’s aimed at French travelers taking domestic and short-haul trips.
Loco2
UK multimodal train only search engine in Europe within thousands of European destinations.
Wanderu
Ground transport metasearch website that helps travelers find and book inter-city bus and train travel in the USA.
Moving From Transaction Services To A Perfect Door To Door Experience
Door to door requires digital delivery and continuous real-time updates on the go
Omni channel experience through
Cards like Google now or twitter cards
Through timelines , like KDS neo
Through maps like Google maps or rome2rio
Or through instant communication (SMS, hangout, Skype, FaceTime, etc.).
Information will be pushed to you on your mobile or wearable devices, and when possible you receive options to facilitate going over your trip disruption
Predictive information to be pushed to you, for a price ...
MultiModal is the paradigm! Door-to-door, from A to B, …
Travel today is more than just station to station; it is about door-to-door connectivity, thus giving rise to new market players offering integrated various modes to travel.
Door-to-door integrated, multi-mobility a reality in future
Market will see new players in market termed 'mobility integrators‘
'Mobility integrator is an entity or a combination of entities in the value chain which provides the right combination of various modes of transportation to offer an integrated, multi-modal door-to-door mobility solution using a mobility platform by leveraging technological expertise, operational excellence, infrastructural advancements and innovative business propositions.'
Stakeholders in an ever expanding integrated value chain taking the role of mobility integrators in the quest for totally integrated multi-modal door-to-door connected travel.
A mobility integrator’s function varies depending on what it offers and how it wants to position itself in the market in line with market demands and the group vision.
Mobility Integrator (MI) is an entity which enables the existence of mobility programs through its current offering.
Mobility Aggregator (MA) is an entity which offers a selection of mobility services as core business either as standalone providers or through partnerships.
Mobility Player (MP) is a member in the value chain who enables or owns approximately 50 percent of the different modes of transport offered . Offers a selection of 3 or 4 mobility solutions
A next-generation European-wide service platform allowing the creation of mobility-related services as well as the creation of corresponding Apps.
This will enable third party providers to produce a wide range of interoperable, value-added services, and Apps for road users.
Mobility-related Data as a Service
A framework for the integration of various different data sources like sensors, cooperative systems, telematics, open data repositories, people-centric sensing, and media data streams, so that these data can be accessed and utilised in a unified way.
Personal Mobility Assistant
An end user assistant that allows road users to make easily use of the information provided by Apps and to interact with them based on a speech recognition approach.
5% of business travelers use the train, while 95% use other modes of transportation, mainly cars, thereby opening up a number of avenues for NS to innovate.
The transit payment system that the NS Business Card employed on a national level, focuses on flexible post-paid payments rather than on a pre-paid system
OSPT Alliance launched a ticketing interoperability initiatives and created the CIPURSE open standard, based on a number of contactless and NFC specifications.
The UK transport industry, Department of Transport and the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) instead went for the ITSO standard as national public transport Smart ticketing technology started to come into reality.
Oyster the proprietary format card that has been so hugely successful in London.
VDV core application research project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Technology (BMFB),
Project was kicked off by the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV: Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen) and partners from industry and transport operators.
VDV - KA KG (VDV-Core Application) has been developed in order to enable the transport operators and transport authorities to use one common standard which meets all specific requirements.
This is a data and interface standard, which forms the basis for implementing the interoperable electronic fare management system in Germany. Standard has been introduced initially on smartcards, use of mobiles and media is also possible.
So then, no need for ticket, you pay and use your card or mobile phone on demand!
Swedish startup Traverse has taken a private-public partnership model approach to its business.
It funnels public transport data from private operators into its API model and adds a ticketing service.
It is then able to provide a white-label API back to each operator to enable its proprietary websites and applications to offer both transport route planning and ticketing in the one interface.