MBTA Data Developer Event at MIT Set

The Center for Future Civic Media at MIT will host the MBTA Data Hackathon on January 29-30.  The Hackathon will focus on building innovative applications with data released on the MassDOT Developers Page.  To RSVP for the MBTA Data Hackathon at MIT, please click here.

The beta MassDOT Developers Page, launched in July 2009, is intended to serve as a resource to software developers interested in working with MassDOT’s data.  Data released through the Developers page includes MBTA and RTA route and schedule data, an RSS feed for MBTA service alerts, Highway Division planned construction event data, RMV branch wait time feeds, and a variety of other information.  Third-party developers have used this data to create applications that benefit users of the transportation system, all at no cost to the MBTA. 

At the MassDOT Developers Conference in November 2009, MassDOT released a Real-Time XML Trial feed for five MBTA Bus Routes. The feed, available at the MassDOT Developers Page, includes data for bus route 39 which serves Jamaica Plain, the Longwood Medical Area, and Back Bay in Boston; and bus routes 111, 114, 116, and 117 which serve Haymarket Station, East Boston, Chelsea, and Revere.  Developers can access the feed and incorporate the real-time information into and application that help MBTA customers know the actual location and real-time estimated arrival of their bus.

The MBTA Data Hackathon will be focused around projects including:

•    A simple, clean web interface for accessing real-time bus location data
•    Constructing a kit that helps business owners set up their own LED scrollboards that display when the next bus is coming
•    A text messaging interface for retrieving schedule information
•    And, of course, anything else you can think up!

Details, directions, and to RSVP, are here.