Government Technology - June 2008 - (Page 36)

geo info S TAT E | L O C A L | F E D E R A L Synopsis: New York City Transit uses its own databases and enhanced mapping capability to help citizens take advantage of public transportation. Technologies: Itineraries live in a suburb of Philadelphia. This morning as I planned a business trip to New York for next week, I went online to New York City Transit’s Trip Planner http://tripplanner.mta.info to figure out how I would make my way from Penn Station to the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers at 7th Ave. and West 53rd St. Entering my starting point and destination quickly brought up several public transportation options, along with walking directions from the closest subway stops. New features recently added to the Trip Planner make the experience much more immersive for users and reduce the likelihood that visitors will end up calling Metropolitan Transit Authority’s NYC Transit agency seeking help. The updated Trip Planner includes aerial and three-dimensional views of the city. Users can now get walking directions and print walking maps from the closest subway stop to their destination. By using Microsoft Virtual Earth and map data from Navteq, NYC Transit says it can provide a more realistic view of the street grid than it previously could, making it easier for users to visualize the walking instructions. Immersive ATIS database software, Microsoft Virtual Earth, Navteq digital maps. Contact: Paul Fleuranges, vice president of corporate communications, New York City Transit, paul.fleuranges@ nyct.com. I End: Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers at 7th Ave. and West 53rd St. Start: Penn Station, 8th Ave. and West 31st St. With enhanced GIS capabilities, transit agencies boost value of online trip-planning tools. Enhancements to Trip Planner using Microsoft’s Virtual Earth platform allow for accurate 3-D city modeling, Mallick said, and the map data from Navteq, a digital map provider, is much more detailed than the data previously provided by Trapeze. The new version makes zooming in and out easier as well. NYC Transit’s Internet Technologies Group programmed the application to let users overlay subway routes and stations on the street grid. Adding Virtual Earth and Navteq features took the Internet team only a few weeks in January before going live in February 2008, Mallick said. Although he didn’t provide detailed cost figures, he said the expense was minimal because the agency is on a transactional licensing model. Fred Benjamin, NYC Transit’s assistant vice president for customer service, said the More Detailed Maps Like other public transit and transportation departments around the country, NYC Transit is making the most of its own databases and enhanced mapping capability to empower citizens to take better advantage of transportation systems. NYC Transit began offering the online Trip Planner in late 2006, when the agency switched the database software used by call takers in its own travel information center to JUNE_08 a product called Automated Transit Information System (ATIS), from Trapeze Software Inc. Agency staff wrote Trip Planner as an interface to the ATIS database and made the interface available online to the public. “We needed a product that was scalable and Windows-based,” said Paul Fleuranges, NYC Transit’s vice president of corporate communications. “At the same time, we realized we needed a good online tool. We provide information to a huge number of users, so it was important to get in the game with trip planning.” A team from NYC Transit’s staff of 16 Internet developers created Trip Planner, said Sohaib Mallick, senior director of Internet technologies at NYC Transit. The same team worked on the Virtual Earth mapping upgrade and a feature that lets users use Trip Planner from mobile devices. 36 B Y D A V I D R AT H S | C O N T R I B U T I N G W R I T E R http://tripplanner.mta.info http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - June 2008

Government Technology - June 2008 Contents Point of View The Last Mile Big Picture On the Scene Four Questions For... 3 Technologies That May Change Your Job ...And Your Life Loosening Medicaid's Grip Better Living Through Technology Immersive Itineraries Help Yourself Taking the Bait Shared Connection Up Close Spectrum Products Personal Computing signal:noise Digital Communities Contents Digital Tactics for a U.S. Recession E-Dilemma Stifling Community Innovation Leadership Interview Estonia Becomes E-Stonia If It Were Up to Me …

Government Technology - June 2008

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