Transitland vs. other transit data systems
OpenMobilityData is a website and API for browsing GTFS and GTFS Realtime feeds. The service was originally known as TransitFeeds. It is no longer maintained, but portions do remain available for users. Learn how OpenMobilityData compares to Transitland.
TransitFeeds.com was created in 2013 by the Australia-based app-developer Quentin Zervaas. In subsequent years, TransitFeeds grew to catalog GTFS and GTFS Realtime feeds for roughly 1,300 transit agencies. Users could browse GTFS feeds, as well as stops and routes, using the TransitFeeds.com website.
While Transitland was focused at the time on providing a rich set of APIs, TransitFeeds provided an attractive and easy-to-use web interface. TransitFeed service also provided an API for browsing feed records, but no API for GTFS entity-level information.
In 2019, the for-profit TransitScreen and non-profit MobilityData together acquired TransitFeeds.com from Crunchy Bagel, Quentin Zervaas’s app-development business. TransitFeeds.com was rebranded as OpenMobilityData.
Both domain names continue to be in use, so users searching for GTFS feeds on Google may see similar results listed for both TransitFeeds.com and OpenMobilityData.org.
More recently, MobilityData shifted its efforts to developing a new MobilityData Mobility Database service and announced that it would no longer develop OpenMobilityData. They wrote that “we commit to giving 6 months notice once the decision is finalized” to shut down the OpenMobilityData web application.
OpenMobilityData is partially functional as of 2023:
OpenMobilityData continues to be a useful source for historical GTFS data between approximately 2015 and 2021.
For example, Carole Turley Voulgaris and Charuvi Begwani at the Harvard Graduate School of Design used feed archives from OpenMobilityData, GTFS Data Exchange, and Transitland to analyze when transit agencies adopted GTFS and what characterized the agencies that were quickest to do so.
OpenMobilityData does not provide information about the terms and conditions attached to each GTFS feed, and leaves it as an exercise to its users to figure out the license for each feed.
Transitland provides information about each source feed’s license, terms, and conditions. Use the Transitland v2 REST API to view feed license information and to filter results by license terms.
Users of Transitland APIs are also able to simplify their experience of working with multiple open datasets using the Transitland Terms. By including a single attribution to Transitland and a link to https://www.transit.land/terms, developers are able to meet the attribution requirement for all source feeds.
Transitland’s information about feed-level licensing enables individual users, large organizations, and for-profit businesses to all have confidence in the open-data sources they are consuming.
| Platform | Data coverage | Web interface | API | Source feed licensing information? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenMobilityData | 2015 - 2021 | Attractive web interface for browsing GTFS feeds, routes, and stops | OpenMobilityData provided an API for its feed catalog, although new users may not sign up any more | No information about feed terms or conditions |
| Transitland | 2015 - ongoing | Transitland was originally focused on APIs. Transitland Version 2 now also provides a comprehensive website for browsing transit data | Robust set of APIs for developers to access feed catalog, feed versions, GTFS entities, and GTFS Realtime information | Feed-level licensing info and comprehensive Transitland Terms |