The Transportation Department has called on government agencies to participate in efforts to develop a national map of fixed transit routes through voluntary exchanges of fixed- and real-time general data that includes scheduling information.A letter from Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says DOT plans to create the National Transit Map as part of an initiative to create a set of nationwide geographic databases of transportation facilities, networks and associated infrastructure.
DOT’s National Transportation Atlas Databases set aims to help address gaps in public transportation access, Foxx said.
The department will build the national map through collection of General Transit Feed Specification data, route information and transit schedules from the agencies’ websites on a periodic basis.
“We are trying to construct a national dataset for research, planning, and analytical purposes for which a scheduled, periodic update is sufficient,†Foxx said.
“[W]e will build a resource that will provide our communities across the nation with the… data we need to measure the connectivity of the transportation network,†he added.
DOT will start to collect data for the National Transmit Map project on March 31.
