/V2 Launch
/V2 of TransiCast is running on the sample instance, and has been made available to all subscriber instances on October 1, 2013.
Compatibility with /V1
The formats of /V2 requests are backwards compatible with /V1, but the response formats are not. TransiCast continues to provide the /V1 format both in requests and responses. There are no plans or timelines to end-of-life /V1.
Release Notes
This section describes the changes and new features of /V2. Generally, response formats have been "cleaned up". As an example, content that was comma separated in /V1 is now properly split in separate XML tags. Please refer to the documentation of the individual requests for details on response format changes. The following new features have been introduced with /V2:
Stop Type and Code
The following changes apply to the stop data:- The stop type of a stop has been added to the stops request
- The rt flag has been added to indicate whether the stop provides estimated (real-time) or only scheduled next bus and train times
- Starting with /V2, TransiCast includes the traveler facing stop codes as published by the agency. Stop codes are returned in the stops and termini requests. Please note that not all agencies include stop code data in their data feeds, so this data element can be empty
- Starting with /V2, stop data can be queried by stop ID or stop code, based on a given geodetic reference point. This query is agency-agnostic. This means that, in case multiple agencies use identical stop codes to identify a stop, all stops will be return for all agencies that use the respective stop code
JSON support
Add the optional parameter format=json to a request, and the response will be returned in JSON.Regions and Countries
The agencies list now provides region and country of each agency. An agency's association with a Metro is indicated in the existing common attribute. The agencies list request also allows to filter by a regions or a countries list.Destinations
The XML elements for route descriptions and headsigns have been consolidated and rolled into new destination data elements (dest). This affects the stops and arrivals requests. The destination elements are accompanied by the route ID of the stop and the next bus or train to allow the formation of route and destination directions.Route Longnames
/V2 introduces route long names. Route IDs are not unique, so only the combination of route ID and route long name uniquely identify a route. There are only a few cases were this constraint is applicable, and only the route details request differentiates by route longname. One example are the Baltimore MARC light rail service routes. If the route details are requested with the route ID only, the route details of all routes that use the route ID are returned. Query the route details by the combination of route ID and route longname to request the details of a single route.Service Messages Clean-up
Service message start and end times are now broken out as separate XML elements. Where provided by the agency data feed, multiple pairs of start and end times are returned.Route Details Clean-up
The predecessor stops are now properly separated by individual XML elements. This replaces the comma separated list of /V1, In addition, and as described above, route details can be queried by route ID, or the combination of route ID and route longname. This provides a "drill-down" to the route details of a single route, where agency data feeds collectively assign a single route ID to multiple routes.
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