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30 CHAPTER FIVE CASE STUDIES OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATIONS IN LARGE TRANSIT AGENCIES This section describes the implementation of GIS in each of the five transit agencies visited for the case studies. Each case study describes the GIS program in terms of or- ganization, geospatial data management, linear data man- agement, and GIS services. A summary is provided at the end of each case study and some general conclusions drawn on the agencyâs approach to implementing the GIS program. This information supplements the general trends highlighted in the previous chapter. NEW JERSEY TRANSIT Formed in 1979 following an amalgamation of several transit properties, NJ Transit is New Jerseyâs public trans- portation corporation. It is the nationâs third largest pro- vider of bus, rail, and light-rail transit, linking major points in New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia. The agency operates a fleet of more than 2,000 buses, 700 trains, and 45 light-rail vehicles. On 236 bus routes and 11 rail lines statewide, NJ Transit provides nearly 223 million passenger trips each year. NJ Transit also administers several publicly funded transit programs for people with disabilities, senior citizens, and people living in the stateâs rural areas who have no other means of transportation. In addition, the agency provides support and equipment to privately owned contract bus carriers. GIS Program Organization NJ Transit has had a GIS program since 1990 and uses a variety of GIS platforms, although it plans on standardiz- ing on Geomedia from Intergraph as their primary GIS program. The GIS program is one of the best staffed pro- grams among transit agencies, with 6.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff. These staff possess most of the technical skills required for an enterprise GIS program. Even so, most of the GIS programming is contracted out. One staff position is funded by the rail program and is dedicated to develop- ment of rail GIS applications. In addition, database ad- ministration tasks are shared with the IT department. The GIS program is part of the Division of Strategy, Policy, and Analysis within the Department of Policy, Technology, and Customer Service. It has its own budget and cost center. It is not a business unit under IT or Service Planning; rather, it operates somewhat independently to provide cartography, data compilation, and GIS services to other customers within the organization. The biggest current customer is paratransit, which uses GIS data and analysis to determine eligibility for special transportation services. Geospatial Data Management The GIS business rules and procedures have evolved to be consistent with service planning, which includes bus scheduling, bus stop maintenance, and paratransit services. The GIS databases and metadata nomenclature are related to scheduling, and the GIS program is therefore very strongly grounded in NJ Transit service planning business processes. The GIS program integrates data provided by the service planning unit, which maintains its own inven- tory of bus stop amenities and routes in the scheduling program. These data are exported to GIS, which maintains a comprehensive set of data, as illustrated in Table 13. NJ Transit is different from most transit agencies in us- ing a commercial map vendorâNavigation Technologies, Inc. (now known as NAVTEQ)âto provide and maintain the street centerline networks and attributes. The GIS group incorporates updates of the NAVTEQ data twice each year. All of NJ Transitâs GIS-based applications and trip planning systems (paratransit and Advanced Traveler Information System) now reference the NAVTEQ center- lines. The trip planning systems are separate applications that interface with the GIS. In Table 13, NAVTEQ format is used to store the landmarks (points). The DGN (Design File) format refers to the spatial data file format used by Intergraph MGE, which is inherited from Microstation. The NAVTEQ centerline data are converted into DGN/Oracle format for use in Intergraph MGE. Integrat- ing the GIS with Oracle, which is the standard in the agency, helped to establish credibility for the GIS program because the spatial and transit business data are all stored in the same format. The other point to note in NJ Transit is their use of Oracle Spatial as well as Oracle databases. Oracle Spatial is capable of storing spatial data objects as well as alphanumeric data types in its own spatial data format, referred to as Spatial Data Object Geometry [this is equivalent to the compressed binary format that ESRI use in their Spatial Data Engine (SDE) product]. Oracle Spatial manages the spatial data for the Geomedia desktop GIS applications and will be used in the future to serve data by means of the Geomedia web server. NJ Transit is in the
31 TABLE 13 NJ TRANSIT: SUMMARY OF GIS DATA GIS Data Maintained by GIS Department Maintained by Internal Business User Maintained by External Agency Data Format Database Software Used Bus Routes x DGN Oracle Spatial Bus Stops x DGN Oracle Spatial Stop Amenities x Attributes of DGN Oracle Spatial Timepoints x DGN Oracle Spatial Transit Centers Park & Ride x DGN N/A Light Rail Alignment and Stops x DGN Oracle Spatial Landmarks x NAVTEQ Transit Boundary ADA Boundary x DGN Oracle Spatial Transit Facility Locations x DGN Oracle Spatial Traffic Signals TAZ Boundaries x DGN, TransCAD Oracle, TransCAD Census Data x Accidents and Incidents Customer Complaints Political Boundaries x Census and NAVTEQ Oracle Notes: DGN = Design File; N/A = not available; ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act; TAZ = traffic analysis zone. process of developing webâGIS applications. Currently, approximately 80% of the spatial data are managed in Ora- cle Spatial for use in Geomedia and 20% in DGN/Oracle format for use with Intergraph MGE. Linear Data Management NJ Transit geocodes route patterns on the centerlines with their timepoints. Routes and patterns are hard coded using Intergraphâs MGE segment manager program, which al- lows routes to be cross referenced to centerline segments (defined as node to node). Segment manager allows time- points and bus stops to be measured along a segment using an appropriate linearly referencing method (e.g., distance offset from node). However, at this time they are investigat- ing standards for a linear referencing system (LRS) for the bus routes that will employ milepoint referencing (along the route). Bus stop locations are officially designated by municipal ordinance and are mapped using GPS (>3 m ac- curacy). All known bus stop locations, ordinanced or oth- erwise, are geocoded to the nearest node or intersection referencing the NAVTEQ data set for use within the trip planning application. Designation of transfer locations is done by the service planners, not the GIS staff. Intergraph is developing new linear referencing tools in Geomedia Transportation, which NJ Transit is planning to implement in 2004. Oracle Spatial also has its own LRS extension, al- though the GIS group has no plans to implement this, pre- ferring the Geomedia solution. GIS Services The GIS group provides a broad range of services to users in different sections, including ⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠Bus patterns for paratransitâADA requirements in- clude eligibility criteria related to distance from a bus route and time of service. The Trapeze paratransit program automates the analysis; however, GIS is used to delineate the routes with 0.75-mi buffers. Policing use of GIS data for crime analysis and CAD. Synchronization of bus stop inventory changes in the GIS with the service planning database. Calibration of the location of data collected as part of the APC program. Currently, only a few buses have APC equipment and NJ Transit is experimenting on how to synchronize the equipment with the schedul- ing and trip planning programs. GIS is providing a solution based on location as recorded with GPS on the buses. Publication of mapsâThis is one of the major activi- ties of the GIS unit. GIS, Microstation CADD, and graphics software are used to create highly attractive route maps. Many specialist maps are produced and then offered to the public as Adobe pdf illustrations over the Internet. Integration of aerial photographs with GIS for a number of applications including digitizing rail net- works and local roads in malls, etc., which are not in the NAVTEQ database; checking the location of railroad crossings, rail alignments, and other fea- tures; and identifying staging areas for special event plans or emergency evacuation routes. NJ Transit is part of a consortium that funds and manages the ac- quisition of statewide aerial orthophoto images. When necessary, they also occasionally pay to ac- quire aerial photography in support of special pro- jects and initiatives. Integration of videolog and GIS for rail planning and training purposes. The videolog data and LIDAR im-
32 ages of all 12 rail lines will provide a very accurate and comprehensive database of rail facilities and fea- tures. The agency is looking to develop a number of applications for maintenance and management of the rail infrastructure and to support incident response ef- forts with spatial data. In addition to the GIS staff, there are approximately 10 individual users in the various business units who use Ge- omedia to produce their own maps and respond to simple queries. No formal training program is provided, although most new users already have some background and skills in GIS. Summary NJ Transit appears to have a mature and well-managed GIS program that has clear goals and a business plan to accom- plish these goals. The GIS group acts as a support center that is almost transparent to business users. It is embedded in the business processes of the agency and commands support and respect from the users. The group is currently addressing a number of issues as part of the GIS develop- ment. First, the growing demands from users for map ser- vices may be difficult to meet unless the users can be per- suaded to perform some of these functions themselves. The deployment of webâGIS services may also help in this re- spect. Second, there are a number of challenges as GIS ex- pands into the areas of customer information and vehicle location. Third, some related challenges include broaden- ing staff expertise into new areas, staff development, in- creased coordination with other departments, and man- agement of priorities and demands. CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY Introduction CTA is an independent governmental organization created by state legislation. It operates the nationâs second largest public transportation system and covers the city of Chicago and 40 surrounding suburbs. On an average weekday, 1.5 million rides are taken on the CTA; approximately 1 mil- lion on the 2,000 buses that operate over 148 routes. There are more than 12,000 posted bus stops. CTAâs 1,190 rapid transit cars operate over 7 routes and 222 miles of track. CTA trains provide approximately 500,000 daily customer trips and serve 144 stations. GIS Program Organization The CTA Data Services and Technology Development De- partment (DSTD) provides and maintains data and infor- mation, planning support, and management decision mak- ing. The DSTD wants to leverage existing and emerging technologies in the areas of ITS, GIS, digital imaging, and the Internet. The DSTD also provides GIS and other tech- nical support and training for the Planning and Develop- ment Department and is currently developing an agency- wide enterprise GIS system. The current CTA staff responsible for managing GIS projects operates out of the Data Services group of the Planning and Development Department (Figure 10). Some support is obtained from Technology Management, lever- aging other technical expertise for projects such as AVL, APC, and GIS. Four key principles have been established for the development of the GIS program: ⢠⢠⢠⢠Transit is about people, space, and time. AVL, APC, and GIS are the best available technologies for meas- uring, understanding, managing, and growing transit. AVL and APC systems require and produce ample data. Commensurate staffing, resources, and skills are required to manage and effectively use these data. Establishing a corporate distribution database, with GIS as a core function, is crucial to any successful systems integration. GIS should be administered and managed as an inte- grated enterprise system that serves business func- tions throughout CTA. CTAâs GIS program is being constructed to provide the broad range of GIS services that are provided in agencies such as TriMet and King County Metro Transit (discussed later in the chapter). Indeed, a peer-to-peer visit to these agencies in January 2003, provided the catalyst to the fur- ther development of the GIS program. The GIS was started in the Planning and Development Department, but now reaches a broader constituency of users in the agency. Management recognizes GIS as a corporate program that supports many users. Spatial data are seen as a corporate resource and the GIS program is increasingly being seen as spatial data services rather than GIS, which has a legacy technology perception. Geospatial Data Management The data sets currently maintained in GIS are listed in Ta- ble 14. The street centerline and other spatial data are man- aged by the city of Chicago, which also provides aerial photographs and demographic data. CTA is connected to the cityâs database and receives weekly updates of the spa- tial data with a major update once each month. Aerial pho- tographs are being used to update the accuracy of the cen- terlines. Currently, aerial photographs are updated on a 2- year cycle. The network data sets are being enhanced to show one-way streets and other important attributes.
33 FIGURE 10 CTA data services organizational structure. TABLE 14 CTA: SUMMARY OF GIS DATA GIS Data Maintained by GIS Department Maintained by Internal Business User Maintained by External Agency Data Format Database Software Used Bus Routes x ESRI Geodatabase Oracle 9i with SDE Bus Stops x Geodatabase Oracle 9i with SDE Stop Amenities x Geodatabase Oracle 9i with SDE Timepoints x Geodatabase Oracle 9i with SDE Transit Centers x Geodatabase Oracle 9i with SDE Park & Ride x Geodatabase Oracle 9i with SDE Light Rail Alignment and Stops x Geodatabase Oracle 9i with SDE Landmarks Transit Boundary x Geodatabase Oracle 9i with SDE ADA Boundary x Geodatabase Oracle 9i with SDE Transit Facility Locations x Geodatabase Oracle 9i with SDE Traffic Signals x Shapefile TAZ Boundaries x Shapefile Census Data x Shapefile/Access Accidents and Incidents x Access Customer Complaints x Access Political Boundaries x Geodatabase Oracle 9i with SDE Notes: ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act; TAZ = traffic analysis zone; SDE = Spatial Data Engine. The agency has good relationships with the Regional Transit Authority (which provides the trip planning pro- gram), Metra (rail), Cook County, Pace suburban transit provider, and the Chicago Area Transportation Study, which is the MPO for the Chicago region. The paratransit program uses TeleAtlas street centerlines and addresses; however, all others are using the cityâs spatial data. CTA manages most of the transit data in the GIS, al- though some of these are duplicated from other programs
34 such as the scheduling program and the trip itinerary plan- ner, which are not integrated with the GIS. CTA has been focusing on building the infrastructure for the enterprise GIS and this is reflected in its use of the latest GIS soft- ware from ESRI. The data are managed primarily in Oracle with ESRIâs Spatial Data Engine (SDE) providing the spa- tial indexing and GIS data management functions. ArcGIS 8.3 and ArcView 3.x are used for the desktop GIS. The agency has a total of 67 GIS licenses, all but one of these in ESRI products. Thus, with these data and GIS software in place, the agency is well placed to extend the GIS pro- gram to more users in the agency. Linear Data Management The transit routes and bus stops are being migrated to the geodatabase where they will be referenced to the centerline file as routes and events in ESRIâs network model. Cur- rently, the routes and bus stops are maintained as route- system coverage in Arc/Info and reference a legacy TIGER centerline file. Timepoints are managed in the HASTUS scheduling program and are related to bus stops and the nearest intersection. The plan is to migrate all of these data sets to the geodatabase where they can be geocoding to the city centerline file and use linear referencing methods to manage the transit data. GIS Services There are approximately 35 users of GIS in the various de- partments, including several core users in planning. There are no canned applications, but the following set of tools and programs exist to assist users in various business areas: ⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠Spatial Analyst extension from ESRI to perform demographic analyses and buffer analysis; Historical tracking of bus vehicles to analyze adher- ence to schedules; A set of tools that allow highly accurate bus stop lo- cations to be linked to vehicle location and schedules for on-board passenger information and further de- velopment of schedule adherence; A major project is underway to configure GIS with AVL and APC to provide bus stop annunciation to customers. A number of benefits will occur from the integration of these systems including better cus- tomer information, monitoring of bus performance, and tracking of the vehicles; and Another project has created a web portal to access automated fare collection data and present it as graphs and reports that are easily downloadable for personal use and analysis. Future applications include interactive mapping using ArcIMS GIS and AVL and APC reporting. Spatial Multimedia for Planning Support CTA is somewhat unique in having an active program to use GIS tools as part of visual media for planning pur- poses. Management supports this approach and CTA has close links with the University of Illinois at Chicago, which is one of the leading centers for data visualization in urban planning. Techniques are being used to evaluate im- provements to CTAâs transit infrastructure and in commu- nity impact analysis of transit development in neighbor- hoods. The goal is to leverage technology to reshape planning at CTA, and part of this goal is to develop a spa- tial data infrastructure to support planning and operational activities. This involves the use of a number of innovative techniques including Annotation tools that enable users to âvirtually drawâ on an electronic map or link oneâs voice (or image) to an issue; Navigation tools that allow spatially distributed col- laborators to tour and discuss sites of concern through a combination of digital video, âspatially in- telligentâ objects, and interactive maps; and Representational aids that link concrete representa- tions, such as video or sound clips of comparable ex- amples, to otherwise abstract output. The result is an image of a place that changes in âreal timeâ to fit a multitude of alternative scenarios being discussed. These may seem like abstract concepts; however, they are being developed to assist the planning process in CTA. Summary CTA has a mission for the GIS program that reaches be- yond the traditional application areas into innovative uses for planning purposes. The agency currently is in the proc- ess of migrating its data to an enterprise GIS system and in developing applications and tools to support enterprise data management. The 2.3 FTE staff clearly has a full workload in accomplishing these tasks. They receive support from other groups in CTA including IT and appear to have em- barked on a process with a clear set of goals and mile- stones. MIAMIâDADE TRANSIT Introduction MDT, one of the largest departments of MiamiâDade County government, is responsible for planning for and providing all public transit services in the county. MDT is the 16th largest public transit system in the United States and comprises four systemsâMetrobus, Metrorail, Metromover,
35 and Paratransit. These systems combined carry nearly 300,000 passengers daily. GIS Program Organization The GIS program at MDT exhibits characteristics of a de- partmental GIS. Most of the GIS applications and the GIS software are based on ArcView 3.x desktop GIS. The GIS manager would like to migrate to the more modern GIS platform but for the cost of rewriting the scripts and tools that have been developed for the users. One possible mi- gration path may be to piggyback on the county, which has more extensive GIS resources, including SDE and a geoda- tabase environment. MDT would like to migrate to a geo- database model to manage their transit data. The two dedi- cated GIS staff are located in the Information Technology Services Division and are involved in GIS only 40% to 50% of their time. Geospatial Data Management The county maintains the street centerline file and other spatial data sets that are used by MDT. The street centerline file is an enhanced version of TIGER. The centerlines are updated daily. MDTâs IT department has begun to put tran- sit routes into the GIS and has created layers for Metrorail and Metrobus. Bus stop location data are being collected with GPS and entered into a separate database. The bus stop inventory is being driven by ADA accessibility re- quirements. The bus stop and transit routes can be ex- tracted as shapefiles; they do not have any linear referenc- ing or measures associated with them. The data layers managed by MDT are listed in Table 15. Only a relatively few data sets are maintained in the GIS by MDT. Some of the core data, including bus routes, bus stops, and timepoints are managed by the Trapeze schedul- ing program, which exports the data as a shapefile. How- ever, these data may not be referenced to the centerline file and so the data may need conflating to the centerline file. Other data sets are maintained by the county and the MPO, which use the same centerline file. GIS Services There are no dedicated GIS applications for planning or operations; however, there are a number of GIS tools and programs that have been developed to assist users. ⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠Maps of bus routes and other transit features; An ArcPAD application being developed to collect data at bus stops, which can then be downloaded on return to the office; Timepoints exported from Trapeze linked to bus stop locations; A work order system developed for bus stop mainte- nance and inventory linked to the GIS; AVL ad hoc reporting developed through the web and implementation of various GIS analysis and reporting applications; Use of aerial photographs to verify timepoints and analyze ADA requirements in light of accessibility to bus stops; Replacement of the MA/COM CAD/AVL systems by a more modern system that will integrate with MDTâs GIS; A pilot project to collect APC data on two buses in- volved GIS in matching up the bus stops from Tra- TABLE 15 MDT: SUMMARY OF GIS DATA GIS Data Maintained by GIS Department Maintained by Internal Business User Maintained by External Agency Data Format Database Software Used Bus Routes x ESRI Shapefile ArcView Bus Stops x Shapefile ArcView Stop Amenities x Shapefile ArcView Timepoints x Trapeze Transit Centers x Shapefile Park & Ride x Shapefile ArcView Light Rail Alignment and Stops x Shapefile ArcView Landmarks x Shapefile ArcView Transit Boundary x Shapefile ArcView ADA Boundary Transit Facility Locations x Shapefile ArcView Traffic Signals x TAZ Boundaries x Census Data x Accidents and Incidents x CAD/AVL Customer Complaints Political Boundaries x Notes: ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act; TAZ = traffic analysis zone; CAD = computer-aided dispatch; AVL = automatic vehicle location.
36 peze with their geographic location so that ridership analysis by bus stop could be performed; and ⢠⢠An IT strategic plan for MDT that suggests develop- ment of an enterprise database in Oracle that would support the creation of a geodatabase, which is the direction that the GIS staff would like to go. Summary MDT has a GIS program that is representative of the state of the practice among transit agencies. Even so, the GIS staff in MDT recognize the limitations of the current pro- gram and are progressing steadily toward their goal of im- proving transit service through the use of GIS. They work closely with the county and the MPO, who manage the spa- tial data and have active GIS programs. They staff is cur- rently looking to develop the GIS as part of an agency IT plan. KING COUNTY METRO TRANSIT Introduction Metro Transit refers to the public transit agency serving King County. Metro Transit operates a fleet of approxi- mately 1,300 vehiclesâincluding buses, electric trolleys, and street carsâthat carry more than 100 million passen- gers annually. The agency is also well known for its use of advanced technologies and innovative practices, and the GIS program is a good example of this. GIS Program Organization Metro Transit has long been recognized as one of the lead- ing agencies in applying GIS. Indeed, before GIS was popularized by the vendors, Metro Transit had developed its own home-grown GIS called TransGeo. This program was eventually replaced by ESRI software and since then the agency has reengineered its GIS program to match user needs and lay the foundation for future expansion. Metro Transitâs GIS program is linked to the King County GIS Center, created in 2001 under the auspices of the county Department of Natural Resources. This reorgani- zation was prompted in part by the desire for more ac- countability in the GIS program. With Metro Transitâs reputation and experience in GIS, it was no surprise that the agency has become responsible for managing the trans- portation layer for the countyâall modes not just transitâ and is implementing this effort through a new project ini- tiative called TNET (Transportation Network). The King County GISâs role is to provide coordination and oversight of the GIS programs, although GIS programs are actually largely independent. Geospatial Data Management Metro Transit coordinates its data management responsi- bilities with the King County GIS, which is responsible for collating and integrating all the data layers from the mem- ber agencies. The King County GIS in effect serves as a data clearinghouse and provides daily updates of spatial and attribute data as these are added to the database. Metro Transit has six GIS staff to support the GIS program, but it would be difficult to manage all the changes in the trans- portation layer on their own. The users participate in updat- ing the transportation data, which is then checked by Metro Transit before uploading to the King County GIS. The process is shown in Figure 11. Briefly, the consortium partner makes edits to their data on the latest version of the TNET data, which is downloaded to their local computing environment. Once they have completed the edits, the file is sent back to the TNET central data repository for quality assurance and quality control. The data are uploaded to the central reposi- tory using Go Synch! Software, which as the name implies is a program that synchronizes updates in GIS data format- ted in ESRI compatible formats. This requires that the data editor use ESRI software. Once the quality assurance and quality control is complete, the TNET database updates the King County GIS data library nightly. The King County GIS publishes the daily updates by means of the Internet and produces a complete data set on CD-ROMs every quarter. The TNET system is unique in transit for two rea- sons: (1) it uses state-of-the-art GIS and IT technology, in- cluding web-based services and (2) the consortium to build and maintain the data consists of local cities and adjacent counties that hitherto have been reluctant to participate in data sharing arrangements. The TNET program has suc- ceeded in overcoming both technical challenges and organ- izational constraints. The TNET program is a case study on its own and it is difficult to do it justice as part of a synthe- sis report. Additional details are available on the Metro Transit website, http://www.metrokc.gov/. As expected, Metro Transit collects and manages most of its transit data in the GIS (Table 16). This is a very com- prehensive database managed in the same GIS/DBMS format. GIS Services Metro Transit probably has more GIS applications in place than anyone of the other four case study agencies (see Ta- ble 6). There are two flagship GIS applications: An ArcView 3.x application delivered to 150 users, which is used for simple mapping, queries, and map production; and
37 FIGURE 11 TNET: Regional data coordination system overview. ⢠A Transit GIS toolbox developed in MapObjects, which also is used by approximately 150 users. The transit toolbox is used to interface between the Tran- sit Enterprise Database (TED) in Oracle and the GIS. The transit toolbox is used for bus stop data mainte- nance. Metro Transit has also developed its own tools in MapObjects and Oracle to perform dynamic segmentation queries. These were developed because of the performance limitations in the Arc/Info dynamic segmentation model. Ultimately, the plan is to convert these applications to the new ArcGIS desktop environment. The TED repository integrates data from the HASTUS scheduling together with the GIS data, which can then be made available to other users in the agency. This presents a neutral way of being able to integrate data without it being GIS or proprietary program centric. The scheduling pro- gram uses its own GIS module. Likewise, the trip planning program can import shapefiles from TED, which it then turns into MapInfo format files for use with the trip plan- ning program. Thus, even in an advanced enterprise GIS system like Metro Transit, there are islands of data and ap- plications that are not part of the enterprise solution, a common issue among transit agencies. Metro Transit is currently developing a number of GIS tools for data maintenance as well as implementing a geo- database model to manage TNET. There are several pro- jects that are in progress and that form part of the GIS stra- tegic and business plan for 2004. One of these is the replacement of the home-grown AVL system with a new GPS-based system that will be linked to the GIS. Summary Metro Transit is implementing a number of leading edge GIS applications in transit, as well as taking a lead role in
38 TABLE 16 METRO TRANSIT: SUMMARY OF GIS DATA GIS Data Maintained by GIS Department Maintained by Internal Business User Maintained by External Agency Data Format Database Software Used Bus Routes x x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile/Oracle Bus Stops x x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile/Oracle Stop Amenities x x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile/Oracle Timepoints x x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile/Oracle Transit Centers x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile/Oracle Park & Ride x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile/Oracle Light Rail Alignment and Stops x Landmarks x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile/Oracle Transit Boundary x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile/Oracle ADA Boundary x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile/Oracle Transit Facility Locations x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile/Oracle Traffic Signals x x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile TAZ Boundaries x x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile Census Data x x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile Accidents and Incidents x x Arc/Info Coverage Oracle Customer Complaints x Political Boundaries x Arc/Info Coverage Info/Shapefile Notes: ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act; TAZ = traffic analysis zone. the TNET consortium. Its leadership in GIS and transit over the years is widely recognized within the industry (and one of the reasons it was selected as a case study). The results of the survey and the brief description of some of their GIS programs demonstrate the capabilities of GIS when it is provided as part of a well-thought-out program. This is not to say that the process has been without diffi- culty. Metro Transit has faced a number of challenges over the years and has had to convince decision makers and oth- ers of the value of GIS. TRIMET Introduction TriMet is a municipal corporation that provides public transportation for much of the three counties in the Port- land, Oregon, metropolitan area. TriMet operates a com- prehensive transit network, including a 44-mi, 64-station Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) light-rail system, 93 bus lines, service for seniors and individuals with disabili- ties, and enhanced amenities and information. TriMet car- ries more passengers than any other U.S. transit system of its size. Ridership on buses and MAX has increased for 15 consecutive years, and averaged 286,200 daily boardings in 2003. The quality and innovation of the transit service ex- tends into the GIS program. GIS Program Organization Established in 1997, the GIS section of TriMet is part of the Information Technology Division, and has 5.5 FTE staff. Since then, the program has gradually expanded as the uses of GIS in the agency have grown. Approximately 50 users have desktop GIS programs, with approximately 25 of these considered power users who use ArcGIS 8.x. The other 25 ArcView users will be migrating to custom- ized applications for specific requirements. These custom- ized MapObject applications will also broaden usage of GIS throughout the agency. The other users will access the GIS through the IMS. The development of the GIS pro- gram followed an analysis of user needs in the agency, and from the beginning users have been involved in steering the types of GIS applications developed. For example, early on a Bus Stop Group was formed to redefine the business process for bus stops and work orders. This led to the es- tablishment of the Bus Stop Group as a new division tasked to manage and maintain the bus stops. One of the core ap- plications of the GIS program is the Stop and Amenities Maintenance (SAM) application, which is tied to a SAM Work Order Tracking System (SAM-W) for automatic up- dates. Geospatial Data Management The street centerline data are acquired from Metro, the MPO in the Portland area, which has an active GIS pro- gram that maintains and integrates data for the jurisdictions in the Metro area and distributes quarterly updates to its members. The GIS section does not manage a large number of data sets in GIS (Table 17). Rather, these are maintained by the business users or Metro. TriMet is predominantly an ESRI product user for the GIS, and Oracle is the enterprise DBMS. One interesting feature of the TriMet IT architec- ture is the mixture of Windows, Unix, and Linux servers. IT applications are developed in Java or PowerBuilder, al- though the plan is to move to a pure Java programming en-
39 TABLE 17 TRIMET: SUMMARY OF GIS DATA GIS Data Maintained by GIS Department Maintained by Internal Business User Maintained by External Agency Data Format Database Software Used Bus Routes x ESRI Shapefile Bus Stops x Oracle Table Oracle Stop Amenities x Oracle Table Oracle Timepoints x Oracle Table Oracle Transit Centers x Shapefile Park & Ride x Shapefile Light Rail Alignment and Stops x Grade Crossing x Access Table Access Landmarks x Shapefile Transit Boundary x Shapefile ADA Boundary x Shapefile Transit Facility Locations x Shapefile Traffic Signals x Shapefile TAZ Boundaries x Shapefile Census Data x Shapefile Accidents and Incidents x Oracle Table Oracle Customer Complaints x Oracle Table Oracle Political Boundaries x Shapefile Notes: ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act; TAZ = traffic analysis zone. vironment. The GIS staff includes Java and Visual Basic programmers, which is also somewhat unusual. However, TriMet are developing a number of webâGIS applications that are being coded in Java. The IT group maintains that the migration to Linux is a good business decision that has saved the agency money. TriMet has an open systems pol- icy to applications development, which includes open ar- chitecture standards unless there is a strong case against it. Linear Data Management TriMet will be implementing a geodatabase model to geo- referencing of the transit data to the centerline. Bus routes, stops, and timepoints will be referenced as SDE data layers with measures where appropriate using ESRIâs linear refer- encing data tools. The agency does not have a formal LRS, but creates bus routes that have measures to linearly refer- ence the transit data. Route topology is generated at the bus stop, timepoint, and pattern level to display the event data at different levels of granularity. The pattern and timepoint data are maintained by the scheduling program and the GIS regenerates the topology on the centerline for the different user applications. GIS Services The GIS and IT sections have collaborated in developing a number of applications that are available through the webâ GIS browser or desktop GIS interface including the follow- ing: ⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠⢠ACID (Accident and Incident Tracking System)âA mapping component (MapObjects application) for ACID (Powerbuilder application) provides the ability to view the location of the accident on a map and ac- curately store the coordinates of the location for analysis. BUDS (Bus Dispatch Mapping System Data Dis- player)âDesigned for historical analysis of service and stop event data. Includes reporting mechanisms for on-time performance, passenger census, ridership, and running times. Provides a map interface to per- form spatial analyses. Interactive System MapâOn-line application de- signed to locate specific areas in the service area, query, link to other sites, and provide detailed transit information, including aerial photography. Real-Time Bus DisplayerâDesktop application de- signed to simulate the BDS to view the real-time lo- cation of a bus and display its status. It also has the ability to view more detailed information with aerial photography that has 6 in. of resolution. SAMâDesigned to view all current information re- garding a bus stop including amenities, passenger census, historic files, and photographs of shelters. It can list stops by route and direction. SAM-WâThis system ties the stops and their ameni- ties to the on-line tracking system. Transit Feature Management (TransFM)âThis ap- plication, developed with ArcObjects, is designed to maintain spatial data such as stops, landmarks, and reroutes in a GIS. Transit MapperâApplication similar to the Interactive System Map, but designed for internal users with ad- vanced capabilities and access to additional information. A GIS database that maintains grade-crossing infor- mation along the light-rail alignment for security purposes.
40 ⢠A customer service information system that tracks customer complaints. Summary The TriMet GIS program is a successful example of an en- terprise GIS system that has achieved this status following a well-planned GIS development program. Factors in its success include the hosting of the GIS in the IT department, a centralized database, support from senior management, and the use of a common base map for the region, which takes away the need for data development and maintenance. It also helps to have an architectural vision for the enterprise GIS system and a systemâs architect in IT who can oversee the im- plementation. The program has also found that using GIS as part of operations, such as AVL, helps to sell the service to the public as well as internal customers. Building the IT in- frastructure for GIS is also an important resource that pro- vides a foundation for quick applications development.