ITS4US Deployment Program Phase 2 Webinar: University of Washington

About this Session

GTFS-Pathways: Advancing Indoor Transit Data Interoperability, with Accessibility-first principles, University of Washington, Transportation Data Equity Initiative

The GTFS-Pathways schema extension was designed to enhance the way riders navigate indoor transit facilities. GTFS-Pathways aims to seamlessly integrate indoor navigation information into the well-established General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) framework, but in its current form exhibits certain deficiencies with regards to closing informational gaps for all travelers. The schema was also intended to empower transit agencies, developers, and facility managers in enhancing the indoor transit experience for millions of commuters worldwide, but the current tooling ecosystem has not fully supported these stakeholders in producing or consuming the data. In this webinar, our team will delve into some of the schema deficiencies our participatory design research identified pertaining to simplifying indoor navigation and enhancing user experience. After suggesting some schema modifications, we will also discuss new tools our team created to improve the experience of collecting and consuming this data, towards enhancing producers' experience in publishing the data and collaborative data integration.

Join us to unlock the potential of GTFS-Pathways and explore how the Transportation Data Equity Initiative can support agency collections of accessible, routable indoor transit facility data.

Date: Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Time: 10:30 am – 12:00 pm ET

Presenters: Kate Hartman, ITS JPO/FHWA; Dr. Anat Caspi, Taskar Center for Accessible Technology, University of Washington

Program Background

The ITS4US Deployment Program, led by the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS JPO) at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), expands access to transportation for all travelers with a specific focus on underserved communities, including people with disabilities, older adults, veterans, individuals of low income, people in rural communities and those with limited English proficiency. This program embodies the Administration’s priorities of transportation equity, economic growth, sustainability, and most importantly, compassion and inclusivity. The program funds multiple large-scale replicable deployments in three phases:

• Phase 1: concept development
• Phase 2: design and testing
• Phase 3: operations and evaluation

In June 2022, the deployment sites completed the concept development phase of each of their projects. The USDOT awarded four teams with Phase 2 funding to support the design and testing of their projects based on their Phase 1 concepts. The four deployment sites are:

• Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT)
• Heart of Iowa Regional Transit Agency (HIRTA)
• Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA)/Buffalo
• University of Washington (UW)

For more details on the ITS4US Deployment program, see the program’s website at: https://its.dot.gov/its4us/.

Webinar Series Information

ITS JPO is hosting a series of free, public webinars to allow each of the four Phase 2 deployment sites to publicly share topics and experiences that would be of interest to deployers considering innovative technology solutions to solve mobility challenges of underserved communities. These webinars will be an opportunity for each site to discuss their experiences during the Design/Build Test/Phase and engage the broader ITS4US Deployment Program Community about their efforts so far in Phase 2. At the end of the presentation, there will be an opportunity for the audience to ask the site questions about their project. Future deployers can benefit from lessons learned and experiences from the ITS4US deployment teams.

Accommodations

Live closed captioning will be provided during this webinar. Please note that the deadline to request additional accessibility accommodations for this webinar is September 27, 2023.