Tag: applications

Obtaining Chicago Transit Authority geodata

October 12, 2010 / / 0 Comments

A reader asked where they could get Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) data I didn’t already have on the “Find GIS data” page. I only had shapefiles for train lines and stations. Now I’ve got bus routes and stops.

You can download General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data from the CTA’s Developer Center. It’s updated regularly when service changes.

Screenshot from ESRI ArcMap showing the unedited shapes.txt file loaded via Tools>Add XY Data. Shapes.txt is an 18 MB comma-delimited text file with thousands of points that can be grouped together with their shape_id.

The GTFS has major benefits over providing shapefiles to the public.

  1. It can be easily converted to the common shapefile format, or KML format.
  2. Google, the inventor of GTFS, has defined and documented it well; it is unencoded and plaintext. These attributes make it easy for programmers and hackers to manipulate it in many ways. (see also item 4)
  3. Google provides a service to the public on its website, an easy to use and robust transit planning service.
  4. The data is stored as plaintext CSV files.
  5. While an agency like CTA may have a geodata server on its intranet, it is less likely it has the addons that provide mapping and geodata services for the internet. A server like Web Mapping Service, or ArcIMS. These systems can be expensive to purchase and license. And we all know how the CTA seems to always be in a money crunch. While the CTA updates its GTFS data for publishing to Google Maps, the public can download it simultaneously to always have up-to-date information, providing the same geodata that ArcIMS or WMS would offer but for no additional cost.

I couldn’t have pulled off this conversion in 24 hours without the help of Steven Romalewski’s blog, Spatiality. He pointed me to the right ArcMap plugin in this post about converting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s GTFS data into shapefiles. I hope Steven doesn’t move to Chicago less my authority on GIS and transit be placed in check!

Make your own map of the CTA train routes and perform some kind of analysis – then share it with the rest of us!

Read more about my exercise in geodata conversion in the full post.
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How to geocode a single address in QGIS

October 3, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Since the last time I wrote about how to use BatchGeocode.com to perform pseudo-geocoding tasks in QGIS, there have been considerable improvements in the multi-platform, free, and open source GIS software. Now, geocoding (turning addresses into coordinates) is more automatic, albeit difficult to setup. (Okay, this has been around June 2009 and I just found out about it in October 2010.)

Once you install all the components, you’ll never have to do this again.

This method can only geocode one address at a time, but it will geocode all of the addresses into a single shapefile.

  1. Download QGIS.
  2. Download and install Python SetupTools. This includes the easy_install function that will download a necessary Python script, simplejson. On Mac you will have to use the Terminal (Applications>Utilities). Email me if you run into problems.
  3. Install simplejson. In the command line (Terminal for Mac; in Windows press Start>Run>”cmd”>Enter), type “easy_install simplejson”.
  4. Download the GeoCode plugin by Alessandro Pasotti via QGIS>Plugins>Fetch Python Plugins. You may have to load additional repositories to see it.
  5. Install geopy. In the command line (like step 3), type “easy_install geopy”.
  6. Specify your project’s projection in File>Project Properties.
  7. Get a Google Maps API key and tell the GeoCode plugin about it (QGIS>Plugins>GeoCode>Settings). You will need a Google account. If you don’t have your own domain name, you can just enter “google.com” when it asks for your domain.
  8. Geocode your first address by clicking on Plugins>GeoCode>Geocode. Type the full address (e.g. 121 N LaSalle Street, Chicago, IL for City Hall).
  9. The geocoded address will then appear in your Layers list as its own shapefile. All addresses geocoded (or reverse geocoded) in this project will appear in the same layer (therefore same attribute table).

Once you install all the components, you’ll never have to do this again. Geocoding will be available each and every time you use QGIS in the future on that workstation.

Tips

  • When you’re done geocoding,  save your results as a shapefile (right click the layer and click “Save as shapefile”). Twice I’ve lost my results after saving the project and quitting QGIS. When I reopened the project, the results layer was still listed, but contained no data.
  • Add a “name” column to the GeoCoding Plugin Results layer’s attribute table (toggle editing first). You can then type in the name of the building or destination at the address you geocoded. Edit the layer’s properties to have that name appear as a label for the point.

A map I made with QGIS showing three geocoded points of interest in Chicago. Data from City of Chicago’s GIS team.

 

Trying out new GIS software

October 2, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I want to draw 50 and 120 feet buffers around the points of store entrances to show where bike parking should and shouldn’t be installed. I want to follow this example:

walgreens with bike parking buffers

Aerial photo of a Tucson, Arizona, Walgreens showing the location of existing bike parking and two buffers (50 and 120 feet) where proposed city rules would allow bike parking. I advocate for ratifying the 50 feet rule, which I’ve discussed on this blog and elsewhere many times.

I want to do this easily and accurately, so I will use GIS software to create a “buffer.” I use QGIS occasionally, but I want to try out other Mac-friendly applications. I’m getting my orthoimagery (geometrically corrected aerial photography) from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) using a web protocol called Web Map Server. I’m trying:

  • Cartographica, $495, with free trial license.
  • uDig, completely free software. UPDATE: I have had NO success getting any data to load from a WMS connection into uDig. I would like to understand why. Cartographica can obtain some of the WMS-stored data I want, although it messes up often.

I’m having success with neither – both are having issues downloading or maintaining a connection to the USGS orthoimagery. In one case, Cartographica trims the Bing Maps imagery to match the extent of my other objects (the buffer). In another case, it won’t even download the USGS imagery (and gives no indication that anything is happening). uDig hasn’t been able to download anything so far – I hope it’s asking for the current extent, instead of all data because it’s taking a looong time to do anything (so long that I just quit in the  middle of it).

This screenshot shows how to add new WMS connections to Cartographica.

UPDATE: I did it! I successfully used Cartographica (and the integrated Bing Maps) to create this drawing that shows the current (abysmal) bike parking at a Chicago Home Depot outside the 50 feet line.

Can we use location-based services to make urban planning “rise”?

August 19, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Facebook launched a feature called Places that allows its users to “check in” to Places and to see where their friends are. People can also see where the most popular venue is at any given time (provided they have friends there).

SeeClickFix has mobile apps (and a website) that enables users (in participating locales) to report issues (like graffiti and potholes) in their neighborhoods.

Augmented reality apps for smartphones overlay the virtual world (of yellow pages and restaurant reviews) on the physical world depending on where you point your phone’s camera.

Is there something (an app, a concept, a teaching) that we can develop that uses these apps or the same technology to raise awareness of “urban planning” in all of our cities’ citizens? Such a scheme would attempt to educate and involve more people into the city’s social, cultural and built environments, the urban fabric (buzzword alert!), as well as the history of their surroundings.

Possible scenarios

1. While riding the train through a neighborhood, the new location-based service that encompasses everything about urban planning might aggregate information relevant to the location and activity. Perhaps the application would display to the user information about the history of this particular elevated train’s construction on this branch as well as pull up information on upcoming schedule changes. Lastly, the transit operator may ask the user to take a survey about this particular trip, looking for information on how the user accessed the station (via bike, walking, car, or bus?).

2. My friend Brandon Souba created a proof-of-concept app called Handshake that tells you about nearby app users with similar interests. But this hardly raises civic or urban awareness. Maybe non-profit organizations who need volunteers could create profiles in Handshake and when you’re near a staff member or the headquarters, your phone alerts you to a possible volunteer opportunity.

3. What are your ideas?