Broadcast real-time data in GTFS-RT

You can configure an Exchange Partner to broadcast your data in GTFS-RT with Ara. Like many networks, you can decide to broadcast your real-time data over a public or private API and share it with your consumers.

In Ara, you simply create a dedicated Exchange Partner with the following configuration (for more details, see our Ara User Manual):

• The connectors that broadcast the real-time offer in GTFS-RT:

  • Trip Updates Broadcaster, for trip/route information

  • Vehicle Positions Broadcaster, for vehicle position information

  • Service Alerts Broadcaster, for service alerts (disruptions, events)

• The remote_code_space field:

  • This field indicates the type of identifier Ara must use to match the real-time data with the scheduled data. This ensures consistency between real-time and planned information.

At this stage, the Exchange Partner is configured to be publicly accessible. Consumers such as Google, Moovit and others can therefore freely access the data and offer their services. Of course, a caching system is in place to ensure the quality and speed of the feeds.

If you would rather have a private API, simply add a local_credential setting, which becomes the connection identifier for sharing your data. You then provide this identifier to the various authorised consumers so they can access your data. Consumers then send this local_credential in the Authorization: Token=<local_credential> HTTP header of their requests.

For the full description of all parameters, see Ara Partner Parameters.