More transport data released for commuters, app developers
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gave out awards for the hackathon (left), which was held over four days at the Devan Nair Institute. Photo: Ernest Chua/TODAY
SINGAPORE — Commuters, motorists and cyclists now have access to more sets of data that could help them in their daily journeys.
Five sets of data will be added to the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) MyTransport.SG web portal, including real-time bus arrival times and how packed each bus is, taxi availability, as well as the locations of MRT station exits, covered linkways and footpaths. These are in addition to the existing 40 datasets, such as Electronic Road Pricing rates, details about road works and car park availability.
These additional information, said LTA chief executive Chew Men Leong today (April 19), will also give app developers more to work with in coming up with new transport-related mobile apps. “Everyone will have access to these data, be it prominent transport app developers such as Citymapper or budding tech enthusiasts on the street,” said Mr Chew.
“Sharing of the data is also part of the Smart Nation initiative to encourage co-creation between the Government and citizens, said the LTA today. The data is hosted on Microsoft’s cloud platform, it added, in a joint statement with Microsoft Singapore.
Currently, the data under the MyTransport.SG web portal sees over four million downloads every month by business partners, research institutions and third-party developers. The data has been used to design more than 40 transport-related mobile apps, including TrafficLah, Carpark@SG and SG Traffic Cam.
LTA group director for innovation and infocomm technology, Ms Rosina Howe-Teo said “crowdsourcing for ideas, co-creating with third-parties and collaborating with renowned research institutions have helped the LTA achieve what could not have been possible to achieve”.
The sharing of the data “is a great example of how city leaders can involve citizens and communities to co-develop and co-create innovative transport solutions ... to benefit the community and general land transport users”, added Microsoft Singapore’s director for developer experience and evangelism Nobuhiro Ito.
The additional sets of data were made available for the inaugural youth hackathon organised by the LTA for land transport solutions.
