G2Viz: an online tool for visualizing and analyzing a public transit system from GTFS data

Abstract

Public transit agencies have amassed substantial data through on-board and off-board sensors over the years. While data collection was the primary focus, there’s now a shift towards deriving actionable insights from this wealth of information. As data-driven decision-making becomes increasingly vital, there’s a growing need for effective ways to visualize and convey complex insights to decision-makers. This study addresses this need by introducing G2Viz, a visualizer for public transit operations. The development process of G2Viz spans requirement gathering, planning, and design, encompassing software architecture, data models, user interfaces, and system components. Rigorous implementation and testing ensure the tool’s functionality and effectiveness. G2Viz, designed to dynamically visualize public transit operations using General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data, is a web application accessible globally via any web browser. Its open-source nature, robustness, and versatility facilitate communication among transit agencies, users, researchers, and city authorities. G2Viz empowers transit planners to make well-informed decisions about public transportation.