London’s Barclays Cycle Hire

Innovative Usages of Data by Third-Party Developers

Oliver O’Brien

Research Associate

UCL CASA

UCL CENTRE FOR ADVANCED SPATIAL ANALYSIS

OBIS Project Meeting – 3 March 2011

London’s Barclays Cycle Hire - Timeline

30 July 2010 Scheme launches

2 August 2010 Adrian Short releases “Boris Bikes API”

8 October 2010 1 million journeys made

3 December 2010 Scheme opens for “casual use”

5 January 2011 Flow data on first 1.4 million journeys

released by Transport for London

1 February 2011 2.5 million journeys made

Adrian Short’s “Boris Bikes API”

• API = “Application Programming Interface”

• http://borisapi.heroku.com/

• Available as XML, JSON, CSV or KML

Sachin Handiekar’s “TfL Cycle Hire API”

• http://www.bike-stats.co.uk/

• Available as XML, JSON, CSV or YAML

Flow Data Release

Review of APIs for Some Schemes in Europe

External Use of Data API NO API

Explicitly AllowedRennes

Vienna

London

Implicitly Allowed

Saragossa Bordeaux

Barcelona

Milan

Rome

Dijon

Implicitly Not Allowed Cardiff

Explicitly Not Allowed

Paris

Dublin

Brussels

Valencia

Seville

Stockholm

Turin

Review of APIs for Some Schemes Worldwide

External Use of Data API NO API

Explicitly AllowedRennes

Vienna

Washington DC London

Implicitly Allowed

Saragossa Montreal

Melbourne

Minneapolis

Miami Beach

Rio de Janeiro

Bordeaux

Barcelona

Milan

Rome

Dijon

Mexico City

Denver

Implicitly Not Allowed Cardiff Adelaide

Explicitly Not Allowed

Paris

Dublin

Brussels

Valencia

Seville

Stockholm

Toyama Turin Shanghai

Why Release Data to Third Party Developers?

• Creation of applications to help users plan

journey from office/home or while on bike

• Visualisations and analysis which increase the

profile and “public goodwill” of the scheme

– Newspaper articles

– Higher profile on search engines

• Tourists more likely to discover scheme before arriving

• Another tangible benefit to the public

Why Do Third Parties Use Data?

• As a business

– To make money from “apps”

• To increase their profile

• For the public good

– Because they love their city

• Academic research

– Transport modelling

• To hold the scheme to account

What Data can be Released?

• Near-live (~1 minute)

– Docking station status

• Name

• Numeric ID

• Location as latitude/longitude

• Current number of available bikes

• Current number of available spaces

• Historical

– Flow data

Online Digital Mapping Providers

• OpenStreetMap

Online Digital Mapping Providers

• CycleStreets

iPhone and Android Apps

• London Cycle Deluxe

• London Cycle Maps and

Routes/London Cycle Pro

• Cycle Hire

• London Cycle Pro

• Bike Hub Cycle Journey Planner

• London Tube

• BlueLanes Cycle Hire App

• London Bike

• Bixou/Bixou Lite

• Cyclo

• Spotcycle

• iFindBikes

• iLondonCycle

• Boris Bikes

• Yell for Bikes

• Cycle Hire Widget/Lite

• Just BikeIT London

• Boris Bikes Live

• London Cycle Hire LIVE

iPhone Apps

London Cycle Cycle Hire Live

iPhone Apps – Augmented Reality

BlueLanes London Tube (Presslite)

Android Apps – Cycle Hire Widget

Android Apps – Cycle Hire Widget

• Links with “Live View” gadget

Visualisations – Docking Station States

Visualisations – Docking Station Changes

Visualisations – Flows: Journey Times

Visualisations – Flows: Weekdays

Visualisations – Flows: Weekends

Visualisations – Flows on Optimal Routes

Visualisations – Flows on Optimal Routes

A Bit of Analysis – Docking Station Graphs

A Bit of Analysis – Distribution Balance

Academic Research

Thanks!

Oliver O’Brien

o.obrien@ucl.ac.uk

http://casa.ucl.ac.uk/

http://www.oliverobrien.co.uk/

p1 photo by ChodHound - http://flic.kr/p/9aJezh

p11, 12, 14, 18-24 Images contain OpenStreetMap data CC-By-

SA OpenStreetMap and contributors –

http://www.openstreetmap.org/

p12, 14 CycleStreets background cartography design by

Cloudmade.

p15 Photos of London Tube from Pressliteapps video.

p16-17 Cycle Hire Widget is written by Little Fluffy Toys.

p17 Photos from London Cyclist Blog and Appbrain.

p20 Average Journey Time map from James Cheshire –

http://spatialanalysis.org.uk/

p23 Greyscale routed flow map by Demeter Sztanko –

http://borisbikes.saltaku.com/

p24 Visualisation in conjunction with Martin Austiwick –

http://sociablephysics.wordpress.com/

p25 Docking station graphs by Aidan Slingsby –

http://gicentre.org/tfl_bikes/