So I've been archiving ttc bus/streetcar GPS data since 2015 because I knew there's tremendous potential but I'm still really struggling to make good use of it. Well actually I was collecting and using before 2015 as well but I wasn't storing it - I only have archive data to 2015. I used it back in 2011 as part of myttc.ca. In 2014 I used it for this queen street comparison and also in 2015 I used it for this more detailed storm performance comparison. Later in 2015 I used it as part of our first place win at Traffic Jam - you know, no big deal. Then in 2020 I was taking the streetcar across the city so I decided to compare that gps with the TTCs reported data.
So after finding that the vertical projection I created previously was a bit hard to read - especially regarding the opposing direction lines overlapping like an X, I decided to try and project the data on a circle. Also the vertical graph doesn't work when the bus route follows a different returning path, in this case it works a++. Branching routes of course are still not supported. I have a live version in webgl here, if you can't view it (it might take a few seconds to load the data) then here is a screenshot of what it should look like. You can speed up time and increase the amount of time displayed - I call this constricting and dilating because it reminds me of a persons eyeball when they do drugs. Not that I have any knowledge of such things. (I don't but I've seen hollywood movies)
If you can believe it, webgl is a fair bit of work and difficult to quickly iterate on - so you know, I did that think where instead of just doing a bit more work, I rewrote it all from scratch in D3. I'm an idiot but hey I did it for you. Also this version has the actual route in the middle to better indicate what you're looking at. Oh, also I fed the GPS data into a neutral network to predict the future performance of the vehicle, that's displayed as a dotted line.
I'm pretty done with this project for the moment, but if you have any ideas or suggestions or tips or money, send me an email and maybe I'll even respond
I recorded my iPhone's GPS position over time while taking the streetcar across Toronto so that I could compare it with the official GPS position reported by the TTC, the results are both great and meh at the same time.
As a summary, I went from Long Branch (the west end) eastward to Spadina. Half way through (at Humber Loop) all the streetcars were turning around in both directions so I had to transfer to a different streetcar, which continued my trip to Spadina. I took the GPS positions and converted them to UTM and then converted to a "distance along shape" in meters with the street car stops labelled as shown in the following plot. It's all a bit hand wavy but I guess you just have to trust me.
As you can see, it becomes pretty accurate east of Dufferin but the previous vehicle near Royal York is actually pretty terrible, sometimes as bad as 2 minutes incorrect. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but that could end up being a totally different vehicle. I'm not sure if it's my error or the TTCs and I'm not going to form an opinion until I have more data - a single ride is definitely not enough that's for sure. Still interesting enough to share.
