[Open-transport] API for Deutsche Bahn Fernverkehr schedules

Tue Mar 1 21:24:17 UTC 2016

Am 2016-02-28 um 17:41 schrieb Stefan de Konink:
> On Sunday, February 28, 2016 5:33:12 PM CEST, Aleksei Valikov wrote:
>> This API is a major victory for DB Open Data.
>
> Nonsense. DB partners have access to this things for months now, and
> having the same bugs.
>
> These kind of releases are there to shut people up with: "Hey we are
> open!! Look at our API!!" Because politicians have no context why these
> kind of publications are done in such way that there is total control
> over how data is reused.

I expressed my feelings about that release in the promised blog post on 
Sunday, read it here in German: 
<https://okfn.de/blog/2016/02/offene-fahrplandaten-von-der-bahn/>

Well, where shall I start. I feel like I'm playing a real-life 
hidden-markov-game, where I have to deduce what's going on behind the 
scenes of DB by carefully examining what's being done and said.

Remember that we're talking about an entity that a) only a few years ago 
threatened to sue Michael Kreil for publishing their (already published) 
timetable information in another format; b) consists of a myriad of 
subsidiaries that don't even share data _with each other_ and in which 
c) every head of department appears (at least to me, as an outsider) to 
be something of their independent monarch, reigning as s*he sees to be fit.

Right now we can observe the HAFAS-API being re-engineered to be a) 
legally sound, with an open license attached to it, and, b) a discussion 
being underways as what needs further to be done. GTFS was high on the 
list and from what I've gathered, the feed not being released as well 
was more an issue of time and red tape, not one of (lack of) good will.

I _really_ wish that discussion would have happened before the release, 
because I can relate very well to the disappointment that has been flung 
around here and on Twitter. Had I not been at the workshop, I'd probably 
been spewing vile comments on Twitter all weekend long and been in a 
foul mood ever since.
That said, keep in mind that – at least in my opinion – the big launch 
event with all the Schampus was mainly directed at the big-wigs _within_ 
Deutsche Bahn, to commit them to finally opening up their goddamn data 
troves. It's a bit unfortunate that this grander scheme of things wasn't 
communicated to the community as a whole.

I second the calls for a list of things to expect from transit 
providers. It has been ages since the first open transport manifesto, 
and right now would be the time to draw the lines – as has not at all 
been the case with, for instance, SNCFs “open” API that needs you to 
sign up and puts a cap on what you can request per day, if you want it 
for free.

Now would also be the time to think about the opportunities and 
challenges to be had with real cross-european rail schedule data, be it 
in GTFS form or through an API.
Because, just take a look at the issues Philipp Bock ran into with the 
EuroNight 23 Moscow-Berlin-Paris 
<https://github.com/pbock/fahrplan#timezone-support>. This beast runs 
3169km, and while it “only” crosses two time zones (MSK/FET and CET), 
CET does daylight savings, while FET doesn't. That should bring tears of 
joy to everybody who works with this, and from what I know, GTFS does 
fuck all to help with this situation ;)

regards,
-stk