A regular feature we’d like to get going at this site is periodic updates on recent developments with OTP. Some developments may not warrant a full-length article here but are still of interest to the OTP community. Below are some current items:
- OTP 0.7.10 released: Version 0.7.10 of OTP was released yesterday; the latest tagged source tree can be downloaded from Github and artifacts are also on the Maven repo. This release includes a number of bug fixes and enhancements; among the most notable is a fix to a longstanding issue with bridge topography that was producing inaccurate elevation profiles, sometimes severe enough to affect the routing algorithm. In short, the models OTP typically uses are terrain models rather than surface models, meaning that the profile for a route along a bridge that traverses a deep ravine would follow the terrain of the ravine, rather than the surface of the bridge (see below left). OTP now accounts for this issue when processing bridge links from OpenStreetMap and generates elevation profiles consistent with what a cyclist or pedestrian actually experiences (below right).
- iOS KickStarter Campaign Underway — As you may have heard, transit trip planning via Google Maps will no longer be a built-in feature on the iPhone and iPad with the release of iOS 6, expected later this fall. While the news has disappointed many transit riders who rely on their iPhones for directions, it also presents an opportunity for third-party app providers to expand their presence on the platform. To that end, OpenPlans has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund development of a native iOS app that would support multimodal trip planning, backed by OTP, for all cities in North America with open transit data. Please help spread the word!
- Coming Soon: Leaflet-Based UI — OTP developers have been experimenting recently with Leaflet, a lightweight Javascript mapping library that emphasis mobile-friendly interfaces. An initial experiment with Leaflet and OTP, an OTP-backed trip planner for New York’s soon-to-be-launched CitiBike bike share system, has been well-received by users, and work is currently underway on generalizing that UI to other OTP-based applications. Stay tuned for more updates!
