July 29, 2022 10:12 am

Introducing the Canonical GTFS Schedule Validator desktop app

A desktop app and an interface for the Canonical GTFS Schedule Validator have been officially released, making it an accessible tool for more users.

Friday, July 29, 2022, Montreal, Quebec, Canada — MobilityData is officially introducing the new GTFS Schedule Validator desktop application. It was built with the immense help of the open source community with a special mention to Google for creating the desktop app, and to Trillium for creating a first iteration of the user interface that MobilityData took inspiration from.

“We want to increase the validator use by small transit agencies and increase the overall visibility, so that small transit agencies have access to the high-quality, free, and accessible GTFS resources they deserve.”
Isabelle de Robert, Product Manager, Data Quality

High quality GTFS data is crucial for making the data work with trip planning apps and for providing passengers with the information they need. Currently, MobilityData’s GTFS Schedule Validator is already being used by major trip planning apps such as Google Maps, Transit, and Moovit.

🙌 No more GitHub, no more headaches!

Previously, there was no way to run the Canonical GTFS Schedule Validator without good technical knowledge. Now as a desktop application, users only need to download the application, load the GTFS dataset, and open the results in the browser. We took this opportunity to design a logo for the validator.

Also, to make GTFS validation easier, a new validation page will be added to gtfs.org with a detailed “how-to” guide.

👩‍💻Using the GTFS Schedule Validator

Here is a step-by-step on how to use the desktop application.

1- You need to download the latest installer on our release page (this is under Assets). As of July 2022, the latest release is 3.1.0. Here are the links to download the validator application:

2- Open the desktop application and load your GTFS dataset: select an URL or a folder (it doesn’t have to be zipped!). When the validation is finished, the results will automatically open in your browser (if you can’t see them, just open the report.html file that got created in the output path).

3- And… that’s it! You will see if the validator found issues with the data, and links to our documentation for how to fix them. The validation report will be saved on your computer as report.html, so it can easily be saved and shared with others.

💡How to contribute

This validator is open source, and everything happens on GitHub. Interested in contributing? Please read our Contribution Guidelines and visit our GitHub repository.

(No, you don’t need to know how to code to contribute to this project and yes, your ideas are great!)

Get in touch with isabelle@mobilitydata.org if you have questions or need any support.

About MobilityData

MobilityData began in 2015 as a Rocky Mountain Institute project with the mission to improve travelers’ information. It extended its mission and reach by becoming a Canadian non-profit in 2019 and a French one in 2021. With over 20 employees worldwide, MobilityData brings together and supports international mobility stakeholders such as transport agencies, software vendors, mobility apps, and cities to standardize and expand data formats such as GTFS and GBFS for public transport and shared mobility. MobilityData acts as an industry facilitator, creating opportunities for strengthened interoperability while assisting the industry’s rapid transformation through training and tools. Learn more on mobilitydata.org.

For more information:
Elisabeth Poirier-Defoy
Interim Executive Director
elisabeth@mobilitydata.org