Map bus routes on to Google Maps?

September 26, 2009 5:28 PM

How would I go about mapping bus routes onto a Google map?

Since Google's transit thinger doesn't yet incorporate my city (Indianapolis), I'd like to put something together myself. Ideal end result: a map of Indianapolis that shows the routes of all the buses (colour-coded, to make it easier to read; pink = the 27, etc). I have almost no programming knowledge, outside of an elemental knowledge of Python, and I wouldn't know where to start after looking up the API info on Google.

Is it worth my time (or even possible) to do this with the Maps API, or would my time be better spent just opening up Photoshop and doing it manually? Or is there a better way I havent' thought of?

posted by nostrich to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Best answer: If you have a google account, you can ave and share a map you make without using the API. Theoretically you could pick a color for each line an place a marker at each stop. The map wouldn't be able to give transit directions in Google maps, but the original Philly version of a Google subway map was done like this, and we residents used it. I know it is possible to make a cleaner flash version with the API, but if you have to learn the software it might not be worth it.
posted by itsonreserve at 5:35 PM on September 26, 2009

Response by poster: I'm not concerned about getting transit results, I know that is unlikely to be possible, I just want the map as a reference. The transit system in Indy is woefully inadequate compared to what I'm used to in the UK, and not knowing the city very well makes the resources they provide not very useful without a map reference.

Saving a Google map is a good idea, I'll check that out.
posted by nostrich at 5:47 PM on September 26, 2009

Best answer: Have you already considered using the system map that indygo provides? If that doesn't work for you, then you'll have a bit of a headstart because indygo gives you the timetables in Excel format. There looks to be around 30 fixed routes with approximately 10 intersections per route. If I wanted to avoid programming, I take a list of the intersections and edit them so that google maps could recognize them, i.e. strings like, "7th Ave & Flower Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90291". Then I'd ask google maps to route between intersections and click and drag google's suggested routes to match the actual bus routes.
posted by rdr at 6:17 PM on September 26, 2009

You should be able to use the google maps "My Maps" feature. It's pretty cool. It's how I created this one of the Kansas City school districts.
posted by jferg at 6:52 PM on September 26, 2009

I think you might want ScheduleViewer.Note that this will also show scheduling data for you; it's meant to validate a feed to be imported into Google Transit but there's nothing stopping you from making your own feed for it.
posted by sergent at 8:46 PM on September 26, 2009

Best answer: Here in the Boston area, someone created a wonderful map that highlights the bus routes on top of the google map (and is searchable in lots of useful ways). You might try contacting the author; there is an article here with more information.
posted by nat at 9:17 PM on September 26, 2009

You could use mkmap.com to create such a map , Example map of Dublin
posted by Sharcho at 4:18 PM on September 27, 2009

Response by poster: rdr: For some reason, I could not find that map when I looked for it. However, that's a pretty useless map, so I think I'll still try to make something myself.

Going the "My Maps" route, I think. Thanks, everyone.
posted by nostrich at 11:34 AM on September 28, 2009