Consume a GTFS-Realtime VehiclePositions feed for live vehicle location

domain: gtfs.org · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗

Steps

  1. Fetch the VehiclePositions protobuf feed URL published by the agency (often a separate endpoint from TripUpdates/Alerts)
  2. Decode with the gtfs-realtime.proto VehiclePosition message per gtfs.org/documentation/realtime/reference/
  3. Read position.latitude/longitude, and optionally bearing, odometer, and speed (meters/second)
  4. Correlate vehicle.id or trip.trip_id back to the static feed to label the vehicle's route/headsign
  5. Re-poll at the cadence recommended in the realtime best-practices doc since vehicle positions change fastest of the three feed types

Known gotchas

Related routes

Consume a GTFS-Realtime feed for live vehicle positions, trip updates, and service alerts
gtfs.org · 5 steps · unrated
Consume a GTFS-Realtime TripUpdates feed for predicted arrival/departure times
gtfs.org · 5 steps · unrated
Follow GTFS-Realtime feed polling and freshness best practices
gtfs.org · 5 steps · unrated

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