Will The MTA's Release Of Real Time Muni Arrival Data End Developer Harassment From Private Company?
Please scroll down for updates You probably know the story already -- scrappy developer Steven Peterson made an iPhone app called Routesy to help users...
These are the comments for Will The MTA's Release Of Real Time Muni Arrival Data End Developer Harassment From Private Company?
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Greg Dewar said:
November 11, 2009 11:21 AM
Reply
This is good news, and it's too bad Muni doesn't publicize it more. Sucks to be iCommute, they paid the extortion fees for nada!
Fred said:
November 11, 2009 2:23 PM
Reply
This whole incident demonstrates why "intellectual property" law needs radical reform.
Kelly Beener said:
November 13, 2009 11:04 AM
Reply
When we launched iCommute-SF we were soon contacted by NextBus Information Systems. They informed us of their distribution rights and that they would be happy to work with us, providing data under a simple and straightforward licensing arrangement. Being experienced software and mobile developers we understand that working openly and fairly with the legal owner of the distribution rights is beneficial in the long term by best serving the most important party, the end users. Having an official partnership gave us better and more accurate information and subsequently a more robust and reliable application. We did not ask for nor receive exclusivity, therefore the arrangement was open to all developers.
We have seen the agreement that governs the relationship between NextBus and NBIS and believe that NBIS has represented itself with integrity. When Muni released the data for public use we were able to adjust the relationship with NBIS accordingly. We are all intelligent people and able to communicate effectively and adapt our agreements to reflect a changing landscape.
One might state that simply because a situation is bound by contract doesn’t make it fair or sensible. And this is true. However, we believe the NextBus Information Systems Franchise Agreement to be sensible and frankly, of benefit to independent developers. The fee was quite marginal in cost yet granted much in the way of direct access, information and reliability.
SF Muni riders have been able to access real-time Muni and BART predictions freely using iCommute-Lite for several weeks now and we have found that the user base is growing rapidly. We encourage SF iPhone users to try our free app and see if it provides a better transit riding experience.
Happy Commuting!