{"id":734292,"date":"2025-02-10T13:07:49","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T21:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&p=734292"},"modified":"2025-02-10T13:07:49","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T21:07:49","slug":"aptas-industry-footprint-app-underpins-its-support-of-public-transportation","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/aptas-industry-footprint-app-underpins-its-support-of-public-transportation","title":{"rendered":"APTA\u2019s Industry Footprint App Underpins Its Support of Public Transportation"},"author":5752,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[24962],"tags":[491562,163382,20422,481992,7142],"arcuser_issues":[491442],"class_list":["post-734292","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focus","tag-apta","tag-arcgis-online","tag-arcgis-pro","tag-public-transit","tag-transportation","arcuser_issues-winter-2025"],"acf":{"short_description":"The American Public Transportation Association\u2019s Industry Footprint app communicates vital information about public transportation projects.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), public transportation is a $79 billion industry in the United States, employs more than 430,000 people, and supports millions of private sector jobs.\r\n\r\nAPTA, which supports and advocates for public transit initiatives, has long used ArcGIS technology to provide data analysis to its membership. This service evolved in the past few years into APTA\u2019s Industry Footprint application.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe application collects, analyzes, and presents key statistics at the national, state, and local levels,\u201d said Matthew Dickens, senior director of policy development and research for APTA. \u201cIt provides insight into APTA membership, public transportation providers, transit services, transportation equipment manufacturing and the associated supply chain, and legislative contact information.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe app, created primarily using ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online, is used by the association\u2019s 1,500 members as well as decision-makers to communicate information about public transportation projects, funding, and initiatives. With this information, the app helps APTA and its members communicate the significant impact of the public transportation industry across the country\u2014the first step in advocating for more impactful and efficient\r\npublic transportation."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Building the App<\/h2>\r\nTo develop the application, APTA collaborated with two Esri partners. SymGEO, a Maryland-based company that specializes in geospatial data analytics, provided support for data development and cartography, while GeoMarvel contributed to application development and solution architecture.\r\n\r\n\u201cArcGIS Online hosts all feature services and tabular data in the application,\u201d says Kevin McMaster, principal at SymGEO. \u201cAn ArcGIS web map supplies the cartographic symbology pop-up information and design. All data analysis is performed in ArcGIS Pro.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Industry Footprint application retrieves data that has been preprocessed in ArcGIS Pro and uses the data to populate a series of graphs, charts, tables, and summary statistics for the user. A map-focused report is then created for the selected area of interest."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":734302,"image_position":"right","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Data used in the app includes General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) files, public transport equipment manufacturing locations, transit agency service areas, transportation grants, and current legislative district boundaries.\r\n\r\nThe GTFS data is used to distribute relevant information about public bus networks to riders in a series of text files.\r\n\r\n\u201cEach GTFS file includes a specific aspect of transit information including stops, routes, trips, and other schedule-related data,\u201d said Jon Nordling, CEO of GeoMarvel. \u201cTo use this data, we collect all available GTFS feeds from municipalities or transit authorities using Python scripting and combine them into a single data layer to identify bus stop locations. We then buffer out those stops by a quarter mile to help identify gaps in bus stop coverage.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Public Transit Opportunity Index was developed based on population density, access to vehicles, household income, frequency of solo automobile commuting, traffic volume, price of fuel, and current use of public transit.\r\n\r\nTo better understand the populations that use public transportation, APTA employs Esri Tapestry Segmentation, a data portfolio that classifies and provides detailed summaries of communities throughout the United States. The classifications are divided into 67 distinct markets.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Tapestry data helps us gain a deeper neighborhood understanding and develop an engagement strategy,\u201d said Dickens. \u201cDetails include gender, race, ethnicity, income, worth, and typical occupations. Combining these market profiles with housing information and population-growth data provides a comprehensive view of a region or locale.\u201d\r\n\r\nSearch capabilities in the app include a number of selection options\u2014local legislator, state, APTA member, or committee name. Based on the specific search, the app provides detailed spatial data and aggregated statistics."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":734312,"image_position":"left","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

The Road Ahead<\/h2>\r\nThe chief benefit of APTA\u2019s Industry Footprint app is that it streamlines the search for information necessary for public transportation advocates as well as the public to paint a clear, cohesive picture of the current state of public transportation in their communities and in the United States as a whole.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat would have taken days of research and analysis just a short time ago can now be accomplished in seconds,\u201d said Dickens. \u201c[This leaves] more time to share, discuss, and act on the information presented by the application.\u201d\r\n\r\nOf course, challenges arose during the process of app development. Nordling cited the volume of print requests that can occur during periods of heavy usage,\r\nfor instance.\r\n\r\n\u201cMonitoring the requests and confirming their completion was a technical challenge solved using innovative cloud architecture,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nMaintaining the linkage between legislator data and the Industry Footprint app using application programming interfaces (APIs) in the event of an API failure was also critical. To solve this problem, the periodic download of all API data to Amazon S3 storage made it available to the user at all times."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":734322,"image_position":"right","orientation":"vertical","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cWe are continually adding capabilities and enhancing features of the Footprint application,\u201d said Dickens. \u201cOur current focus is on improving the search experience for APTA members, and providing summary statistics for each member in the districts in which they are located. Advances in charting libraries and enhancing the mobile experience will continue to make the application more accessible to a wider audience.\u201d\r\n\r\nDickens, too, emphasized that ease of access and accessibility were clear priorities for the app, noting that \u201cthe application brings best-available data from a wide variety of sources together, conducts detailed relevant analysis, and presents the results in a visually pleasing and compelling report format.\u201d\r\n\r\nThus far, users of the application have lauded the extensive datasets available to them, which allow a wide range of analytical capabilities for the transportation industry.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Industry Footprint application provides a one-stop solution for public transportation policy advocates looking for information to present to legislative leaders and decision-makers,\u201d said Dickens."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"Explore APTA\u2019s Industry Footprint app<\/a>.","snippet":""}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nAPTA\u2019s Industry Footprint App Underpins Its Support of Public Transportation | Winter 2025 | ArcUser<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The American Public Transportation Association\u2019s Industry Footprint app communicates vital information about public transportation projects.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/aptas-industry-footprint-app-underpins-its-support-of-public-transportation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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