Update on Trackernet Feed
7TH SEPTEMBER 2010
We are aware from all the comments on the Datastore blog that there is a lot of frustration in the developer community regarding the restoration of the TfL Trackernet feed. We hope that the recent release by TfL of bus and tube timetables and schedules along with the release of their live message boards and live traffic disruptions gives you some assurance regarding TfL’s ongoing commitment to the release of their data.
When Trackernet went live initially there was an understandable huge spike in usage which accounted for almost 10 million hits in a two-week period. This put tremendous pressure on the Trackernet system so much so that Trackernet was unavailable for a nine hour period. Clearly this impacted directly on TfL’s core business as well as the travelling public and is obviously something that needs to be avoided in the future.
There is also a cost associated for TfL to cope with this kind of pressure and current discussions are focused on finding a way to deal with both cost and pressure. These discussions involve a number of stakeholders and it is taking time to find a resolution. However we are hopeful that we will get a resolution within the next 8 weeks and access to Trackernet can be restored in a sustainable way for the longer term.
As soon as we know here in the London Datastore we will Tweet and post. Thanks for your patience.
Thanks for the update! It's great to know TfL haven't nixed it. I can see their concern if the service was accessing/impacting Trackernet directly.
Obviously a lot of effort has gone into making this API available - I hope it doesn't make future releases difficult for you.
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Wed, 09/08/2010 02:14
Comment submitted by ark (not verified
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Wed, 09/08/2010 20:25
Comment submitted by nonymous (not verified
Ok, thanks for breaking the silence on this, and for sharing a timeframe.
Ben Stewart
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Sun, 09/26/2010 14:32
Comment submitted by Ben Stewart
Any chance of an update on the current situation please?
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Wed, 10/27/2010 12:07
Comment submitted by iz (not verified
'iz': I wouldn't expect a reply before 2nd November.
From http://mbarclay.net/?p=825:
Late yesterday I had a really positive meeting with senior people at TfL, they explained they fully committed to open data. They are indeed working extremely hard to get the popular TrackerNet feed back online (unrelated to the feeds I mention in this posting) and are actively working out ways to engage further with the development community to deliver more data.
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Wed, 10/27/2010 12:55
Comment submitted by ark (not verified
We realise deadline has slipped here but we will be in a position to make an announcement fairly soon. But you can be assured that it definitely will be back and hopefully the solution will be so robust there will be no chance of it falling over like it did the last time. That is TfL's main concern that once it foes back its there for good and in a robust way. So bear with us - its been a long journey but we are almost there (and there might be more good news as well!)
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Thu, 11/04/2010 14:58
Comment submitted by Emer Coleman
Thanks for th update. Looking forward to the restoration.
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Mon, 11/29/2010 21:06
Comment submitted by iz (not verified
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