Glossary of Google Realtime Transit terminology
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This page provides a list of realtime transit terms and definitions to help transit partners and
data aggregators use the terms consistently across multiple documents or user interfaces.
Terms |
Carriage |
A separate section of a train that carries passengers. |
Entity |
A distinguishable object that represents a real-world existence, such as a vehicle, trip,
or stop. Entities are identifiable with a unique ID, and each entity type has a set of fields
that describe it. |
Header |
A record that provides metadata about a feed, such as its version and timestamp. |
Message |
A record that contains data about a particular entity. Messages are included in feed
messages, and they provide information about the entities in the feed. |
Realtime feed |
A file that complies with the GTFS-realtime format and provides current information about
the transit service. The file's contents cover trip updates, service alerts, or vehicle
positions |
Service alerts |
Alerts that provide passengers with updates when there’s a disruption on the transit
network. |
Trip updates |
Updates about the delays or cancellations of individual trips. |
Vehicle positions |
Information about the current location of a particular vehicle. |
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Last updated 2023-02-22 UTC.
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