Show HN: I wrote a very niche ebook about GTFS public transit data
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Re: Show HN: I wrote a very niche ebook about GTFS public transit data
#2For anyone else also unaware, GTFS is General Transit Feed Specification -
"The General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) defines a common format for public transportation schedules and associated geographic information. GTFS "feeds" allow public transit agencies to publish their transit data and developers to write applications that consume that data in an interoperable way."
Re: Show HN: I wrote a very niche ebook about GTFS public transit data
#3Although it's not my niche, it looks quite interesting and the sample chapter is very clear. Congrats!
Re: Show HN: I wrote a very niche ebook about GTFS public transit data
#4This is great...wish I had it a year ago when I started working with GTFS. My latest project at http://yrtbustracker.com (Canada)
Re: Show HN: I wrote a very niche ebook about GTFS public transit data
#5Congrats on getting it out there! My only quick feedback is that 80 pages split into 20 chapters feels off to me. A 4 page "chapter" is something more akin to a "section" or some other unit. The sample PDF has the first two chapters, each of which are basically a page each (plus a large image). I'd recommend redefining your definition of "chapter" and restructuring into fewer/longer chapters. As it is it doesn't feel like there's actually much meat there, particularly for a $30 PDF.
As I think about it more, a simple restructuring might not be enough for that kind of price. $30 is more than the retail price for a lot of 300+ page technical books (years ago I wrote a 400 page book with a print version that retailed for $30).
Re: Show HN: I wrote a very niche ebook about GTFS public transit data
#6Congrats on getting it out there! My only quick feedback is that 80 pages split into 20 chapters feels off to me. A 4 page "chapter" is something more akin to a "section" or some other unit. The sample PDF has the first two chapters, each of which are basically a page each (plus a large image). I'd recommend redefining your definition of "chapter" and restructuring into fewer/longer chapters. As it is it doesn't feel…
Thanks for the feedback - this had crossed my mind also, but I ultimately called them chapters as they are logical places to split the content.
As far as the pricing goes, my rationale was to price based on the value it can provide and then take into account how niche the topic.
Some of the content in there took me many many hours to figure out for myself (so thousands of dollars at an hourly rate).
Offset this with (in my opinion) a fairly small pool of potential buyers, this seemed about the break-even point on the project.
On a side note, you can get $5 using the offer code 'metro'
Re: Show HN: I wrote a very niche ebook about GTFS public transit data
#7This is great...wish I had it a year ago when I started working with GTFS. My latest project at http://yrtbustracker.com (Canada)
Thanks! Looks good, have you thought about overlaying the shapes when you select a bus?
Re: Show HN: I wrote a very niche ebook about GTFS public transit data
#8Re: Show HN: I wrote a very niche ebook about GTFS public transit data
#9I did an internship in a bus company several years ago and we finally abandoned the idea of GTFS because they (Google) were so uptight about the correctness of the data.
We had a few trips that were non consistent (the average speed was something like 150 km/h - 93 mp/h) that we couldn't do anything about and they refused to integrate those data.
Several bus stops were also too close (they were apart of a narrow street) and were generating warnings every time.
I wish I had this book back then.
Re: Show HN: I wrote a very niche ebook about GTFS public transit data
#10I did an internship in a bus company several years ago and we finally abandoned the idea of GTFS because they (Google) were so uptight about the correctness of the data. We had a few trips that were non consistent (the average speed was something like 150 km/h - 93 mp/h) that we couldn't do anything about and they refused to integrate those data. Several bus stops were also too close (they were apart of a narrow stre…
Interesting, I've heard similar stories of agencies having trouble with Google Transit compatibility. Aside from the edge cases, it is a very robust specification that is able to handle a majority of situations.
Side note: my book is about consumption of GTFS feeds rather than generation of them