Glossary ¶

In developing the Principles and related resources, the MDIP coalition has adopted the following term definitions.

Key Concepts ¶

Mobility Data

Data used by any mobility technology component to execute its core functions.

Interoperability

The ability for any mobility technology component to exchange data in an open standard or schema with other components in that mobility technology system.

Open Standard

A specific ontology, schema, or format used by the mobility industry in order to facilitate the consistent communication of information between devices which is:

Free from cost and restrictions to use,
Publicly documented in its entirety,
Actively maintained by an independent organization whose business interests are not actually - and would not reasonably give the appearance of being potentially - impacted by the contents of the standard,
Contains structured releases, versions, or changelogs, and
Has an open community of contributors and users, and transparent, inclusive governance.

Examples include the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), Mobility Data Specification (MDS), and General Bikeshare Feed Specification (GBFS).

Stakeholders and Impacted Products ¶

Mobility Service Provider

Any organization that transports people or directly facilitates transport (e.g. a public transportation agency, a private tour bus, vehicle share, rideshare, or a non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) company).

Mobility Technology Component

Any hardware or software component that is used to:

Plan journeys (e.g. journey planning applications),
Provide mobility data to travelers (e.g. travel alerts, arrival predictions, LED signage, public address systems),
Conduct transactions between mobility providers and travelers (e.g. reservation requests, ticketing, payments, stop request buttons)
Facilitate the duties of drivers, operators or other on-board staff (e.g. communications hardware or software, Mobile Data Terminals, tablets, driver interface software),
Facilitate the duties of dispatch, supervisory, or scheduling staff (e.g. scheduling software, CAD/AVL software, SCADA, APC), and
Manage the mobility system (e.g. performance reporting, shift selection, non-revenue schedules), and
Collect and/or compute traveler feedback (e.g. crowdsourcing of incidents, accidents, delays, on-board crowd levels, comfort, condition of stops and/or vehicles).

Mobility Technology System

An assemblage of mobility technology components whose functionality is dependent on another component.

Transportation Technology Company

Any organization that provides a Mobility Technology Component to a Transit Agency or a Mobility Service Provider.

Transportation System Manager

Any organization that:

Coordinates the service of multiple transit agencies or other mobility service providers (e.g. some MPOs, local governments, regional transit providers or state DOTs),
Procures or regulates the services of a third-party mobility service provider (e.g. a local city contracting with a micro-mobility service),
Maintains (or funds the maintenance of) physical infrastructure used by transit agencies or other mobility service providers to transport people (e.g. local, state or federal departments of transportation), or
Receives legally mandated reports from transit providers in order to maintain service quality, safety, and efficiency (e.g. utilities oversight bodies, safety boards, or other government or nonprofit bodies).

Additional Terms ¶

Proposed Open Standard

Any specific ontology, schema, or format that:

Meets all the criteria of an open standard,
Has been transitioned to maintenance by an independent organization,
Has at least one stable release as determined by the maintaining independent organization, and
Has not met the standards for adoption as determined by the maintaining independent organization.

Open Standard Compatibility

Refers to the ability of a mobility technology component to publish valid open standards with data stored or handled by the components and to ingest valid open standards.

Published Data

Data that is available either at a permalink or via a documented application programming interface (API), access to which may require automatically-generated API keys.

Programmatic Access

A method of accessing information in which computer programs are permitted to exchange information and commands rather than requiring human intervention (e.g. APIs, webhooks, and direct database access).

Fully Capable Programmatic Access

The ability of transit agencies, other mobility service providers, and mobility technology components to perform by means of programmatic access any actions that human users can perform by means of a graphical user interface.

Documented Data Formats

A format that: - Is documented in its entirety on a public webpage in human-readable form
- Is documented in a language-neutral machine-readable format at a permalink in a format applicable to the following categories of schemas:
- API: OpenAPI
- Tabular data schemas(i.e. csvs): frictionless data table, data resource or data package
- Tagged data schemas: json-schema, or XML schema definition
- Uses structured releases, versions, or changelogs.

Project Definitions ¶


MDIP Communication Asset: Presentations, artwork, contacts, and written work developed by the MDIP Co-authors and/or MDIP Manager in support of the Principles including but not limited to: the MDIP Website, logos and artwork, mailing lists, handouts, press releases and presentations located on the MDIP Shared Folder.

MDIP Community: The combined members of the MDIP Coalition, MDIP Co-signatories, MDIP Manager, MDIP Co-author Coordinator and MDIP Stakeholders.

MDIP Definitions: Terms of art as officially defined by the MDIP Community and approved by the MDIP Coalition. Currently documented (here) at: [https://www.interoperablemobility.org/definitions/]

MDIP Documentation: Supporting documents and text for implementing the Principles including MDIP Definitions, and MDIP Implementation Responsibilities.

MDIP Governance: Who and how decisions are made about the scope and direction of the MDIP Project as approved by the Co-author Coalition and documented at: ….

MDIP Files: The digital files located within the MDIP Shared Folder including – but not limited to – drafts of various MDIP Resources, MDIP Documentation and MDIP Community Assets as well as digital assets used to manage the day-to-day aspects of the MDIP Project and further its mission.

MDIP Implementation Responsibilities: The directive list of responsibilities for implementing the Principles as approved by the MDIP Coalition. Currently documented at: [https://www.interoperablemobility.org/implementation/]

MDIP Project Roadmap: Near- and medium-term priorities of the MDIP Project in pursuit of the Principles as approved by the MDIP Coalition.

MDIP Procurement Resource: Documentation of why and how interoperability should be included in a transit technology procurement and example language which can be directly leveraged.

MDIP Repository: The version control repository containing the MDIP Website; currently located at: [https://github.com/interoperable-mobility/principles]

MDIP Repository Organization: The version control organization which contains the MDIP Repository. Currently located at: [https://github.com/interoperable-mobility]

MDIP Resources: Products developed by the MDIP Community and approved by the Co-author Coalition in support of the Principles. Examples include: - Procurement Resource - Mobility Dataverse (forthcoming) - Open Standards Project Template (forthcoming)

MDIP Shared Folder: Location for storing and collaborating on MDIP Files managed by the MDIP Manager.

MDIP Website: Web location and website content stored on the MDIP Repository and available at [http://interoperablemobility.org]

Mobility Dataverse: A (forthcoming) catalog of data standards and products which support them which are in alignment with or have the potential to be in alignment with the Principles – as well as an assessment of any gaps in that alignment.

Normative Change: A change in the intent or meaning of a document, text, or artwork.