Getting Started with the MARTA Public API

If you're a developer looking to build an application that interacts with MARTA's real-time transit data, the MARTA Public API is the perfect place to start. The API offers a variety of endpoints that allow you to retrieve data on bus and train schedules, stations, routes, and more. In this blog post, we will provide an overview of the MARTA Public API and demonstrate examples of how to use it in your JavaScript code.

Overview of the MARTA Public API

The MARA Public API is free and open to the public. It requires no authentication or API keys. Simply send requests to the API endpoints and receive JSON responses with real-time data. The API documentation can be found at http://www.itsmarta.com/app-developer-resources.aspx.

Here's a quick summary of some of the main endpoints offered by the API:

• Bus Real-Time Arrivals: Get real-time bus schedules for a specific stop or route.
• Train Real-Time Arrivals: Get real-time train schedules for a specific station or rail line.
• Bus Routes: Get a list of all bus routes and their details.
• Bus Stops: Get a list of all bus stops and their details.
• Train Stations: Get a list of all train stations and their details.
• Train Lines: Get a list of all train lines and their details.

Using the MARTA Public API in JavaScript

Now that we've covered the basics of the MARTA Public API, let's dive into some examples of how to use it in your JavaScript code. In this section, we'll demonstrate how to use the fetch method to retrieve data from the API and parse it as JSON.

Example: Retrieving Bus Real-Time Arrivals

To retrieve real-time bus schedules for a specific stop, you can use the http://developer.itsmarta.com/BRDRestService/Restbusrealtime/getbuspredictions/{stopID} endpoint. Replace {stopID} with the ID of the bus stop you'd like to retrieve data for.

Here's an example of how to use this endpoint in your JavaScript code:

fetch('http://developer.itsmarta.com/BRDRestService/Restbusrealtime/getbuspredictions/1234')
  .then(response => response.json())
  .then(data => console.log(data))
  .catch(error => console.error(error));

This code will retrieve real-time bus schedules for the bus stop with ID 1234 and log the response to the console. You can replace console.log(data) with your own logic to handle the response data as needed.

Example: Retrieving Bus Routes

To retrieve a list of all bus routes and their details, you can use the http://developer.itsmarta.com/BRDRestService/RestBusRoutes/GetAllBusRoutes endpoint.

Here's an example of how to use this endpoint in your JavaScript code:

fetch('http://developer.itsmarta.com/BRDRestService/RestBusRoutes/GetAllBusRoutes')
  .then(response => response.json())
  .then(data => console.log(data))
  .catch(error => console.error(error));

This code will retrieve a list of all bus routes and their details and log the response to the console.

Conclusion

The MARTA Public API offers a wealth of data that you can use to create powerful transit applications. In this blog post, we provided an overview of the API and demonstrated some examples of how to use it in your JavaScript code. We hope this serves as a useful starting point for your next transit project!