Here is some crappy documentation on how to use this application!


What is nosebus?

Nosebus is an application that will get arrival estimates for vehicles in the SF MUNI public transit system.

How does it work?

It uses the NextBus Google Maps XML feed.  As per the terms of this feed, the data cannot be used for commercial purposes.

What are the system requirements?
It requires glib, libcurl, and a few ANSI/POSIX stuff.  If your existing system doesn't already have these libraries, it's fucked.  My fucking phone has them all by default.
Beyond those libraries, it's OS independent.

What resources does it use?
It needs to connect out over port 80.  We're talking anywhere from <1KB to 12KB  per run on average.
If you need it to support a proxy, run it with the environmental variable http_proxy set.  For instance:
http_proxy="1.2.3.4:8080" ./nosebus

It also attempts to cache a keyfile in "/tmp/nosebusKey".  This keyfile can be used by multiple instances simultaneously.  If it can use this keyfile, it won't need to get a key on each run -- this saves around 8KB per run, and the latency of an extra page download.
If this file can't be accessed, or the key in it is corrupt or expired, it will silently download a new key.

How do I compile it?
Run "make".

How do I run it?

You execute the program with three switches to provide the line, destination and stop you wish to query data for.  An example is:
nosebus -l 38 -d 38_IB3 -s 4283
Which corresponds to Geary Blvd & 39th Ave on the 38 Inbound.

Where the fuck do I get the destination and stop numbers?
Easy:
http://www.nextbus.com/wireless/miniRoute.shtml?a=sf-muni
Find a stop on that site. Take a look in the URL:
http://www.nextbus.com/wireless/miniPrediction.shtml?a=sf-muni&r=38&d=38_IB3&s=4283
r=line (route), d=destination, s=stop.

How can I get the output data formatted differently?

You can modify the code yourself -- there's a function called nb_printArrivals() in nosebus.c.  It's a simple printf() statement.

Does it work on systems other than MUNI?

Yes.  As of version 1.1.0, all NextBus agencies are supported.  For a complete list, see:
http://www.nextbus.com/wireless/miniRegion.shtml
A command line switch has been added, "-a", to specify which agency to search.  If you fail to specify this switch, it will default to MUNI.

Here again are some examples:
14 Inbound Mission St & 18th St
./nosebus -l 14 -d 14_IB1 -s 5553

49 Inbound Mission St & 18th St
./nosebus -l 49 -d 49_IB2 -s 5553

AC Transit Line 26 to Lake Merrit BART at 40th St & Telegraph Av
./nosebus -a actransit -l 26 -d 26_12_0 -s 1002650