MDS vs GBFS: impact and limitations
The way the data is reflected from the source will impact our understanding
The way the data data is shared with Vianova could have a big impact on the features. We can find 3 types of limiting factors :
- hardware limitations: data limited or not recorded physically
- presentation limitations : data being truncated or limited by the API format
- provider limitations: data being filtered / removed by the provider itself
In the list below you will find a summary on how GBFS or MDS could affect various results in our different pages.
| Page | GBFS | MDS |
|---|---|---|
| Control: detailed device status and events (maintenance, low battery, etc …) | NO 🔴 | YES ✅ |
| Activity: vehicle availability | NO (always 100%)*🔴 | YES ✅ |
| Activity: most used corridors | NO (only parked devices)🔴 | YES ✅ |
| Activity: accurate trip distance | NO (crow fly only)🔴 | YES (if full telemetry)✅ |
| Activity: trip count accuracy | NO (20% error rate)🔴 | YES ✅ |
| Activity: historical data | NO (only starting at ingestion date)🔴 | YES ✅ |
MDS vs GBFS, what is the right choice
Our recommandation will be to use MDS over GBFS because it has much more details on the vehicle status and transition, trip informations and vehicle position.
Major difference : vehicle status and transition
The Cityscope platform's Control Page provides precise information about vehicles status on the public right of way, especially their Last Event and Current Status. These event types and current statuses are derived from MDS.
Last Event
Last Event provides information about the most recent condition the device was in. The record of Last Events provides a story about how a device has been used in the past, and is a window on mobility in the city. There are more than 25 different event types (you can see them all here), but we provide information about the most important ones for managing shared mobility. Some event types we display are rarely used, for example- since most "Pick-Ups" end in "Drop-Offs", you will not typically see a "Pick-Up" status as the Last Event as it is only halfway through the activity.
These fields are used in slightly different ways by different operators, and different versions of MDS have incorporated slightly different event types. Events are only available for those operators who provide MDS to Vianova, so not every provider will have events (if an operator doesn't have events, their last event will show as "unknown").
| Last Event | What Does it Mean? |
|---|---|
| Agency Pick-Up | A city has picked up an improperly parked device |
| Agency Drop-Off | A city has dropped off a device to an acceptable parking location |
| Rebalance Pick-Up | An operator has picked up a device to reposition to another location |
| Rebalance Drop-Off | An Operator has moved a device into a new location |
| Maintenance Drop-Off | An operator has brought a device in for maintenance |
| Maintenance | A device is taken out of service while awaiting repairs, or is actively being repaired |
| Low Battery | The battery of a device is too low to allow for rental |
| Service Start | Another version of Maintenance |
| Service End | Another version of Maintenance |
| User Pick Up | A user has initiated a trip. Because Cityscope does not collect data during a trip, no additional data will be available on the location of the device until the trip ends. |
| User Drop Off | A user has ended a trip and the device is still rentable to the next user |
| Unknown | Some operators do not use every status, and may display "unknown" events |
Current Status
Current Statuses are derived from Last Events. Logically, the last event will dictate the status of a device at this moment. There are three statuses available for a device:
| Status | What Does it Mean? |
|---|---|
| Available | Device is available for rental |
| Reserved | Device is being held for a user, or device is actively on a trip |
| Unavailable | Device is on the street, but not available for rental. |
For those devices where MDS is not available, and we are relying on GBFS data (which represents about 5% of the trips taken across all of our cities), only available devices will show, and all devices shown will be available. If a GBFS device is actively being used, or is out of service, it will not register on Cityscope, and it will only re-appear after it is made available once more.
Updated over 2 years ago