Given the text: GTFS is the de-facto standard for transit service information--first defined by google when Portland's TriMet asked: why isn't online trip planning as easy for transit as it is for driving? At current count there are 1000+ public feeds on 6 continents. Wide adoption of the specification allows anyone interested in looking at, analyzing, or mapping transit service information to all communicate in the same language.
At EDR Group I've been spending a fair amount of my time lately using spatial data and other "join-able" data sources (demographics, economic activity, census journey-to-work patterns, freight flows, etc.) to understand the geography of access provided various transportation systems. GTFS is one cool ingredient in this wider world of merging many information sources into one single spatial framework.
After all-- the whole point of transportation is to give people and businesses access to opportunities.
Could you explain what GTFS is and how it has become a standard for transit service information?
This prompt doesn't seem malicious.