Publish a static feed

To make a transit feed available to Google, we recommend you publish it on the web. Google will periodically fetch this data to ensure Google Maps has your most up-to-date information.

If necessary, you can upload a feed manually into the Transit Data Sharing Portal. However, we don’t recommend this option because it often leads to stale data for users.

Host a static feed

Feeds can be published using the following platforms and protocols. 

Make sure any URLs entered correspond to individual files.

• HTTPS
• Google Cloud Storage*
• Google Drive*
• SFTP
• SFTP Drop Box: Enter the SFTP server address, port number, and authentication method.
• Amazon S3
• FTPS*
• Azure 

* Remember to select the "Transfer only new or updated files" option.

Manually upload a feed

To manually upload a static feed, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Transit Data Sharing Portal.
2. On the Pipelines page, select the Static tab and click the static pipeline you want. 
3. On the Data & transfers page, navigate to the Transfers section and click Transfer actions > Upload file.
   
4. In the window that opens, either:
   • Drag a file into the box.
     or
   • Browse for a file to add.
5. Click Submit.

Schedule when data should be fetched

Follow these steps to configure when Google will fetch new data from your feed:

1. Navigate to the Transit Data Sharing Portal.
2. On the Pipelines page, select the Static tab and click the static pipeline you want. 
3. In your feed's details, click the Settings tab.
4. In the Configuration section:
   1. Specify your feed's delivery method (how your feed is published).
   2. Select Enable schedule to configure when data should be fetched from your feed. Generally, we recommend retrieving data from your feed every week.
   3. If appropriate, you can Set a specific schedule to control the exact time when data is fetched.
5. Once you're done, click Save (or Update).

For best results, configure your schedule to fetch data from your feed whenever your data changes.

 

Manually start a new feed transfer

To manually start a transfer:

1. Navigate to the Transit Data Sharing Portal.
2. On the Pipelines page, select the Static tab and click the static pipeline you want. 
3. On the Data & transfers page, navigate to the Transfers section and click Transfer actions > Start new transfer.
   
4. After some time, the status of the transfer will be updated to indicate the transfer succeeded or failed. If the transfer failed, review the validation report to resolve any errors or warnings, then try the transfer again.

 

• After you set up your fetch URL, you can start a new transfer at any time. 
• Once you've received confirmation your feed was successfully processed, contact your Google team to let them know you’re ready for a private preview.

Learn more about maintaining your data and feeds. 

Review transfer history

You can review your feed transfer history in the Transfers section on the Data & transfers page. To see the details of a given transfer, click on it.

• By default, the transfer history will only show unique transfer records that contain data. To see all records, select Show duplicate and empty transfers.
• To review records from a specific date or time, enter keywords such as “Feb” or “1:20” to filter the list.