PHOTOGRAPHY BY: KHANO GORDON

was invited to deliver a presentation at a technical conference targeted at users of Python—a high-level programming language. The system Smith created to generate the Google Transit feed is implemented in Python. His talk entitled, “Python Parsing for Public Passengers” was delivered at the conference which ran from February 20 to 22 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In solving the data transformation issue, the St. Mary High School alumnus drew on his familiarity with the Google Transit programme which allows public routes, fares, and schedules to be placed within Google Maps. He bounced the idea of a local application of Google Transit off of Dr. Ezra Mugisa, Head of the Department of Computing. “He loved the idea and he encouraged me to contact JUTC to see if they were interested,” Smith said. “I honestly was not expecting to get anywhere, but to my surprise [JUTC] loved the idea and they pledged their support immediately. They said it was something commuters would love.”

The project was born out of frustration and enlightened self-interest

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