A while back I wanted to make a train trip planner app for my local public transport system in Melbourne. Rather than scrape their website I decided to do the

A while back I wanted to make a train trip planner app for my local public transport system in Melbourne. Rather than scrape their website I decided to do the right thing and ask permission to use their data. It turns out I needed to get written approval from the state public transport minister to get access to the data. I thought it would be a good idea if they offered an API or web service, so that they can maintain ownership of their data. But also, so that people like me can still access it to make cool apps. Anyway.. I'm getting off topic... I think making this kind of data available could lead to all kinds of cool stuff.