On or around September 8, the DEP API will introduce real-time quality assessment to two additional endpoints: events from VDOT, and parking data from VRE, WMATA, and Neabsco.  Following the same approach as RWIS, data coming into the DEP is compared to thresholds and relationships among fields are reviewed.  If values do not match expected ranges, the quality field is populated with relevant information. Fields for which quality assessment is applied are accompanied by a new separate field the with the suffix DepQuality, for instance <proposedStartDepQuality>.  This value of this new field is “valid” when a field is assessed and its value is determined to be within preset thresholds. When the value falls outside of the expected range or is in conflict with other fields, the corresponding DepQuality field(s) are set to “WARNING:” or “ERROR:” respectively, followed by appropriate explanations.  Documentation updates with technical details were posted August 31 in the VDOT Event Type Supplemental Documentation, and in example responses for RM3P Event and Parking API endpoints.

The prior feed structure, including all existing fields and values remain unchanged.  The only change is addition of these new quality fields.  DEP users can continue using API endpoints with no code changes, until they wish to use this new quality assessment output.

On July 20, 2026, the DEP API included support for the new VDOT event subtypes introduced in the latest release of VDOT ATMS. This VDOT ATMS release allows operators to specify additional event subtypes including debris, emergency roadwork, signal malfunction, gate strike, traffic control, structural fire, medical emergency, washout, tree down, and power lines down. In addition, several existing event types were changed as follows:

• “vehicle accident” is now “crash”
• “multi-vehicle accident” is now “multi-vehicle crash”
• “tractor trailed accident” is now “tractor trailer crash”
• “numerous accidents” is now “numerous crashes”

The DEP API now includes these new event subtypes and event type changes.

On July 7, 2026, the DEP API introduced a new real-time quality assessment capability for VDOT RWIS data. This deployment introduced a quality metric field that gets set for certain data elements based on their values and agreed upon thresholds and special codes. This means that when VDOT RWIS data record comes into the DEP, it is compared to set thresholds and special codes and if the value falls outside of expected range or is set to a special code, the quality field is populated with relevant information. The new <dep-quality> field value is set to “valid” if the field is assessed and its value is determined to be within preset thresholds. If the value is a special code, the <dep-quality> value is set to “INFO:” followed by a brief explanation of the special code. If the value falls outside of the preset range or is an error value, the <dep-quality> field is set to “WARNING:” or “ERROR:” respectively followed by appropriate explanations.

On June 24, 2026, a new data set from the RM3P Dynamic Incentivization program was added to the DEP API. This new data set includes events and time periods for which incentives have been activated. The DEP API provides real-time data, but also maintains a queryable 24-hour history of incentive intervals for each currently active event.

Starting April 27, the DEP provides expanded WMATA alert information in the /transit API endpoint.  This additional data is made possible by WMATA expanding their feeds. The DEP now provides Priority, Cause, and Effect fields for Metrorail and Metrobus alerts.

We have posted a brief video tutorial to the DEP Resources Page to assist DEP API users with finding data dictionaries and other supplemental documentation. Even though this documentation has always been available to our API users, we’re responding to feedback that the documentation can be difficult to find. In response, we have upgraded the API documentation, data dictionaries, and supplemental information to make them easier to find and use. Our video tutorial describes how to access each API data dictionary.

Note: for security reasons, we don’t grant open access to data dictionaries to the general public. API documentation is ONLY available for users who already have a RITIS login account and approval for accessing DEP data. Users only have access to the dictionaries and supplemental documents associated with data they have permission to request. Please contact dep-support@ritis.org if you have questions or need further assistance.