IAU C196 coincided with the 8 June 2004 transit of Venus, producing the exciting, eclectic mix that can be found in these proceedings: the amazing history of the English North-country astronomers of the seventeenth century; the AU at a precision of 1.4 m; the explanation for the infamous black drop effect; a possible Mayan observation of a transit of Venus in the thirteenth century; the vexed question of leap seconds and time scales; history, distances, parallaxes, the solar system at exquisite precision and future space missions that will revolutionise astronomy.

This synthesis will be of interest to transit practitioners and researchers, including technical staff and transit managers, as well as to vendors of Geographic Information System (GIS) solutions. This report illustrates the value of GIS to transit agencies in service provision and in potential cost savings. The synthesis summarizes the experiences of a variety of transit agencies, with information provided from small- and medium-sized transit operators, as well as from large transit agencies. It documents current practices, effective applications, and challenges.