A year ago, TransitScreen was a fledgling startup competing to be “the next great idea” in a Arlington, Va., business competition. It just signed a strategic partnership that takes it to a new level.

TransitScreen is working with Engrain, a touch screen display company that targets high-end residential buildings in over 100 cities. TransitScreen, which is based in Arlington, Va., and San Francisco, developed software that aggregates real-time transportation data. TransitScreen co-founder Ryan Croft, here with co-founder Matt Caywood, tells us the partnership takes them from seven cities to double or triple that in the next few months. The software will be integrated into Engrain’s existing touch screens in Seattle, San Francisco, NYC, Boston, and Chicago, as well as future cities.

Engrain’s large (42 to 70 inches) touch screens, mounted in residential buildings, provide interactive Google maps with neighborhood attractions and info on what’s available in the building, layouts, and square footage. Ryan says TransitScreen never wanted to develop hardware and has relied primarily on flatscreen TVs to display its transit dashboard. The TransitScreen team reached out to Engrain (based in Denver) after getting inquiries from customers about touch screens. TransitScreen also created some buzz recently when it debuted its SmartWalk technology projecting transit info on sidewalks and building walls.