NaPTAN
Encyclopedia
The National Public Transport Access Node (NaPTAN) database
is a UK
nationwide system for uniquely identifying all the points of access to public transport
in the UK. The database is closely associated with the National Public Transport Gazetteer.
Every UK railway station, coach terminus, airport, ferry terminal, bus stop, taxi rank or other place where public transport can be joined or left is allocated a unique NaPTAN identifier. The relationship of the stop to a City, Town, Village or other locality can be indicated through an association with elements of the National Public Transport Gazetteer.
There is a CEN
standardisation initiative, Identification of Fixed Objects In Public Transport
('IFOPT'), to develop NaPTAN concepts into a European standard for stop identification as an extension to Transmodel
, the European standard for Public Transport information.
s, scheduling systems, real-time systems, for transport planning, performance monitoring, and for many other purposes. Digitalising a nation's public transport stops is an essential step in creating a national information infrastructure.
In the UK NaPTAN has enabled the creation of the Transport Direct Portal
, a UK nationwide system for multi-modal journey planning. NaPTAN also underpins TransXChange
, the UK standard for bus schedules, which is used for the Electronic Registration of Bus Services.
NaPTAN identfiers are designed to be used within the UK's Digital National Framework a system of unique persistent reference for shareable information resources of all types managed by the Ordnance Survey
.
NaPTAN includes on a related standard - the UK National Public Transport Gazetteer.
The NaPTAN database is maintained centrally under contract to the Department of Transport.
The Purpose of these descriptors is to create an iterative level of detail i.e. Country - County - Locality - Street - Name - Identifier. All of this information should be included but it is up to the user of the data to decide how much data is relevant for the task in hand.
This allows NaPTAN points to be projected on maps and to be associated with other information layers such as the Integrated Transport Network
of the Ordnance Survey.
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
is a UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
nationwide system for uniquely identifying all the points of access to public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
in the UK. The database is closely associated with the National Public Transport Gazetteer.
Every UK railway station, coach terminus, airport, ferry terminal, bus stop, taxi rank or other place where public transport can be joined or left is allocated a unique NaPTAN identifier. The relationship of the stop to a City, Town, Village or other locality can be indicated through an association with elements of the National Public Transport Gazetteer.
There is a CEN
European Committee for Standardization
The European Committee for Standardization or Comité Européen de Normalisation , is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to foster the European economy in global trading, the welfare of European citizens and the environment by providing an efficient infrastructure to interested parties for...
standardisation initiative, Identification of Fixed Objects In Public Transport
Identification of Fixed Objects In Public Transport
IFOPT is a prCEN Technical Specification that provides a Reference Data Model for describing the main fixed objects required for public access to Public transport, that is to say Transportation hubs such as airports, stations, bus stops, ports, and other destination places and points of interest,...
('IFOPT'), to develop NaPTAN concepts into a European standard for stop identification as an extension to Transmodel
Transmodel
Transmodel is the CEN European Reference Data Model for Public Transport Information; it provides an abstract model of common public transport concepts and data structures that can be used to build many different kinds of public transport information system, including for timetabling, fares,...
, the European standard for Public Transport information.
Purpose of NaPTAN
The ability to identify and locate stops in relation to topography, both consistently and economically, is fundamental to modern computer based systems that provide passenger information and manage public transport networks. Stop data is needed by journey plannerJourney Planner
A journey planner is a specialised electronic search engine used to find the best journey between two points by some means of transport. Journey planners have been widely used in the travel industry since the 1970s by booking agents accessed through a user interface on a computer terminal, and to...
s, scheduling systems, real-time systems, for transport planning, performance monitoring, and for many other purposes. Digitalising a nation's public transport stops is an essential step in creating a national information infrastructure.
In the UK NaPTAN has enabled the creation of the Transport Direct Portal
Transport Direct Portal
The Transport Direct Portal is a distributed Internet-based multi-modal journey planner providing information for travel in England, Wales and Scotland. It is managed by Transport Direct, a division of the Department for Transport...
, a UK nationwide system for multi-modal journey planning. NaPTAN also underpins TransXChange
TransXChange
TransXChange is a UK national XML based data standard for the interchange of bus route and timetable information between bus operators, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, local authorities and passenger transport executives, and others involved in the provision of passenger information.The...
, the UK standard for bus schedules, which is used for the Electronic Registration of Bus Services.
NaPTAN Components
NaPTAN comprises several distinct elements- A data model, based on Transmodel.
- A data exchange format, specified as an XML schema (see http://www.naptan.org.uk/schema/schemas.htm)
- A central database used to aggregate and distribute stop data from different UK regions.
- A process for different stakeholders to contribute, validate and share data.
NaPTAN identfiers are designed to be used within the UK's Digital National Framework a system of unique persistent reference for shareable information resources of all types managed by the Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
.
NaPTAN includes on a related standard - the UK National Public Transport Gazetteer.
The NaPTAN Database
The National Public Transport Access Node database holds a current copy of all UK stops. Stops are submitted by PTEs to a central authority which consolidates the stops and distributes them back to users. There are some 450,000 stop points in the current database.The NaPTAN database is maintained centrally under contract to the Department of Transport.
The NaPTAN XML Schema
NaPTAN data is described by a NaPTAN XML Schema. This can be used to describe NaPTAN data when exchanging it between systems as XML documents. It is versioned so that different generations of data can be managed. See http://www.dft.gov.uk/naptan/schema/2.4/NaPTAN.xsdNaPTAN Conceptual Model
The NPTG & NaPTAN data conforms to a family of consistent, interlocking data models. The models are described in the NPTG & NaPTAN Schema Guide in UML notation.NaPTAN Stop Numbering
NaPTAN identifiers are a systematic way of identifying of all UK points of access to public transport or "Stop points").- Every UK rail station, bus and coach terminus, airport, ferry terminal, individual bus stop, tram stop, and taxi rank is allocated a unique NaPTAN Identifier.
- For large interchanges & termini, NaPTAN points identify the entrances from the public thoroughfare – one identifier is distinguished as the main entrance. Platforms may also be individually identified
- Every local authority has been allocated a unique prefix for their stop numbering, this ensures that stop numbers cannot be duplicated, in addition there are national number prefixes - 900 for coach stops, 910 for railway stations, 920 for airports, 930 for ferry terminals and 940 for metro and tram stops, the national stop numbers are created centrally and not by local authorities.
- In England stop details are provided by 87 local authorities and are prefixed with numbers ranging between 010 and 490.
- In Wales stop details are provided by 22 local authorities and are prefixed with numbers ranging between 511 and 582.
- In Scotland stop details are provided by 32 local authorities and are prefixed with numbers ranging between 601 and 690.
NaPTAN Stop Descriptors
NaPTAN stop points have a number of text descriptor elements associated with them: not just a name, but also additional labels and distinguishing identifiers that will help users to recognise them. These elements can be combined in different ways to provide presentations of names useful for many different contexts, for example on maps, stop finders, timetables etc., and on mobile devices- Stop Points may have a Common Name, Short name, Landmark, 'Street , Asset code, etc.
- Stop Points may also have alternative names, for example for aliases for different national languages.
- Stop Names may have a qualifier to distinguish them from other stops within the same group of stops. For example, Bus Station (Stand 1) from Bus Station (Stand 2).
The Purpose of these descriptors is to create an iterative level of detail i.e. Country - County - Locality - Street - Name - Identifier. All of this information should be included but it is up to the user of the data to decide how much data is relevant for the task in hand.
Stop Locations
Every NaPTAN point includes Geospatial coordinates specified in both Ordnance Survey Grid Coordinates and as WGS84 latitide and longitude pairs.This allows NaPTAN points to be projected on maps and to be associated with other information layers such as the Integrated Transport Network
Integrated Transport Network
The Integrated Transport Network is an Ordnance Survey dataset containing details of the transport network for Great Britain. It is part of the OS MasterMap® suite of products....
of the Ordnance Survey.
National Public Transport Gazetteer
The National Public Transport Gazetteer is closely associated with the NaPTAN dataset and contains details of every City, Town, Village, suburb in Great Britain (i.e., UK but not including Northern Ireland). This dataset is based on 'usage' rather than legal definitions and will include local informal names for places as well as official names.See also
- National Public Transport GazetteerNational Public Transport GazetteerThe National Public Transport Gazetteer provides a topographic database of towns and settlements in the UK; it provides a common frame of reference for the National Public Transport Access Nodes schema and other UK Public Transport Information schemas such as JourneyWeb...
- TransXChangeTransXChangeTransXChange is a UK national XML based data standard for the interchange of bus route and timetable information between bus operators, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, local authorities and passenger transport executives, and others involved in the provision of passenger information.The...
- JourneyWebJourneyWebJourneyWeb is an XML protocol to allow distributed journey planning engines to communicate in order to provide multimodal journeys spanning different regions....
- GovTalkGovTalkGovTalk is a UK government initiative sponsored by the Cabinet Office, designed to encourage efficient government through the use of the internet and other modern electronic technologies...
- IFOPT
- Journey PlannerJourney PlannerA journey planner is a specialised electronic search engine used to find the best journey between two points by some means of transport. Journey planners have been widely used in the travel industry since the 1970s by booking agents accessed through a user interface on a computer terminal, and to...
- Integrated Transport NetworkIntegrated Transport NetworkThe Integrated Transport Network is an Ordnance Survey dataset containing details of the transport network for Great Britain. It is part of the OS MasterMap® suite of products....