A technical query re OSM vs. Translink's Open bus stop Data

Communities Ireland
1

Folks,
I have a technical question about import/export of this data set.

For context, the story so far is:

As per UK legislative requirements, Northern Ireland’s public transport operator, Translink, publishes a list of its bus stops as open data, here: Translink Bus Stop List - data.gov.uk

It’s not a particularly rich data set: for each stop, it just gives the NaPTAN ATCO code (unique identifier), the bus stop name, and location data (expressed as both latitude and longitude to 4 decimal places, and an easting & northing grid reference).

Unfortunately, the data quality is flippin’ awful, to the point where I really couldn’t recommend it being imported into OSM: the problem is with the location data, which is typically about 100 metres out. This might not sound like much, but in practical terms usually (in urban settings) places the bus stop on the wrong side of a street junction or (in rural areas) in the middle of a bloody field somewhere.
In Translink’s own smartphone app (which actually uses OSM as its mapping layer!) this positional error not infrequently causes their routing algorithm to go doolally and draw bizarre suggestions for where the bus goes (like, careering off a flyover bridge and making a 5 mile detour along a motorway and back to get to the next stop).

That being the case, I think manually mapping NI bus stops from personal knowledge, site visits and street/satellite imagery is the only practical way to go about it, and many thousands have indeed been mapped by OSM editors. (There are 17,080 in the Translink data set).

Realistically, I don’t see Translink improving the positional accuracy of their dataset any time soon. They completed a ‘review’ of all their stops in 2023 (which was their stock answer to me before then which I queried any data errors), but whilst they did revise a lot of bus stop names, I haven’t seen a single instance of them correcting the positional data.

So - my technical question:

Is it technically possible for the OSM community to effectively correct Translink’s data for them, by (once a sufficient number of stops have been accurately mapped by OSM editors), to export the OSM data in the same CSV format (Atco code, Name, Lat, Long, Easting, Northing) and just hand it back to Translink for them to use henceforth?

Am I right that would be fairly straightforward, technically? (I don’t actually know how to do it myself, but it’s a bread and butter database query, right?)

2

Two questions…

In your opinion does it seem to be one of those commercial decisions to provide inaccurate data to limit/hobble the usability of the dataset in some way?

Is the data also inaccurate in other UK jurisdictions, or is this an NI-only problem?

3

No, I think it’s just Translink are nitwits :sweat_smile:. (They are a public sector organisation, not a business). Most aspects of their operations display a similar lack of quality.

I’ve never really scrutinised this data for the rest of the UK, to be honest.

2 Likes
4

It would be interesting to know as the scope could change how the issue is tackled in terms of being a regional issue to a whole country issue. If it’s limited to NI and the precedence of better data accuracy is already set elsewhere, then it’s a regional data quality issue. If it’s country-wide, then it’s probably intentional (for some perturbed reason) and probably not likely to change.

And I know that none of this helps with your question, but it sometimes helps to plumb the depths and understand the extent. It might also uncover other solutions or workarounds, etc.

5

I suspect the regulations about open data for public transport are a ‘devolved matter’ within the UK, so Translink are just answerable to the Dept for Infrastructure at Stormont.

This is likely also the reason that whilst they’ve been allocated a number range to use for ATCO codes in the NaPTAN, their data isn’t published as part of the Westminster Dept for Transport dataset.

1 Like
6

As another indication of Translink’s data quality: on 20 Jan 2026 they released an updated bus stop dataset, which contains 424 ‘new’ bus stops that were previously missing from the data. All of these stops have had a physical existence and are driven past several times a day by Translink staff, since at least 1967.
Still, it’s nice that they now have ATCO codes :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: Onwards and upwards! :alien_monster:

[EDIT: I haven’t had a chance yet to check the positional accuracy of these ‘new’ ( = newly catalogued) bus stops yet. It will be heartening if it is good! ]

1 Like