CREATION OF NATIONAL PUBLIC TRANSPORT GAZETTEER (NPTG)GUIDANCE NOTES
1. Document Derivation
This document is based on an original document titled CREATION OF NATIONAL PUBLIC TRANSPORT GAZETTEER (NPTG) GUIDANCE NOTES – Version 6 (1 June 2002). Thales are responsible for the control of this document.
2. Overview
The National Public Transport Gazetteer (NPTG) is a common resource for use by all the traveline regions, Transport Direct, other public information services and more widely. Initially its primary use was to enable the call centre agents to determine which traveline region an origin and/or destination lies in. Since then the use of JourneyWeb to link the regional journey planners together means that is used more extensively in various web applications NPTG also forms an important element of the National Public Transport Access Nodes (NaPTAN) Database which is being used in traveline, Transport Direct, the bus registration process run by VOSA and elsewhere.
The source material for NPTG was taken originally from the Index of Place Names compiled by ONS (and its Scottish equivalent). Whilst not completely ideal for traveline purposes these indexes were the most comprehensive list of settlements (which can range from hamlets to cities) covering England, Wales and Scotland.
This note describes the process by which the NPTG has been compiled (to a greater or lesser degree of compliance), using the ONS Gazetteer (and its Scottish equivalent) as the primary source of raw data. The mechanics of this work involved local database managers editing their own area's entries in accordance with a set of rules which are set out in this note. The work was done over the internet - the source data is held on a computer managed by Thales, and each editor was creating the Gazetteer alongside that source data by removing, correcting and adding entries as necessary - and then by adding PT-specific information to those entries.
Now that this process has been completed, a National set of data has been created that is being used extensively within traveline, Transport Direct and other systems. It allows calls to be transferred to the relevant distant call centre where necessary - and it is also used for web-accessible services in traveline and Transport Direct It is also in use within the national traveline web portal to guide enquiries to the appropriate regional planner.
It is important to remember that NPTG is being used by people all over the country, many of whom will not be familiar with places outside their local area, and therefore every entry in NPTG has to be unambiguous. The aim of the editing process was to ensure that NPTG contains a single entry for each settlement name in the country, and ensure that the name, in conjunction with the county or unitary authority name, is unambiguous within the country.
An “alternative name” facility has been added to the editing process so that English and Welsh versions of place names can be tied together in NPTG. This facility can also be used for alternative spellings of place names and for places with more than one name such as Kingston-upon-Hull which is commonly known as Hull.
Although the initial work has been completed, the need for further improvement of this database still exists and the rules and procedures remain unchanged for this process to continue. This document describes those rules and procedures. A further guide to the need for and creation of localities within NPTG has also been published by the Department for Transport in March 2007.
You are reminded that there are restrictions on the use of NPTG data, and that all uses are subject to the need for a licence (which may be free of charge for certain purposes). Please ensure that the licence requirements are complied with in all uses of the data.
3. Contact Details
For clarification about items in this note, or technical problems please email the Thales JourneyWeb Help Desk journeyweb.help@thalesgroup.com. Alterantively phone 07000 797322, specifying JourneyWeb: you will be asked for a brief description of the issue to determine its severity.
4. Guidelines for Settlements to be Included in NPTG
NPTG should include the names of all settlements, whether or not they are served by public transport. A settlement is defined as a distinct geographic area with a name that distinguishes it from adjacent areas. The names should be of importance at the national level, and should generally avoid small housing estate names (Remember that the purpose of the National Gazetteer is to allocate the origin or destination of a journey to the correct region and to help enquirers “drill down” to a specific location within a community. However, editors also need to be able to allocate every individual bus stop in their area to an appropriate lowest-level gazetteer locality within the NaPTAN database).
Call centre agents and the general public are more likely to be familiar with county and unitary authority names than with second tier authority names (particularly those that are artificially created) so every entry must be made unique at the county/unitary authority level. Where there have to be duplicate names within a county each must be qualified with a “(nr This Place)” so that the agent/public can choose the right one.
The source material had multiple entries for large settlements that spanned several administrative areas. e.g. there were entries for “Leicester” in “City of Leicester” and “County of Leicestershire”. The use of such multiple entries in NPTG will confuse call centre agents and the public. Such entries should be reduced to one (the one covering the centre of the settlement).
Some original entries contained more than one place name e.g. “Raynes Park/Motspur Park”. These should be edited into two separate entries. (See the example edits below for other changes that should be made)
4.1 Hierarchy of Names
There can be a hierarchy of names (see editing activity 2 below) e.g. “Southampton” can include “Portswood” and “Shirley” as lower level names. The phrase “Town Centre” (and similar) should not be part of any highest level name in an area, although it can be used as a lower-order locality to represent the relevant part of a town. If, when creating the entries for a particular area, you think you need more than 3 levels in the hierarchy , you are almost certainly trying to use too fine a settlement level. Also be careful not to create circular hierarchies. Hierarchies are to show subdivisions within the idea of “containment” and are NOT intended to be used to show nearby, but physically separate, settlements.
The separate hierarchy editing system relates parent and child entries.
An example hierarchy
(note : current guidance would recommend the locality name of “City Centre” or “Southampton City Centre”, not “Southampton (City Centre)”; and of “Shirley Centre” … as brackets are no longer acceptable in the names of localities.
4.2
Alternate
Names
The
National Public Transport Gazetteer includes the concept of alternate names for
places known by several names egg English and Welsh names for the same place or
a place such as Kingston-upon-Hull commonly known as Hull.
Each name
and alternate name are entered as separate entries in the National Public
Transport Gazetteer and then the alternate name editing system is used to tie
the two entries together.
The
hierarchy of place names will only be able to descend through a single name to
simplify the construction of hierarchy trees but in all other respects
alternate names will have the same status as the first name.
To ensure
the integrity of hierarchy trees a locality can have the status of “Parent” or
“Alternate”, but not both.
An example
of hierarchy and alternate names
The
Alternate name editing system is very similar to the hierarchy editing system,
but with a much smaller matching radius.
4.3 Places of National Interest
Places of national interest should only be included where the name does not make clear which settlement it is in. e.g. “Legoland” could be included as there is no obvious settlement name but “Chessington World of Adventure” should be excluded as there will be an entry for “Chessington”. (Remember that the final part of the drill down process in the call centre will be using the local traveline gazetteer which should include all places of significance within the area).
Reports of ambiguous names found either within an administrative area or found close to an administrative area boundary can be provided to help the editors tidy up their part of the gazetteer. If required, please contact the Thales Help Desk.
5. The Process
The gazetteer editing system is
accessible through the web page http://www.journeyweb.org.uk/ng.htm. Access to
the "live" system is restricted to individual usernames and passwords
that will limit access to a relevant geographical (administrative area) portion
of the Gazetteer. Usernames and passwords will be issued on request to the Thales Help
Desk (those already in use remain valid).
There are three separate steps to follow.
· "Step One" allows the local editor to refine the entries to be included in the NPTG and to indicate which of them have subordinate localities within the dataset (e.g.: a "town" which contains separately identified "suburbs"). It also allows entries to be linked to localities that are adjacent to them.
· “Step Two A” allows the hierarchical relationships to be defined.
· “Step Two B” allows alternate names to be defined.
5.1 Step One
The existing entries will be listed alphabetically by locality name, but viewed in blocks of 20 entries to minimise download times.
The first column shows the District and may be required to assist in locating lesser-known, or duplicated, localities in large database areas.
The second column gives the locality name together with any qualifier. It also contains hyperlinks that allow:
· The details of the locality to be edited
· A new locality to be created based on the existing locality
· localities adjacent to the locality to be marked as such.
The third column, headed Short Name lists the short name for the locality if one exists.
The fourth column, headed ID lists the National Gazetteer Identity for the locality.
The fifth column, headed Type, is used to identify higher-order place names that have subordinate localities, or are alternate names for other localities within the database.
The sixth column, headed Active?, indicates whether the entry is active (= included in the NPTG) (√) or inactive (= excluded from the NPTG) (X).
The seventh column provides a Grid Reference which, if clicked on, will provide an on-screen map showing the position of that 1km grid square on an Ordnance Survey map base.
For each existing entry, there are a number of actions you can take: -
· To DELETE an entry, click on the tick in the ‘Active?’ column. It will change to a cross and the entry will be excluded from the NPTG (it remains in the original data-set and the deletion can be reversed if necessary)
·
To EDIT an
entry, click on “Edit” in the ‘locality’ column. A new window will open allowing you to
+ Change the name or the Language of
the name,
+ Change or add a qualifier or a Short
Name together with the language,
+ Change the grid reference
+ Change or add a classification (City,
Suburb etc)
+ Set the name as a Parent, Alias or
neither
· To ADD a new entry, such as a missing suburb name or tourist venue, choose (as a "proxy") an existing entry geographically closest to the required entry (and in the same District as the required entry) and click on “New” in the ‘locality’ column. A new window will open allowing you to overwrite the locality name of the proxy with an entirely different one. The Grid Reference should also be edited, as necessary. The entry which you used as the "proxy" remains unchanged by this process.
The head of the screen has buttons providing access to the main menu, to a sub-set of the list of localities consisting of only those declared Active (View Active) and to a sub-set of the list of localities consisting of only those declared Inactive (View Inactive). Access to other ranges of the (View All) data is also available here. The titles of these ranges will automatically reset themselves as edits are made.
The source data was devised to fulfil very different purposes to that to which it is now being applied. The following points should be reviewed to correct unnecessary entries: -
|
Review each entry with a parenthesis) after locality name |
|
|
Two adjacent entries are identical, though in different districts. Grid references will also match |
DELETE one entry |
|
An entry followed by ) is NOT the same locality name as adjacent entries. Locality also appears in the gazetteer for an adjacent authority. |
No action, but liaise with neighbouring authority |
|
Two adjacent entries have the same names and the grid references do not match |
Check grid references for possible duplicate entries Add a qualifier to the name(s) . |
|
Then, review each remaining entry to identify other
necessary amendments, looking particularly for the following categories |
|
|
Where a locality name consists of two or more words, ensure that the “forward” entry (Great Horwood) exists and that the “reverse” entry (Horwood, Great) does not |
ADD and/or DELETE as appropriate |
|
Localities including the word “and”. Consider the need to split to separate localities |
ADD and/or DELETE as appropriate |
|
Adjacent entries have the same locality name but are attributed to different districts. Grid references confirm that these are two separate localities |
RENAME by
adding “(nr <wherever>)” after name |
|
Adjacent entries have the same locality name but are attributed to different districts. Grid references confirm that this is a single locality close to, or straddling, the boundary |
DELETE one entry |
|
Check for irregular spelling of, or (de)merging of words in, place name |
RENAME to local spelling |
|
Check for insignificantly small localities. Occasional occurrences found of localities named after roads or single buildings. |
DELETE |
|
Some localities listed will be recognised as having no public transport services |
DO NOT DELETE. Instead add “walk” links within database or otherwise link to nearest locality(s) served by public transport |
|
Then, consider the requirement for additional entries |
|
|
Review provision of area names, particularly within urban areas to establish omission of well-used locality names |
ADD as appropriate |
|
Is the place known by other names which appear in a different part of an alphabetical list. In Wales, consider inclusion of Welsh language form of place names |
ADD as
appropriate. English and Welsh place names will have to be tied together
using the alternate name process |
|
Consider tourist venues or other “places of interest” of national significance. Only include places that give added functionality. (e.g. include “Blenheim House” which is in Woodstock but exclude “Harlech Castle” because “Harlech” will already exist as a locality). The number of additions should be small; they will be monitored and may be reduced by negotiation. |
ADD as appropriate |
End of table - text continues on next
page
· The final part of Step One is to identify those localities that are likely to be the higher-level localities within a hierarchy or are alternate names. Use the Type dropdown in EDIT to change the status. This change will be saved automatically.
Changes in the edit window are saved when the “Update” button is pressed.
To check on finished selections, use the “View Active” or “View Inactive” buttons to view complete lists of Active localities or Inactive localities. Return to Main Menu to commence Step Two.
5.2 Step Two A (Hierarchy)
This is the process by which the dependent localities (or ‘children’) are determined for each nominated ‘Parent’. A list of localities will be presented for each ‘Parent', listed in ascending distance from the parent locality. A simple toggle switch allows editors to include as many of the localities offered as is appropriate. (The default state for each is "excluded"). A trap is included to prevent simple (parent-child-parent) circular references being included.
The changes made during Step Two A are saved when “Update database” button is pressed.
5.3 Step Two B (Alternate Names)
This is the process by which the alternate localities are tied to their other name. A list of localities will be presented for each ‘Alternate', listed in ascending distance from the Alternate locality. A radio button switch allows editors to select one name as the other name. The other name must not have been marked in the localities editing as an alias name.
The changes made during Step Two B are saved when “Update database” button is pressed.
Return to Main Menu to commence Step Three.
5.4 Completion
Once you have completed Step Two B, return to Main Menu and exit the application.
5.5 Updating
The editing system remains active at all times to allow continual editing after the initial work has been completed. The NPTG files that are required by end-users of the data are compiled at regular (weekly) intervals and are then available for download by traveline systems integrators, Transport Direct and other authorised users.