Local authority transport: how to optimise data sharing
Explains how to make sure people can find your data and how to maintain it.
Promoting your data
Once you have published your data, you can promote it to ensure that people know how to find it. This section explains the current and future options for doing this.
Add your data to the Find Transport Data service
The DfT is currently developing a new service called Find Transport Data (previously known as the National Access Point (NAP) to catalogue all roads-based data nationally. The service is currently in the Beta phase.
Find Transport Data will be a repository for metadata and will provide a link to datasets. Local authorities will be invited to add their metadata. We expect that this will be the best way to promote your data.
Include it on your local authority website
This will be an obvious place for people to look if they are interested to discover your open data. You can publish the data on your website or a list based on your transport data catalogue.
Feature your data in data registers
Your local authority may have its own data register that can include your open data. You can promote your open data on Find open data.
Collaborate with academics
Let local universities know that you have open data or contact the Universities’ Transport Study Group (UTSG). You can gain extra resources and expertise available through universities. Students and academics are always open to new ideas for research projects. Open data can provide inspiration and ideas for such projects.
Publicise your data in the local press and libraries
This will allow you to reach residents.
Engage with external networks
These can help to build your network and promote your open data:
- the Connected Places Catapult focuses on research in the transport industry and autonomous vehicles
- ITS (UK) promotes Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and provides a forum for all organisations concerned with ITS
- the Open Data Initiative (ODI) aims to improve open data practices, and awareness of data. The ODI have local nodes, which connect open data users
- the Transport Technology Forum (TTF) aims to improve transport networks through collaboration, and has interest groups including the Signal Phase and Timing Users and Local Authorities (SPATULA) group
Engage with large employers
These may have the capacity to understand your data and may be able to use it to improve their operations. For example, a logistics company could use your data to improve their route selection.
Organise a hackathon
You could organise a hackathon with local businesses, schools or universities to encourage use of your open data. For example, the goal could be to discover your data by combining it with other data sources. Hackathons bring together people from diverse backgrounds and can result in innovative outcomes.
For example:
- Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) hosted a Local Transport Ideathon event, to tackle mobility challenges
- Transport for London (TfL) hosted an Urban Traffic Data Hackathon event
- Transport for the West Midlands (TfWM) hosted a Hack the Midlands event, with various prizes for different solutions
Create a data users’ forum or data blog
Consider creating a data users’ forum and a data blog. A forum would allow data users to discuss issues with each other, and can lead to innovation. A data blog would allow you to promote your own data, to increase awareness of the data you publish.
Example
TfL have an open data blog and a tech forum.
Improve your search engine optimisation
Many data users will use a search engine to find datasets. You should apply search engine optimisation (SEO) best practices to make your data visible and findable on the web. The Geospatial Commission has produced a best practice guide, with many useful tips to ensure your data is discovered and useful to end users.
Maintaining your data
After publishing open data it is vital to maintain and improve data sets.
Provide timely updates
Provide timely updates to your data sets, and plan maintenance at frequent intervals so that users do not lose trust in your data. The frequency will depend on the type of data. The date of publication and of the last update should be clear to those accessing your data.
Consider stating how long you intend to continue updating the data. If users know you will be publishing for a long time they are more likely to use your data.
When updating data sets, it is important to maintain their metadata. This includes deleting metadata when deleting a data set.
Maintain data quality
Schedule regular quality checks. Over time, the quality of some data sets decreases. For example, bus stop locations may change as the local road network evolves. Poor quality data impacts its integrity and usefulness.
The specific format of quality checks will vary by local authority and by data set. Methods to maintain data quality include:
- ensuring that service-level agreements (SLAs) include quality requirements
- recording when data quality was last checked
- ensuring employee succession plans are in place
You should also include an error-reporting mechanism for users. See our guidance on communicating with your users for further details.
Specify data archiving and retention periods
You should state your archiving and retention policies with your open data. Retaining data for longer than necessary costs money and brings extra risks. It is important to consider the retention period for any data published. Your local authority should have an existing data retention policy which you must follow.
Often, maintenance of open data continues for a specified amount of time. After this time has elapsed, providers will archive their data sets. The specific period of time will vary by local authority and by use case. Data users looking for access to archived data are able to send a request to the data owner.
For real-time data, it might be sensible to retain it for only a month, to reduce storage costs. Users who want data for a longer period would need to download and store it on their own systems.
For historical data, a retention period of approximately two years may be appropriate. The coronavirus pandemic has reduced the value of 2020 data, and many users will use 2019 data as a base.
Taking this approach will ensure recent data sets receive the most attention. It will also remove navigational issues. For example, removing clutter from a large number of historic data sets.
The Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 requires that personal data is held no longer than necessary. The retention period must account for reasons for the collection of the data. It must also account for any data processing that takes place.
Transport data rarely contains personal data, but occasionally DPA and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will impact policies. There is specific guidance around any security and privacy concerns.
Add new data sets
Consider publishing new transport data sets as the need arises. Over time, the number of data sets you have access to will increase. In line with this increase, demand for transport data will increase and evolve. Before deciding whether to publish a new data set, consider the following issues:
- excessive overlap with existing data sets, to prevent duplication of data sets
- conflicting data sets - do not publish data sets which conflict
If you have decided to publish a new data set, see the guidance on how to choose which data sets to publish.
Evaluating the impacts of sharing your data
To understand the success of sharing your data, it is important to evaluate the impacts. This will help to improve your future data sharing, and feed into a future data sharing business case
Monitor usage
You should monitor who is accessing your data. This will allow you to identify and quantify the demand for your data, as well as trends over time. You could include the findings in any customer feedback reporting that you do.
Ideally, you should set up your data sharing system such that when a user accesses the data, it is automatically recorded. You can then perform periodic checks on how many people have accessed each type of data, and how many times. Note that in some cases, many people can access a single connection to your data feed.
If a data set is rarely accessed, consider archiving it. This will reduce wasted effort and reduce costs. Otherwise, you could increase promotion of your open data, so that people are aware of it, and users access it.
You could include a licensing term requiring users to renew data feed requests each year. Requiring a renewal will help you avoid providing data feeds that are no longer used.
If people are accessing the data ‘too often’ you could apply a fair usage policy. As suggested in our guidance on licensing terms, you can limit traffic requests or block access. This will ensure your website can manage the traffic.
Monitor benefits
You should monitor the benefits of your data sharing, either to your authority or to others. Benefits could include:
- reduced freedom of information (FOI) requests
- improved internal collaboration
- better investment planning within the local authority
- changes in behaviour as a result of third-party apps powered by your open data, including changes in congestion, public transport usage or active travel
- increased trust and engagement from the general public
You could ask your users what they are using your data for, and what benefits they are seeing as a result (for themselves or their customers).
If you require an annual renewal, this could provide a good opportunity. With optional questions, you could ask about the purpose and benefits of their data use. Optional questions ensure that they do not provide a barrier to users. The responses collected from respondents may provide useful insights.