DATA4PT and MobilityData are releasing a mapping between GBFS & NeTEx ‘New modes’
Preceding the publication of the extension of the Network Timetable Exchange (NeTEx) for ‘new modes’, DATA4PT and MobilityData experts release the high-level mapping between the General Bikeshare Feed Specification (GBFS) and Transmodel in order to support better interoperability of shared mobility data feeds.
March 16, 2022 — Multimodal mobility has taken a bigger place in society, which also means more mobility services available for travelers, including for example, cycle and scooter share schemes, car-sharing, and ride-sharing. The discoverability of these services in trip planning applications remains a challenge. Data standardization and interoperability are key to resolving it.
GBFS is the de-facto open standard* to represent shared mobility services and has supported the recent integration of various shared mobility services in trip planning applications. As part of the European legislation to open and standardize mobility data, NeTEx, the European standard** which already covers all forms of scheduled public transport in a uniform format, is widening its scope to new mobility services. Recognizing the crucial importance of real data interoperability for enabling applications that make it easy for travelers to seamlessly find the information they need, Datat4PT and MobilityData are releasing a canonical mapping between GBFS and NeTEx ‘new modes’ and SIRI. The two organizations joined forces as the European support organization for NeTEx for DATA4PT and as the stewarding organization of GBFS for MobilityData.
We strongly believe in working hand in hand with all of the stakeholders in the industry to make sure standards are open and aligned to support the development of innovative mobility services. Our work with the experts of DATA4PT is the best example of us working towards the constant improvement of travelers’ information. This mapping is the very first visible result of an ongoing collaboration and we are very much looking forwards to releasing more joint work.
Tu-Tho Thai, MobilityData, Director, Partnerships
Consensus between the expert groups
DATA4PT and MobilityData experts worked on this canonical mapping between GBFS and NeTEx as part of the release of NeTEx Part 5. NeTEx, a standard based on Transmodel, the European reference model for Public Transport, provides a modular, uniform format covering a wide range of Public Transport services and has recently been extended to cover new mobility services as well. The goal of the mapping was to ensure that GBFS data elements can be represented in NeTEx alongside the many other data services that NeTEx can describe. The detailed documentation is now made public for the entire mobility community with the purpose of increasing the quality of traveler information.
Experts on both sides also wanted to make their work public and accessible to illustrate their core beliefs: GBFS and NeTEx share a community of stakeholders, are fully interoperable, and provide different and complementary value to society. The same could also be said about NeTEx and GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification).
The ability to share and integrate data from many different sources is vital for creating effective passenger information services. Creating a robust mapping between the GBFS specifications and Transmodel/NeTEx is an important pragmatic step in achieving interoperability between two of the most significant international public transport datasets, as we work towards our common goals of open data and an open ecosystem of tools with which to manage mobility data. We very much welcome the spirit of dialogue and open cooperation with which the MobilityData experts have worked with our team to articulate a translation for data between our two formats. We hope such dialogues will continue to cover further areas in the future as we evolve our standards towards a truly global interoperability of transport data.
Christophe Duquesne, NeTEx expert, DATA4PT
About GBFS and NeTEx
Owned by the North American Bikeshare & Scootershare Association (NABSA) and stewarded by MobilityData, the General Bikeshare Feed Specification, known as GBFS, is an open data standard for shared mobility and makes real-time information available to travelers to help them discover and use shared mobility services.
Owned by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), NeTEx was originally created for scheduled public transportation with the goal of exchanging many different natures of data between passenger information systems, including data describing stops, facilities, timetables, and fares. As well as passenger-facing data, it also covers the many complex data sets needed to plan and manage transport services, so data can be used by both operational management systems and customer-facing systems for journey planning. NeTEx has been made mandatory in Europe by the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1926 of 31.5.2017.
About DATA4PT
The DATA4PT project, coordinated by UITP (International Association of Public Transport) and ITxPT as the Technical Manager, aims to advance data-sharing practices in the public transport sector by supporting the development of data exchange standards and models in order to fulfill the needs of multimodal travel information service providers. DATA4PT wants to enable union-wide multimodal travel information services and contribute to a seamless door-to-door travel ecosystem across Europe that covers all mobility services.
The main objectives of DATA4PT consist of technical and organizational activities to facilitate the development and deployment of the European public transport data standards Transmodel, NeTEx, and SIRI.
Data4PT has received funding from the European Union’s DG for Mobility and Transport under grant agreement No MOVE/B4/SUB/2019-104/CEF/PSA/SI2.821136
Learn more on data4pt-project.eu
About MobilityData
MobilityData began in 2015 as a Rocky Mountain Institute project with the mission to improve travelers’ information. It extended its mission and reach by becoming a Canadian non-profit in 2019 and a French one in 2021. With over 20 employees worldwide, MobilityData brings together and supports international mobility stakeholders such as transport agencies, software vendors, mobility apps, and cities to standardize and expand data formats such as GTFS and GBFS for public transport and shared mobility. MobilityData acts as an industry facilitator, creating opportunities for strengthened interoperability while assisting the industry’s rapid transformation through training and tools. Learn more on mobilitydata.org.
Footnotes
* Standard is here used in its 4th Oxford definition: a system or method that is the usual way of measuring, producing or doing a particular thing in a particular field of activity.
** Standard is used here to mean an international standard governed by treaty and formal governance processes, as per CEN, ISO, etc.
For more information:
DATA4PT (ITxPT)
Anastasia Founta
DATA4PT Project Manager
MobilityData
Elisabeth Poirier-Defoy
Deputy Executive Director and Director of Communication
