Hi,
Sorry for the number of acronyms in the post title!
I've been using the NRE live departure boards (LDB) API for a while now (liveTrains.co.uk) Understandably I guess, given the name of the API, it is very much based around station-centric data.
So for example I can run a query on all services leaving KGX, and each of those services will have a unique identifier that can be used to retrieve further info on that service.
However, that identifier is not specific to the service throughout its journey, but to the service and the station combined. Were I to find the same service on the board of, say, Finsbury park, it would have a completely different identifier.
This can be slightly infuriating - since if I know a service has left station A (and is therefore not on A's departure board), but has not yet arrived at its destination, Z, nor appeared on Z's arrival board, there is no way of querying its status without trying every possible intermediate station B,C,D... till I find it - which seems quite inneficient both in time and in the number of API calls required.
I would imagine that this data must exists so that signaling systems can track and hand-over information about a specific service to one another as a service moves around the country. I see from the NRE documentation that there is another API - the ***** - where the CC seems to stand for "Call Centre" - does anyone here know if this (or any other NRE offering) allows service specific queries?
I ask because the ORR is asking for submissions on what data the NRE should / should not be releasing via its public API (http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.2589) so it would be interesting to get an idea of what they could release if they so desired. Obviously there would be little point in asking for the moon, if getting there would require much development work on the part of the NRE because the requested data does not actually exist!
Sorry for the number of acronyms in the post title!
I've been using the NRE live departure boards (LDB) API for a while now (liveTrains.co.uk) Understandably I guess, given the name of the API, it is very much based around station-centric data.
So for example I can run a query on all services leaving KGX, and each of those services will have a unique identifier that can be used to retrieve further info on that service.
However, that identifier is not specific to the service throughout its journey, but to the service and the station combined. Were I to find the same service on the board of, say, Finsbury park, it would have a completely different identifier.
This can be slightly infuriating - since if I know a service has left station A (and is therefore not on A's departure board), but has not yet arrived at its destination, Z, nor appeared on Z's arrival board, there is no way of querying its status without trying every possible intermediate station B,C,D... till I find it - which seems quite inneficient both in time and in the number of API calls required.
I would imagine that this data must exists so that signaling systems can track and hand-over information about a specific service to one another as a service moves around the country. I see from the NRE documentation that there is another API - the ***** - where the CC seems to stand for "Call Centre" - does anyone here know if this (or any other NRE offering) allows service specific queries?
I ask because the ORR is asking for submissions on what data the NRE should / should not be releasing via its public API (http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.2589) so it would be interesting to get an idea of what they could release if they so desired. Obviously there would be little point in asking for the moon, if getting there would require much development work on the part of the NRE because the requested data does not actually exist!