[Talk-GB] NaPTAN (stop) import

[Will Phillips]

I have recently resurveyed all the bus stops in the centre of Nottingham 
(NG1 area) and quite a few changes have occurred since the NaPTAN 
import: most often changes to stop names but some more complicated 
changes to stop layouts too.

I think the quality of the NaPTAN data must vary quite a lot between 
different areas, because I have generally found the position and names 
of stops in Nottingham to be accurate, other than the inevitable changes 
that have occurred since the import took place.

I do not believe the stop areas should have been imported at all because 
they are not verifiable on the ground. Also, I am often unable to find 
much logic in the groupings other than the stops are relatively close 
together, so I don't think they are really useful.

Like others I wouldn't support an automated update. Certainly in areas 
I've recently mapped, I believe this would be more likely to degrade 
rather than improve the data. However, it would be great to have better 
tools to check for discrepancies between the current NaPTAN data and the 
bus stops in OSM, including an easy way to merge the data on a 
stop-by-stop basis. Perhaps the NOVAM-Viewer could be extended for this 
purpose (as others have already suggested).

The NaPTAN data was never imported in Derbyshire. When I was 
systematically surveying all the roads in Erewash (south Derbyshire), I 
assumed the import was going to occur at some point soon, so I didn't 
bother recording any bus stops because I wanted to avoid having to deal 
with duplicates later. I regret not doing so now. I have added them in 
some of this areas since, but there is still a lot to do. In these 
areas, where the data was not imported, it would be very useful to have 
an easy way to import the data over small areas, where local mappers 
want it to take place.

Regards,
Will