London lifts restrictions on commercial data use
The UK Transport for London (TfL) has announced that transport information has now been opened up for commercial and non-commercial re-use with out restrictions or the need to contact Transport for London.
The Transport for London news topic titled: TfL makes data freely available for smart development: Restrictions on commercial data use lifted states:
“A wealth of new information about London's Tubes, buses and river services is being made available online so that web developers can use it to create products such as apps (mobile phone applications) that help passengers.
From today developers can also use the data for commercial gain without the need to get permission from Transport for London (TfL).
By lifting previous restrictions, digital developers can now independently develop and sell products using TfL data.
Basic information will remain available free of charge to the public on the TfL website.
But TfL hope the move will encourage developers to put together a wider range of high quality services and applications.
By using TfL's Developers' Area web developers are now able to access a number of data sets and feeds to live London Underground/Tube travel news on London's Datastore.
Encouraging developers
By the end of June developers will also be able to find information on bus routes and bus stops and data from London Underground's Rolling Origin and Destination Survey.
Data on bus timetables and schedules will follow.
Information currently in the Datastore includes:
- Planned weekend Tube works
- Station locations (for the Tube, Docklands Light Railway and London Overground)
- River Thames pier locations
- Find-a-ride (licensed private hire operators)
- Oyster Ticket Stop locations
Developers visiting the London Datastore will be directed to a TfL Developers' Area to access the data, where a set of developer guidelines cover issues such as brand protection, accuracy and update frequency.
This will allow customers clarity about the services produced by TfL versus the wider developer community and encourage developers to ensure that their apps use the latest TfL data feeds.”
--
The London Data Store also published a news topic on the Transport for London news titled: Boost for London's Software Developer Community and SMEs as TfL lifts all restrictions on commercial reuse of its data.
--
The UK Guardian newspaper online Technology blog also published an article titled: Transport for London frees first tranche of data for developers' use: Commercial applications can be built with the data being released - and there's plenty more to come as TfL begins to open up.
PSI Alliance 2010 Annual Conference
- 293 reads
