Compass Informatics, has a long-standing relationship with the NTA and was tasked with applying the PTALs model to the greater Dublin area using the NTA’s local proprietary data.
Compass developed a solution with scalability in mind, i.e. allowing for future inclusion of additional variables/parameters in the PTALS index calculation.
The National Transport Authority or NTA is the transport authority for Greater Dublin and the public transport licensing agency for Ireland.
The NTA took over certain functions from the Department of Transport and the entire role of the Dublin Transportation Office.
The NTA operates under the consumer facing brand Transport for Ireland.
Public Transport Accessibility Levels (PTALs) is a methodology to accurately measure the accessibility of a point on a map with reference to the public transport network.
The method was developed in 1992 by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and was subsequently adopted by Transport for London (TfL) and applied to the Greater London Network.
The model reflects;
The NTA’s planning and modeling teams needed to be able to assesses which parts of the network required investment and calculate the impact of making changes to services and infrastructure.
Compiling data to model these types of changes is complex, requiring a deep understanding of NaPTAN, GTFS and geospatial data sets to provide accurate and defendable insights.
PTALs can be calculated with varying degrees of complexity so a phased approach was used so that new calculations were introduced iteratively.
Other models such as permeability and catchment analysis were also integrated to give better results.
The project included:
A key requirement of the solution was the ability to extend the parameters used in the calculation of PTALS.
Compass Informatics is an Irish company providing location technologies and data analytics solutions which enable government and commercial organisations to deliver more efficient operations, protect their assets and meet regulatory requirements.
Compass Informatics’ services include GIS & Data Analytics, IT Systems Development and Location Technologies and the company has won awards for their innovative solutions and focus on sustainability.
Compass leverages the latest technologies to achieve full-service project delivery including; Big Data Analytics, AI, Cloud, Mobile, GIS and Satellite-based Earth Observation amongst others.
Compass Informatics are part of Tracsis Plc.
To learn more about this project, and how the solution provided may benefit your organisation, please contact our government solutions team at info@compassinformatics.com.
