The National Traffic Information Service can provide both real-time and historic data services. An overview of the services available can be found in the Services Overview document available below. Developers can use the documentation and links below to evaluate the data being made available and develop their own applications. See our Acceptable Use and Operational Policy for terms and conditions.
For those that want a simple summary of incidents on the Highways England network, we can provide Email alerts. The format and operation of this service is described in the Email alerts External Interface Design Document.
For more detailed data that can be incorporated in your own applications, we can provide all of the following data types: Incidents, Journey Times, Speeds, Flows, Variable Message Sign and Matrix Signal settings. The data is available in DATEX II format which is a European XML standard for traffic information. This service uses industry-standard web services to push data to subscribers within one minute of collection from the roadside. However, some data is collected every one minute, some every five minutes and some is collected as soon as we receive a change in status from third party applications and processes. Developers can use the DATEX II External Interface Design Document to evaluate the data types and attributes of interest to them. Some data types are specific to NTIS and require a modified DATEX II schema. A DATEX II User Guide has been compiled to include other useful information about the data and how it is collected.
New features include:
Software developers can find sample code in Java and ASP .Net and instructions to interface to NTIS services on the GitHub website at https://github.com/ntisservices. We can also provide a Toolkit that receives data in DATEX II format and allows queries to be returned in JSON format. This is available from the GitHub website at https://github.com/SaturnEclipseUK.
Subscriptions will be set up on an individual basis and all access to NTIS data will be authorised and recorded. Specific connection details and user credentials will be provided as part of the subscription process.
Other services such as twitter and RSS feeds can be found on the Highways England website.
Historic data (referred to as Daily Aggregated Traffic Data) can either be downloaded manually from the Subscriber Portal website or programmatically from a web service. The data is available in DATEX II format. This service is described in the DATD External Interface Design Document. The historic data available includes all data that was published in real-time on the previous day plus any data received at a later date but before generation of the historic data files. The data includes all data types. Incidents, Journey Times, Speeds, Flows, Variable Message Sign and Matrix Signal settings.
The latest NTIS Network and Asset Model can be downloaded manually from the Subscriber Portal website or programmatically from a web service. This service is described in the Network Model External Interface Design Document. A description of rules employed to generate the NTIS Model can be found in NTIS Model Data Sources and Business Rules.
If you would like to become a subscriber, register for a subscriber account using the links at the top of the page. Following approval, you will receive credentials so that you can sign in and configure your subscription and areas of interest. Once signed in, you can configure your subscription with the Services Request form.
If you do not wish to register, a limited subset of NTIS data is available from www.data.gov.uk but Highways England will be unable to provide any proactive support, for example, notification of planned service enhancements or outages. Access to data from www.data.gov.uk is covered by the Open Government Licence for public sector data found at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/2/.
