The OS Multi-modal Routing Network (OS MRN) premium product contains three feature types: Transport Link, Transport Node and Turn Restriction

The pages in this section contain additional details about of the attribution for each feature type in the OS MRN and should be read in conjunction with the corresponding feature type page in the technical specification.

The pages in this section contain information and tips about the OS Multi-modal Routing Network (OS MRN) data and specific advice on how to make the most of the data provided by individual feature types.

Where Transport Nodes have been split apart due to grade separation, the original node keeps the existing OSID and the additional nodes are indicated with the suffix --1 or --2, depending on the grade separation value. Also, the geometries of grade separated Transport Nodes are offset (5cm in both the X and Y axes) to prevent routing software failure due to point spatial objects being at the same position.

If a Transport Link has a different grade separation at the start and end node, the link is split. The OSID of the new Transport Node between the split links is indicated with a suffix of --S. One of the Transport Links keeps to original OSID and the other has the suffix of --S.

OS Multi-modal Routing Network (OS MRN) provides a fully connected road, rail, path and ferry network across Great Britain Road. It includes turn and vehicle access restrictions, road speed information, and modal change points where you can change transport mode.

Product Supply

OS MRN is available as a premium data download from the OS Data Hub. It is available as a Full Supply only, and customers can order full GB coverage or a customisable Area of Interest (AOI).

Formats

OS MRN is supplied in two formats:

• Protocolbuffer Binary Format (PBF)

• GeoPackage (GPKG)

PBF is an open source transfer format for vector GIS data created by the OpenStreetMap (OSM) community. PBF is an alternative to the original OSM XML format. PBF files are generally much smaller than OSM XML files and are faster to read and write.

GPKG is an open standard data format as defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). GeoPackage is designed to be a lightweight format that can contain large amounts of varied and complex data in a single, easy to distribute and ready to use file.

Update frequency

OS MRN is updated monthly in line with updates of the OS transport network data.

Coverage

OS MRN covers Great Britain.

Coordinate reference system

The coordinate reference system used by OS MRN is the World Geodetic System (WGS84: EPSG: 4326). This applies to both the PBF and GPKG formats.

The WGS84 spatial reference system uses the WGS84 geodetic datum. Positions on this projection are described as latitude and longitude, and coordinates are provided in decimal degrees.

The sub-sections in this Technical Specification describe the:

• Feature types available within the OS Multi-modal Routing Network premium product.

• Code lists used by attributes available in those feature types.

A Transport Link is a linear spatial object that defines the geometry and connectivity of a road, path, rail, or ferry network between two points in the network. Transport Links are split for connectivity purposes (for example, at junctions) and Transport Nodes connect the Transport Links together. Each Transport Link provides a reference to the Transport Nodes at the start and end of the Transport Link.

Transport Links contain information about the type of link (for example, highway='motorway') and information about the access restrictions for vehicles to indicate which modes can travel along the link (e.g motor_vehicle=’yes’). There is also a maximum speed attribute, and two average speed attributes:

• a conditional delimited list of all the speeds at different time periods

• a single average speed using the Mon-Fri 12-2pm period.

Transport Links also incorporate Modal Change links which are a linear spatial object representing a logical connection between the transport network and a transport site. See the Modal Change page for more information.

The Transport Link is attributed with a unique (but not persistent) WayID, which routing software uses to build out the network. Transport Links are also attributed with the OSID of the corresponding OS parent feature that is published in the OS NGD Transport Theme.

OS Multi-modal Routing Network (OS MRN) contains Modal Change points to represent where you can transition between different transport modes. The OS MRN takes keys sites such as train stations, ferry terminals and car parks, and creates modal change points at these locations to enable connectivity.

Within the Transport Node feature type there are Modal Change nodes which are derived from transport sites. A node is created and sits within the primary building of the site. It is attributed with the os_nodetype of ‘Modal Change’.

Within the Transport Link feature type there are Modal Change links which are a linear spatial object representing a logical connection between the transport network and the transport site. These Transport Links connect between the network and the Modal Change node.

Modal change connectivity is only provided between sites and the road, rail and ferry network. Modal change points do not connect to the Path network as we do not currently capture access points from paths to sites in OS data.

Transport Links combine the following existing transport information into one feature type:

• OS NGD Road Links

• OS NGD Path and Connecting Links

• OS NGD Ferry Links

• OS NGD Railway Links

• OS NGD Access Restrictions

• OS NGD Speed data

Transport Nodes combine the following existing transport information and into one feature type:

• OS NGD Road Nodes

• OS NGD Path and Connecting Nodes

• OS NGD Ferry Nodes

• OS NGD Railway Nodes

Turn Restrictions take the existing OS NGD Turn Restrictions.

OS Multi-modal Routing Network (OS MRN) is a fully connected routable network dedicated for the multi-modal routing of people and goods. The product is designed for use in routing applications and contains multi-modal connectivity between Road, Rail, Path, and Ferry networks, brought together by modal change points to enable transition between modes. 

OS MRN was designed and built using the OpenStreetMap schema to facilitate its use in a wide range of routing applications. It takes existing OS network and routing data (available in the OS NGD) and maps this to the OpenStreetMap schema. New connectivity is added in the form of modal change points, which are key interchange sites where you can transition between different transport modes. Additionally, the dataset contains road restriction information and speed data.

Key Features

• Fully connected Road, Rail, Path and Ferry networks across Great Britain

• Road routing information, including turn restrictions and vehicle access restrictions

• Road speed information, including maximum speed and average speed

• Modal change points to represent sites where you can change transport mode

• OpenStreetMap schema

• OSParentIDs containing the OSID of the feature in the OS NGD

A Transport Node is a point spatial object that is used to break up the Transport Network for connectivity. The Transport Network splits at the following locations:

• Where an attribute changes.

• The intersection or crossing of Transport Links.

• The start / end of a Transport Link.

Transport Nodes are also present at every vertex along the network. These ‘vertex nodes’ don’t split the network; they are provided to enable software that reads in OpenStreetMap (OSM) data to build up the network vertex by vertex. The vertex nodes allow customers to convert from GeoPackage format to OSM.

The Transport Node will be attributed with a unique (but not persistent) Node ID and also the OSID of the corresponding OS parent feature that is published in the OS NGD Transport Network Collection.