Custom NDOV integration
Transport operators in Dutch public transport supply their timetables and live trip data to the NDOV data portals, which make them available as open data. Anyone building a travel app, a departure board, a mobility platform or an analysis retrieves the data from there. The difficulty lies in processing it: NeTEx files per concession holder, a continuous stream of KV6, KV15 and KV17 messages, and stops that must match the Central Stop Register (Centraal Halte Bestand). Appfront builds the integration that retrieves NDOV data, combines it and makes it ready for your own application.
What is an integration with public transport data from the NDOV portals?
An NDOV integration connects your software to the open public transport data from the NDOV portals. Under DOVA's Concession Appendix on Public Transport Datasets (Concessiebijlage Datasets OV), operators supply their data in a fixed way to two portals, Stichting OpenGeo and Reisinformatie Groep, which make it available as open data under a CC0 licence. Under BISON, the timetable comes as NeTEx, live positions and punctuality via KV6, passenger messages via KV15, and trip cancellations and diversions via KV17. The integration retrieves that data, places planned and live information side by side, and makes the result ready for your own application.
Without an integration, the data remains unusable for many organisations. The files are large and come per concession holder, the real-time stream runs around the clock via ZeroMQ, and a KV6 message only means something once it is linked to the right trip in the timetable. OpenGeo's NDOV Loket provides no technical support itself and makes the best-effort streams available under fair use, with one connection per consumer per stream. Anyone who tries this alone often ends up with a script that stops working when a new timetable arrives.
We build custom because every application needs something different. A departure board at a single stop needs only the expected times there, a journey planner needs the whole country, and a municipality wants to analyse punctuality per line over a year. Which operators and areas you need, whether best effort is enough or you need the availability of the premium network under the NDOV user agreement, and where the data has to go, all determine what the integration looks like.
Planned and live
In a single view per trip.
At the source
Data from the NDOV portals.
Monitored
Silence in the stream reported.
How we build your integration with public transport data from the NDOV portals
We start with your application: which data you need, for which operators and areas, how current it must be and where it ends up. Then we build the first version with the timetable from NeTEx and the KV6 stream for one area, because the link between planned and live data is easiest to test there first. KV15, KV17, more areas and delivery to your systems follow. Finally, we maintain the integration whenever BISON changes a profile or the portals make adjustments.
Data, areas, destination.
NeTEx and KV6 linked.
KV15, KV17 and more areas.
Go-live, monitoring, and maintenance when things change.
What an integration with public transport data from the NDOV portals actually does
The components below appear in almost every NDOV integration. Which ones you need depends on your application and on how up to date the data has to be.
Timetable
NeTEx per concession holder.
Positions
KV6 linked to the trip.
Messages
KV15 for passengers.
Cancelled trips
KV17 and diversions.
Stops
Aligned with the CHB.
Monitoring
Outdated or missing data.
Who we build an integration with the public transport data from the NDOV counters for
The integration is for organisations that want to use Dutch public transport data in their own software and do not want to build and maintain a processing chain for it themselves.
Travel information
Apps and departure boards.
Mobility platforms
Public transport alongside other transport.
Government bodies
Punctuality and accessibility.
Research
History for analysis.
Technology and integrations
This page is about obtaining Dutch public transport data from the NDOV counters. If your partners work with the European standard for real-time data, or you want to translate between the two, see our page on SIRI integration. For a transport operator's business operations, see our page on public transport software, and for apps built on other open data, see our page on an open data app. You can read about our approach on building software.
Why choose Appfront for your integration with the public transport data from the NDOV counters?
A departure board showing a trip that was cancelled long ago, an app that suddenly shows empty stops after a new timetable, or a stream that stalls overnight without anyone noticing: all of these cost passengers' trust and you complaints. That is what we build against: data taken from the source, with planned and real-time data properly linked, and monitoring for anything that is missing.
Accurate per trip
Planned and real-time data linked.
Updated
New timetable imported.
Monitored
Silence is reported.
Security and privacy in an integration with the public transport data from the NDOV counters
The public transport data from the NDOV counters is open data and contains no passenger data. Anything you add yourself, such as favourites or travel data from your app's users, we store separately from the public transport data and only for as long as necessary. Access to administration is set up per role, and every import action is logged.
The integration runs in a European data centre, with encrypted connections and daily backups of the processed data. If a stream drops or a file fails to arrive, the administrator receives an alert, and the application shows that data is outdated rather than presenting old times as current.
Frequently asked questions about an integration with the public transport data from the NDOV counters
Questions that developers, product managers and policy officers ask before they get started.
An integration that retrieves the open public transport data from the NDOV counters and processes it for your own software. The timetable, the real-time trip data, the messages for passengers and the stops then arrive automatically, linked and kept up to date, without you having to process the files and streams yourself.
The central contact points where consumers obtain the public transport data of Dutch operators: Stichting OpenGeo and Reisinformatie Groep. Operators supply their data there in line with DOVA's Concessiebijlage Datasets OV (public transport datasets annex to concessions), and the counters make it available as open data.
The data is made available under a CC0 licence, including for commercial applications. Fair use applies to the best-effort streams; if you need higher availability, you can sign a user agreement with the NDOV Loket for the premium network.
KV6 contains the live position and punctuality of vehicles per trip, KV15 the free-text messages for travellers during disruptions, and KV17 the changes to the timetable, such as cancelled trips or skipped stops. The timetable itself comes in BISON NeTEx format.
SIRI is the European standard for live public transport data. In the Netherlands, live data still largely runs through its own interfaces, while BISON is working on Dutch SIRI profiles. An NDOV integration processes what the data portals currently deliver; a SIRI integration translates to or from the European standard.
Besides the BISON feeds, OpenGeo's NDOV Loket also offers a feed with NS InfoPlus data. Which data you need for trains, and under what conditions, we look at in the first step.
For organisations that use public transport data on an ongoing basis in an app, display, platform or analysis. If you only want to look at a file once for a study, downloading it from the data portals is often enough.
Public transport data from the NDOV portals in your own software?
Tell us which data you need and where it has to go. We'll show you how an integration processes the timetable and the live trips for you.