London Underground Map Data - The Data Format

London Underground Map Data Format

The map data in the data file is designed to store information in a form which is suitable for insertion into a relational database. Effectively, the records described below are relational tables without the foreign keys connected. Connecting the foreign keys to a suitable generated primary key values is what the data manipulation program does.

The diagram below is really of the database table, but it should also be useful in trying to understand the text file content. Note that both the diagram and the description below make reference to station alignments, which are no longer extant.

The map contains the following things:

lines - these have a name, a short code and a colour
stations - these have a name, a zone and an alignment
station nodes - for each distinct component of a station, there is a station node. For a co-situated station, there is one node per line (eg Mansion House). For a simple interchange, there is one node (eg Victoria). For a compound interchange, there is one node per blob (eg Paddington has three).
A station node has a quadrant (most stations have all their nodes in the same quadrant, but Shepherd's Bush doesn't so quadrant has to be stored at this level), an ordinal (a number identifying the node uniquely within the station), map location, and flags for whether it is part of an interchange or is a terminus.
line segments - these are the sections of a particular line connecting station nodes. Each has line segment has an originating station node, a destination station node, a direction in which the segment sets off (used for calculating alignments), and a flag indicating whether or not the segment is available in peak hours only.

In general, the records in the data file all follow the form -
<record type> TAB <comma delimited data>

The individual records are defined as follows:

LINE	Type String:	`line`
LINE	Format:	`<line code>,<colour>,<name>`
STATION	Type String:	`station`
STATION	Format:	`<name>,<zone>,{<default quadrant>}` ... where `<zone>` is the zone number for stations in only one zone but both zone numbers separated by 'b' for zone border stations (eg 2b3); and `<default quadrant>` is the quadrant compass point if all nodes in the station lie in the same quadrant. Quadrant boundaries are signified by specifying the half.
STATION NODE	Type String:	`node`
STATION NODE	Format:	`<line code>,<ordinal>,({<flags>}),(<x>,<y>){,<quadrant>}` ... where `{...}` indicate something optional; and `<flags>` includes an 'i' for an interchange and a 't' for a terminus (eg Stratford (DL) would be `it`); and `<x>,<y>` are in pixel coordinates relative to Tottenham Court Road; and `<quadrant>` is defined in the same way as for `<default quadrant above>`, and is only needed where the node quadrant varies from that default. Note: the station of which a particular node is deemed to be a part is the most recently named one.
LINE SEGMENT	Type String:	`line`
LINE SEGMENT	Format:	`<direction>,({<flags>}),<to station>:<node ordinal>` ... where `<direction>` is a compass direction; and `<flags>` are 'p' for peak only line sections. Note: the `<from station>:<node ordinal>` is taken to be the most recently defined node.