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Network Datasets

The foundation behind GOAT's Indicators​

GOAT's accessibility indicators and analysis tools rely on high-quality network datasets that work behind the scenes. GOAT ships with built-in networks covering public transport and streets, and you can import your own when you want an analysis to run on data you control.

Understanding these underlying datasets helps you:

  • Know what data quality to expect from GOAT's indicators
  • Understand the geographic coverage of different analysis tools
  • Interpret results with knowledge of the data sources
Networks vs. your own datasets

This page is about the network datasets behind GOAT's routing and accessibility analyses. To upload ordinary datasets of your own, or to use ready-made ones, see Content and the Catalog.

GOAT's built-in networks​

GOAT includes comprehensive network datasets that power all routing-based accessibility indicators and analysis tools.

Public Transport Network​

Our public transport network covers multiple modes including buses, trams, subways, trains, and ferries. This network enables GOAT's Public Transport routing capabilities.

Public Transport Network

What's Included:

  • Stops: Names, locations, types, and accessibility information
  • Routes: Service types, accessibility details, and route information
  • Schedules: Departure times, service frequency, and operating days
  • Transfers: Interchange specifications and station connections
  • Trip Patterns: Stop sequences and timing information
  • Route Shapes: Geospatial representation of transit lines

Data Sources:

  • Germany: DELFI - Germany's national public transport data platform
  • Street-level Data: OpenStreetMap (OSM) - For station access, pedestrian connections, and multi-modal routing

How We Process the Data:

  1. Import: Data is collected in GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification) format
  2. Verify & Correct: We validate stop relationships, platform connections, and service type classifications
  3. Optimize: Networks are streamlined to include only the most representative service patterns for each route
  4. Schedule Types: Analysis supports three day types - Weekday (typically Tuesday), Saturday, and Sunday

Street Network and Topography​

Our street network represents real-world transportation infrastructure including roads, highways, bike paths, and pedestrian ways. This powers GOAT's Walking, Cycling, E-bike, and Car routing.

Street Network

Network Components:

  • Segments (Edges): Continuous path sections between intersections
  • Intersections (Nodes): Points where different paths meet or cross

Data Sources:

  • Street Networks: Overture Maps Foundation - High-quality, Europe-wide transportation data
  • Elevation Data: Copernicus Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for accurate slope calculations

Processing Workflow:

  1. Data Import: Street network data is imported in Geoparquet format from Overture Maps' Transportation theme
  2. Elevation Processing: European DEM tiles are processed to extract topographical information
  3. Spatial Indexing: Network segments are organized using Uber's H3 grid system for efficient processing
  4. Slope Calculation: Surface gradients and slope impedance are computed for each street segment
  5. Attribute Parsing: Street classifications, speed limits, turning restrictions, and one-way designations are identified and standardized
  6. Speed Limit Interpolation: Missing speed limits are estimated based on street type and modal speeds

Bringing your own networks​

The networks described above are GOAT's built-in ones, and they are used by default. You can also import your own — a network you maintain yourself, a region you want to analyse with your own data, or a planned network you want to test before it is built.

Once imported, your network is used exactly like the built-in one: the routing and accessibility tools offer it alongside Default (Europe), and you pick which one an analysis should run on.

Your own street network​

A street network you imported can be edited on the map: draw a street and GOAT splits and joins the topology, maintains the nodes, and rebuilds the routing data from what you changed. That makes it possible to test a planned connection — a new bridge, a closed street, a cycleway — and re-run an analysis on the result.

Your own public transport network​

Because GOAT routes the walk to and from each stop, a public transport network has to be linked to a street network. You choose that network while uploading, either one of your own or the built-in Default (Europe), so the street network has to exist first. Linking to your own street network is what lets a timetable analysis account for streets you changed.

For the file formats these networks are imported from and the layers they are made of, see Dataset Types. For the import steps, see Adding content.