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derhuerst / stable-public-transport-ids

Get normalized IDs for public transport stations, etc.
https://github.com/derhuerst/stable-public-transport-ids#stable-public-transport-ids
ISC License
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Persistent identifiers via wikidata #1

Open pietercolpaert opened 4 years ago

pietercolpaert commented 4 years ago

Wikidata

https://www.wikidata.org/ is a collaborative knowledge base - it tries to create an identifier for all entities in the world.

With iRail in Belgium we decided to slowly move towards this for persistent identifiers.

Check for example this identifier: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q800814

A lot of people added properties we had no clue about (e.g., its architectural style, the fact it’s registered cultural heritage (and is linked to yet another URI for this fact), etc.)

At the bottom of the page you can then find all possible other identifiers given by different systems, including UIC codes, HAFAS codes, or local numbering systems.

And if you then look at OpenStreetMap, then you will see that the building identifier in OSM is linked to this wikidata URI (https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/226276044)

Proposal

What I propose is to have an extra field in the JSON ouput that links to the wikidata identifier of the station. In the case it does not yet exist, it would be great to create it in wikidata, and add basic information such as the other identifiers that you found so far

derhuerst commented 4 years ago

I'm not sure yet if consulting external data sources is within the scope of this package, but it definitely is a good idea!

@juliuste has already built something similar: Identifying Wikidata entries of DB stations using their name. https://github.com/juliuste/db-clean-station-name/blob/98cf205e354ada849015424f3ff5528fc8ca633d/build/wikidata.js

juliuste commented 4 years ago

@derhuerst Note that I only matched stations with their cities on Wikidata, not directly with their corresponding station entry.