ALERT: Changes to legacy Trackernet and ESUI feeds [POST UPDATED: 12 July 2024]

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[POST UPDATED: 12 July 2024: PreProd environment details and testing deadline info added].

IMPORTANT Alert for users of the legacy Trackernet and ESUI feeds

We want to let you know about a necessary re-platforming change we will be making to our open data resources that are hosted on http://cloud.tfl.gov.uk/ which will require updates to apps using these feed(s):

If your apps are using these feeds, please read the information below about the changes, and how you can test in advance.

What are the changes and why are they being actioned?
We try to avoid making breaking changes to our open data, but the cloud platform the legacy Trackernet and ESUI feeds currently sit on is being deprecated by Microsoft, and needs to be moved across to a different server. Users should experience improved overall performance, as one of the benefits from this change.

Once re-platformed, the following changes will be implemented:

  • The API’s operations will be served over HTTPS on the api.tfl.gov.uk domain.
  • The API will be added to the existing subscriptions and will appear within the API Portal https://api-portal.tfl.gov.uk.
  • Calls to the API will need to be signed with your account’s subscription key to avoid the anonymous rate-limiting rules.

No changes to the data structure in XML responses are included within this change.

What happens next?

  • We will be setting up a new PreProd environment with new API URLs, for wk. beg. 8 July 2024

  • Once this is ready, we will share the new API URL’s on this post - so you can test the new configuration ahead of LIVE rollout

  • cloud.tfl.gov.uk will be redirected after the transition period.

[POST UPDATED - INFO BELOW ADDED: Fri 12 July 2024]

Instructions on how to access and use the PreProd environment:
As explained above, we are now able to provide the endpoints on our PreProd environment for preview, these are as follows:

To use these endpoints, you will need to pass an app_key. When this is deployed to our production API Management environment, you can retrieve this key from your account in https://api-portal.tfl.gov.uk. For now, you can use the shared key that will be valid for this preview period: b6ccc4e6531f495b8d295316a8a1469b

If you have not authenticated with our keys before, these can be sent as either:

a) a query string (e.g. https://api-preprod.tfl.gov.uk/trackernet/PredictionDetailed/C/BNK?app_key=b6ccc4e6531f495b8d295316a8a1469b)

or b) a request header (app_key, value: b6ccc4e6531f495b8d295316a8a1469b)

PreProd_Trackernet_LineStatus2
PreProd_Trackernet_LineStatus21219×698 79.1 KB

You should see no changes in the data structure in general, but there are new entries in the status endpoints for the London Overground line names that are due to go live in September.

What is the deadline for testing the PreProd environment?
Please can you complete any testing of the PreProd environment by end-of-play Mon 29 July 2024.

NOTE: if you encounter any issues whilst testing or have questions about managing the change in your apps, please add a reply below and we will do our best to help you.

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Hello,

As someone that is quite heavily reliant on the data within the “legacy” TrackerNet feeds, may I please have some clarity on the following:

  • What will be the rate-limits for accessing these feeds on the new platform?
  • Will these rate-limits be strictly enforced, or serve as fair-use guidance only?
  • What will be the update/refresh frequency of data on the new platform?
  • Will the data available via the new platform be updated to include new changes to the network? For example the PredictionSummary feed is still not available for Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station - is this likely to change?

Unfortunately until the Unified API is updated to include many of the additional bits of information that TrackerNet provides, I don’t see myself moving away from these feeds anytime soon despite them being “deprecated”.

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Hi @arturs

  • What will be the rate-limits for accessing these feeds on the new platform?

Any calls to the /TrackerNet endpoints will contribute to the overall rate that is included with the subscription. This will usually be 500 requests per minute.

  • Will these rate-limits be strictly enforced, or serve as fair-use guidance only?

Yes, as with the other endpoints in our API Management platform, once you hit the rate limiter, further requests will be returned with a 429 Too Many Requests HTTP response code. The rate limiter resets every minute.

  • What will be the update/refresh frequency of data on the new platform?

We’re not aware of any changes to the data refresh frequency - I’ll ask for confirmation for that from the development team

*Will the data available via the new platform be updated to include new changes to the network?

We’re aware of the issues with stations missing from the PredictionDetailed endpoints for stations. I am hoping that the development team have incorporated the missing codes into the construct to allow the Battersea Power Station branch of the Northern line and the recently re-signalled stations on the sub-surface lines to be included. There is an open ticket with my colleagues to address that issue. The latest is that they have identified all the missing stations and mapped the correct codes. I will try to get confirmation about when this will be fixed.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Many thanks,
James

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Is this a good time to ask about a ‘push’ feed of Trackernet data? There are use cases for being able to consume data for an entire line over a Websocket connection, rather than making repeated API calls - similar to the ‘push’ feed of bus data.

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Hi, great question! We provide Tube arrivals over Websocket (or more specifically, SignalR), which is how the live arrivals on our station web pages work. If you want to consume data for an entire line, you would need to subscribe to each station on that line.

This does, however, have the same limitations as regular HTTP requests to the Unified API (e.g. no track section IDs). We would love to provide some sort of push feed with this additional data in the future. Although I cannot promise anything right now, we are working on a long term plan for our live data systems and hope to address many of the limitations of our current live data feeds.

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[POST UPDATED: 27 June 2024: Configuration of the Preprod environment has unfortunately been delayed. This is now likely to become available wk. beg. 8 July 2024. Post edited with new date provided].

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[POST UPDATED: 12 July 2024: Preprod environment details and testing deadline info added].

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