TOMP-API & FAIR principles
The TOMP-Working group is on a mission to develop and sustain an open standard for technical communication between Transport Operators and MaaS Providers. To fulfil this mission, ‘alignment’ and ‘interoperability’ are crucial. Both words are often used in one sentence with the acronym ‘FAIR’. This stands for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable.
The FAIR-principles saw the light in a 2016-article in the journal Scientific Data (a part of Nature). The ‘FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship’ aim to optimise the reuse of research data by making them Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable, for humans but also for machines.
Now, what is the impact of these principles on the TOMP-API, and how do we apply them?
Findable
‘Findable’ means that the data should be easy to find. This is not the TOMP’s responsibility (as it is only a specification), but we are prepared to be found and explored. For example, a part of the ‘Operator Information Module’ describes what is implemented in the API – note that in most cases, the TOMP is implemented partially, only implementing the needed use cases from a business perspective. On top of this, we describe how the API works, and what can be expected. In version 2.0 we will even formalise the allowed ‘next steps’, namely the flow throughout the interface. Each response describes what can be done and the possible next steps (=requests).
Accessible
‘Accessible’ means that the user needs to know how the data can be accessed. The interface should be technically accessible. Therefore we do not limit the identification nor the authentication methods. Whether you want to set up a secure method, like certificates, OAuth2, JWT, or less secure ones like username/password, we do not restrict. The API can be implemented in any environment, the technical accessibility is a bilateral agreement between the Maas Provider and the Transport Operator(s). This is required because there are implementations globally and security rules are not equally important everywhere.
Interoperable
‘Interoperable’ means that the data can be used in other operations (inter-operations), which implies that you should have a clear definition of all your concepts. That is why we want to make sure that we support the exchange of data between MaaS Providers and Transport Operators by developing an open standard they can rely on.
It is also one of the reasons why we have decided to revise entirely the architecture of the TOMP-API in its upcoming version. This will allow the TOMP-API to be used with Transmodel-based standards such as NeTEx. In that sense, the TOMP-WG is actively contributing to data being interoperable for all.
Reusable
Last but not least, the FAIR principles aspire to optimise the reuse of data. To allow reuse, these data should be well-described. And that makes this principle the toughest of the four. We noticed that sharing data is already a sensitive operation. In the beginning, when we used GBFS as a starting point for the ‘support trip planning’ part (the Operator Information Module) and modified it to serve our use needs, we found out that it directly conflicts with existing GBFS imports from Journey Planners. The goal of the latter is different, even different enough to make it unusable for our case. In other words, being ‘reusable’ comes with a high price: you create datasets that serve multiple goals, with all costs related.
With the anticipated version 2.0, we have the ambition to remove overlap with existing standards, so the principle of reusability will be respected after all. We want to remove parts that overlap and work together with the organisations of the existing standards, proposing extensions or modifications to these standards, to serve as the original goal (like trip planning), but also supply the required data to start booking using the TOMP-API. Now that is real alignment!
In conclusion...
As was illustrated above, the TOMP-API takes the FAIR principles seriously. Not only do we take them into account, we also comply with the principles wherever we can and provide a solid base to be used everywhere, for instance in bilateral usages and European data spaces, but also as a standard for new Transport Operators.
Author: Edwin van den Belt
Edits: Tu-Tho Thai, Jelten Baguet
Interested in further reading? Have a look at the original publication of the FAIR principles in Science Data or read the introduction on the Go-FAIR website.