GeoPlace responds to requests for combined ASD files

Combined ASD is when a local authority's LSG Associate Street Data (ASD) is combined with ASD submitted by other organisations (ASD Submitters) within their specific geographical area.

Transport for London, Network Rail, and Welsh Government are the only current organisations that submit ASD separately from a base network. Data submitted by these organisations will now be included in the master file for that geographical area. Other organisations' data may be included as and when it is submitted to GeoPlace.

For example, a London Borough's ASD file may now include both TfL and Network Rail data within its geographical area.

Fundamentally this means all data attached to a specific USRN will be provided in a single file.

The current process requires organisations to download files as they are submitted, and often it is necessary to download two or more files from the publication.

This has led to occasional issues where ASD files are sometimes missed and not used in the decision-making or the notification process. This has been confirmed by analysis which highlighted that some uncoupled ASD files are downloaded only intermittently.

Combining all data into a single file will make the process more efficient, and ensure all organisations are receiving complete data.

To combine the files several steps are taken to ensure that duplicate and conflicting information is not provided, the data meets the specification and that the source of the data is easily identifiable:

Sequence Number

When combining data, the data in each type of ASD must have unique sequencing. To do this, the next available sequence number is identified for that USRN, local authority submitted ASD will not change (0114 - 6955).

In a situation where more than one ASD submitter supplies additional data on that USRN, a different sequence number will be allocated to ensure they always remain unique.

Any linked ASD_Coordinate records submitted by ASD submitters will also be updated to the new sequence number.

Populate Missing Data

To ensure all ASD submitter data is identifiable, where data has previously not been included in the SWA_ORG_REF_CONSULTANT field this will automatically be populated to identify the relevant party.

In the future, the use of the SWA_ORG_REF_CONSULTANT field will become mandatory, but in the interim, it will be populated with the SWA code of the organisation that has submitted the data and a DISTRICT_REF of a live OD district.

Specific fields that may have been amended are as follows:

Type 61 Interest record - no changes required, SWA_ORG_REF_AUTHORITY already populated with ASD Submitter SWA code

Type 62 Construction record - SWA_ORG_REF_CONSULTATION and DISTRICT_REF_CONSULTATION will have been populated

Type 63 Special Designation and Type 64 Height, Width and Weight - SWA_ORG_REF_CONSULTANT and DISTRICT_REF_CONSULTANT will have been populated

Type 66 PRoW and Type 67 ASD Coordinate record - No changes required, information not submitted by ASD Submitters and/or references back to ASD Submitters records

Conflicting and/or duplicate data

Under DTF8.1, compliance checks were introduced which ensures conflicting data cannot be provided in files.

On the download matrix, a specific area has already been provided for the Combined ASD files.

Once selected it will download a zip file with a naming convention of ****_81ca. The files inside the zip conform to the DTF8.1 requirements (****_ad.csv).

Combined ASD will be available for all English County, English Unitary and Welsh Unitary Authorities and will also be included in the national compilation.

There is no immediate intention to withdraw the current provision of ASD files, but if the use of separate files reduces then they may be withdrawn.

The combined ASD files is not currently available in all software, but it is hoped that new software releases that they will be able to utilise the new files.