Using location data to measure travel times and access to amenities

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been studying public access to amenities, including an investigation published in early 2024 analysing access to sports facilities, supermarkets and museums. ONS has since expanded the range of amenities to describe how provision varies between and within local areas. The Access to amenities in local areas: October 2024 publication includes an interactive map covering local provision of ATMs and cashpoints, dental practices, GP surgeries, pharmacies, post offices, and more. 

ONS recognised that the number of amenities available to residents does not factor in how far or time-consuming it may be to reach, an important consideration for amenity access. It worked with Ordnance Survey (OS) for location expertise and insight, to analyse travel times for two key amenities: railway stations, and libraries.

Mark Freeman, Senior Data Scientist at OS, volunteered for the project. Analysing travel time meant identifying the nearest railway station and libraries for inhabited 100m grid squares.  Mark identified 100m squares containing residential properties across Great Britain. For libraries and railway stations, Mark used OS National Geographic Database (OS NGD) Land Use data, which identified specific building types, in addition to respective access points. The analysis measured distance and time needed to reach destinations, either driving or walking. The roads and paths followed were taken from the OS Multi-modal Routing Network (OS MRN).

The purpose of the analysis was to try to ascertain the shortest travel time between each grid and a library/rail station, not necessarily the shortest distance. Walking routes would include height and slope of pathways, trying to avoid hills, while driving routes would factor in one-way roads and speed restrictions.

Each grid square was assigned a time to its nearest amenity and the name of that amenity. ONS could then use the travel times – from grid square to nearest amenity – to estimate the proportion of the population within travel time bands for larger geographic areas. ONS then factored these results, along with other data such as population, into their analysis to consider which local areas had good access to amenities. 

Key findings

ONS shared some interesting stats from its analysis:

• More than half (57%) of the population of England and Wales live within a 30-minute walk of a railway station.
• Approximately 78% of the population of England and Wales are within a 30-minute walk of a public library, but this is higher in urban local authorities than in rural local authorities.

Future applications

ONS has successfully delivered two key studies – analysis of access to sports facilities, and now libraries and rail stations. The methodology can be applied to any number of other projects across the public sector. ONS could expand its analysis, studying the same distance/time routes between homes and other important amenities such as hospitals, schools, and so on. It could unlock insight and help identify properties with minimal-to-no amenities, essential in planning for the accessibility of public services to residents.

It could also prove beneficial in the analysis and planning of the ‘20-minute neighbourhood’ concept – an idea that investigates whether people can achieve their essential needs within a 20-minute walk of their home.

In the private sector, retail organisations could analyse access to premises, and identify optimum locations to build new branches that enables them to better serve communities.

OS is currently considering how the process could be improved further to make it faster and more efficient for public sector organisations to generate their own distance and travel time insights, on a large scale.

OS provides its data and services to the emergency services and wider public sector organisations through the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA). The PSGA is a contract between the government and OS for the provision of geospatial data across multiple themes, including buildings, transport, structures, addressing and land. The contract delivers key data to public sector members for use in everyday settings to support provision of critical services to the public.

All OS data can be accessed via the OS Data Hub.