Navigation is a core function of S3 Passenger, essential for our customers. Accurate navigation across the carrier network is crucial. A journey will always have an origin and destination. With S3 Navigator, users can simply ask, “How can I get from A to B?” and the system will evaluate all timetables and configurations to offer the most efficient travel options.

Since 2023, these requests have been powered by our new S3 Navigator ‘2.0’ module. Navigator 2.0 is a core component for S3 Passenger that manages timetables and performs navigation within all configured data for the transport operator’s network and, potentially, its feeder and de-feeder services. The network can be configured manually by the operator’s timetable planning team or imported automatically via sources like the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) format.

This marks a significant step forward in journey planning technology. For over a decade, the original S3 Navigator reliably served the S3 Passenger landscape. However, we found it fell short on some crucial requirements, such as:

• Nationwide carriers need precise control over journey planning algorithms to make informed business decisions;

• The usability of ‘back office’ pages must be high, especially in this configuration-heavy module;

• The publication process must support versioning and be isolated from fare publication;

• Settings validation in pre-production must be efficient;

• S3 Navigator must support external import and export sources.

Key enhancements of Navigator 2.0

Calculating routes with the Connection Scan Algorithm

At the heart of the S3 Navigator module lies its ability to identify optimal travel options between requested origins and destinations. Here, S3 Navigator 2.0 exceeds expectations: it can autonomously compute routes from vast ‘raw’ timetable data from varied sources at an impressive scale. This enables S3 Navigator 2.0 to process national-scale networks, including feeder and de-feeder services, while handling hundreds of thousands of daily departures with extremely low latency. No network is too large for it to deliver fast, high-quality navigation results.

Unlike its predecessor, S3 Navigator 2.0 no longer requires explicit modelling of connections through 'route links’ (a junction in the network of a carrier that enables passengers to change from one service to another service in a specific direction).

Instead, Navigator 2.0 can find routes by simply detecting that different services, potentially from different operators, either pass the same location or intersect in close proximity via a so-called ‘pathway.’ This can be a short walk between platforms or an underground tunnel between metro stations, for example.

Now, the management of these connections has moved to an exception-based model, allowing operators to specify optional transfer rules. These rules determine which transfers should be avoided, require additional time, or only be available at certain times or days.

Powered by a custom implementation of the Connection Scan Algorithm (CSA) in Kotlin, hosted on Amazon cloud services, Navigator 2.0 integrates cutting-edge technology that offers a sophisticated range of parameters for guiding journey planning results to match the operator’s needs.

Improvements to Data Management

Another key feature of S3 Navigator 2.0 is its transformative approach to data management. First, the back office has been redesigned, making it much easier to handle the configuration-heavy tasks of building an operator’s network.

Navigator 2.0 is divided into a data management layer and a navigation engine. Sqills has designed the data management layer to simplify export and transfer between environments. Conversely, a single S3 Navigator 2.0 engine can be powered by data from multiple sources, such as combining several operators. This flexibility allows operators to safely prepare significant changes for testing in an acceptance environment while ongoing production data maintenance remains uninterrupted. Following successful testing, updates to the production environment can be completed in just a few clicks.

Lastly, separate departments within a train operator typically handle timetable planning, while others focus on maintaining and releasing the fare structure. Until the introduction of Navigator 2.0, changes made to the timetable would immediately publish ongoing changes made in S3 Fare as well.

By introducing a fine-grained, resource-policy based changeset model that is loosely based on the PR, approve and merge flow in Git - operators can not only separate the work in S3 Fare from the work in Navigator 2.0. More importantly, it enables fine-grained control over what is released within Navigator 2.0. The merge process verifies there are no conflicts and halts the publication of data to production environments if an anomaly is detected.

Integrating External Data with S3P GUI and API

With the increasing significance of interconnected transport services, and the European Commission’s promotion of the Open Sales and Distribution Model (OSDM), the ‘timetables’ S3 Passenger relies on for seat reservations, inventory management, dynamic pricing, and ticket sales functions are no longer standalone. Concepts such as code-sharing, multi-inventory, and integrated third-party services for first- and last-mile transport have made the inclusion of external timetables in formats like GTFS within S3 Passenger increasingly important.

Sqills now provides a flexible solution, allowing operators to import various external timetables from different sources and seamlessly blend them with their native services managed via the S3 Passenger GUI or APIs. Data management in this context can be complex: some data may come from external sources, needing automated nightly imports, while other data changes support upcoming seasonal services, and yet other, minor updates reflect ongoing adjustments to daily schedules. Navigator 2.0 makes it possible to manage all these data streams smoothly.

Navigator 2.0 can help you move passengers forward

With the introduction of the new connection scan algorithm, extensive data management improvements, and the ability to integrate external data with native S3 Passenger timetables, S3 Navigator 2.0 is primed to serve as the core engine for operators around the world.

S3 Navigator 2.0 is designed to support integration with other journey planning systems if customers find this approach more viable. Additionally, we anticipate expanding the scope of supported import and export connections beyond GTFS and SSIM.

Want to learn more about how S3 Navigator 2.0 can optimise your operations? Get in touch with us today.