Topics:

Glossary

General

Term	Explanation
Feed	Feeds provide routing data (e.g. stops and timetables) from one or more public transport agencies to the API. List of available feeds can be queried by using feeds query.
Agency	Some public transport provider, e.g. HSL.
Disruption (Alert)	A temporary change in public transport services. For example, a stop out-of-use or a diversion on a route.
Transportation Mode	A means of transport, for example: walking, cycling, driving a car, bus, train, subway, tram, ferry, airplane.
City bike	A shared-use bicycle that can be borrowed for a fee by anyone.

Routes

Term	Explanation
Route	A public transport service shown to customers under a single name, usually from point A to B and back. For example: trams 1 and 1A, buses 18 and 102T, or train A. Commonly used synonym: line
Pattern	A sequence of stops as used by a specific direction (i.e. inbound or outbound journey) and variant of a route. For example, a variant of a route could be a tram entering service from the depot and joining at the middle of the route or a route might have a short term diversion without changing the route name (longer diversions are usually marked as different routes).
Trip	A specific occurance of a pattern, usually identified by the route and exact departure time from the first stop. For example: tram 15 leaving from Keilaniemi on 2024-12-18 at 13:13, or more generally leaving from Keilaniemi at 13:13 on specified days.
Headsign	A description of a route usually written on the front of the vehicle. For example: Helsinki (for just the destination) or Helsinki - Tampere (for both the origin and destination).

Stops

Term	Explanation
Station	A location, which contains stops. For example, a train station is a station and its platforms are stops.
Stop	A public transport stop, from which passengers can board vehicles.
Cluster	A list of stops, grouped by name and proximity.
Stoptime	Stoptime is the time when a specific trip arrives to or departs from a specific stop.
Departure row	A special location type, which lists departures of a certain pattern from a stop. Departures rows are identified with pattern id, so querying departure rows will return departures only from one stop per pattern.

Itinerary planning

Term	Explanation
Itinerary	A combination of different transportation modes at certain times to reach from origin to destination. For example, walking to a bus stop, taking a bus for two stops and then walking to the final destination. Commonly used synonym: journey
Leg	One part of an itinerary, e.g. walking to a bus stop or a bus ride between two stops.
Origin	A geographical point where an itinerary begins.
Destination	A geographical point where an itinerary ends.