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Insight for: Show HN: A map of every UK railway, including stations that no longer exist

A comprehensive map of the entire UK rail network, including current and historical (closed) stations, heritage lines, freight-only curves, tunnels, and viaducts.
Analyzed: Jun 27, 2026
This project, while presented as a public utility, demonstrates significant B2B data engineering and visualization capabilities. The core value lies in its meticulous aggregation and reconciliation of disparate open data sources (OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, postcodes.io) to create a highly accurate, comprehensive geospatial dataset. This addresses a critical pain point for enterprises in logistics, urban planning, infrastructure management, and historical research: the lack of unified, high-fidelity historical and current infrastructure data. The methodology for data reconciliation and community-driven validation could be productized as a data service or a specialized GIS platform. Potential B2B applications include infrastructure planning, asset management for rail operators, historical preservation, and advanced analytics for freight and passenger movement, offering a robust foundation for data-driven decision-making in complex physical networks.
UK rail network heritage lines freight-only curves named tunnels and viaducts open data OpenStreetMap Overpass Wikidata postcodes.io data reconciliation rules heritage flag postcode lookup three-letter code