TDXWorld Bank Transport Data
Indicators, geospatial layers, standalone databases
World Bank — Transport Data
Data Catalog: https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/ (171 transport datasets) Indicators API: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/ Data360 API: https://data360api.worldbank.org/data360 License: CC-BY-4.0 Authentication: None (except PPI API — subscription key)
Overview
The World Bank's transport data spans three tiers:
- Indicator APIs — ~24 WDI time-series indicators + 55 topic-tagged Data360 indicators across 13 databases, accessed programmatically
- Data Catalog datasets — geospatial layers, standalone databases, and regional networks available as downloads (171 datasets in the Transport Data collection)
- Programme data — frameworks and outputs from GRSF, GFDT, and ieConnect (see worldbank-ieconnect.md and sum4all-gtf.md)
This profile covers tiers 1 and 2. For the Data360 API exploration with scripts and full indicator tables, see the data/world-bank deep-dive.
Part 1: Indicator APIs
WDI Transport Indicators (~24 indicators)
Transport indicators are a subset of the World Development Indicators database (source ID 2), accessed through api.worldbank.org/v2/. Covers 200+ countries, annual data.
Air Transport (IS.AIR.*)
| Code | Indicator | Unit |
|---|---|---|
IS.AIR.PSGR | Air transport, passengers carried | Number |
IS.AIR.GOOD.MT.K1 | Air transport, freight | Million ton-km |
IS.AIR.DPRT | Registered carrier departures worldwide | Number |
Rail (IS.RRS.*)
| Code | Indicator | Unit |
|---|---|---|
IS.RRS.TOTL.KM | Rail lines (total route-km) | Km |
IS.RRS.PASG.KM | Passengers carried | Million passenger-km |
IS.RRS.GOOD.MT.K6 | Goods transported | Million ton-km |
Roads (IS.ROD.*)
| Code | Indicator | Unit |
|---|---|---|
IS.ROD.TOTL.KM | Total road network | Km |
IS.ROD.PAVE.ZS | Paved roads (% of total) | % |
IS.ROD.DNST.K2 | Road density | Km per 100 sq km |
IS.ROD.ENGY.ZS | Road sector energy consumption (% of total) | % |
Ports/Shipping (IS.SHP.*)
| Code | Indicator | Unit |
|---|---|---|
IS.SHP.GOOD.TU | Container port traffic | TEU |
Vehicles (IS.VEH.*)
| Code | Indicator | Unit |
|---|---|---|
IS.VEH.NVEH.P3 | Motor vehicles (per 1,000 people) | Per 1,000 |
IS.VEH.PCAR.P3 | Passenger cars (per 1,000 people) | Per 1,000 |
IS.VEH.ROAD.K1 | Vehicles (per km of road) | Per km |
Logistics Performance Index (LP.LPI.*)
| Code | Indicator | Scale |
|---|---|---|
LP.LPI.OVRL.XQ | Overall LPI score | 1-5 |
LP.LPI.CUST.XQ | Customs efficiency | 1-5 |
LP.LPI.INFR.XQ | Infrastructure quality | 1-5 |
LP.LPI.ITRN.XQ | Ease of arranging international shipments | 1-5 |
LP.LPI.LOGS.XQ | Logistics competence and quality | 1-5 |
LP.LPI.TRAC.XQ | Tracking and tracing | 1-5 |
LP.LPI.TIME.XQ | Timeliness | 1-5 |
Transport-Adjacent
| Code | Indicator |
|---|---|
EP.PMP.SGAS.CD | Pump price for gasoline (USD/litre) |
EP.PMP.DESL.CD | Pump price for diesel (USD/litre) |
IC.IMP.DURS | Time to import (days) |
IC.EXP.DURS | Time to export (days) |
Indicator Coding Convention
XX.YYY.ZZZZ.AA
| | | |
| | | +-- Unit qualifier (KM, ZS=%, P3=per 1000, etc.)
| | +------- Specific subject
| +------------ General subject
+---------------- Topic (IS=Infrastructure, LP=Logistics, EP=Energy, IC=Investment Climate)
Data360 (55+ topic-tagged indicators)
The Data360 API aggregates indicators from 13+ databases under a transport taxonomy. Key databases beyond WDI:
| Database | Name | Transport Indicators |
|---|---|---|
WB_LPI | Logistics Performance Index | 11 |
WEF_TTDI | Travel & Tourism Development Index | 11 |
WB_ES | Enterprise Surveys | 19 |
UNCTAD_MT | Maritime Transport | 9 |
WEF_GCI | Global Competitiveness Index | 7 |
WHO_GHO | Global Health Observatory | 4 |
WB_PPI | Private Participation in Infrastructure | 2 |
Full indicator tables, scripts, and the 107 secondary (transport-adjacent) indicators are in the data/world-bank deep-dive.
API Access Patterns
# Single indicator, all countries
GET https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/all/indicator/IS.RRS.TOTL.KM?format=json&per_page=10000
# Specific countries, date range
GET https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/KEN;IND;BRA/indicator/IS.AIR.PSGR?format=json&date=2010:2023
Bulk download: https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0037712/world-development-indicators
Python (wbgapi):
import wbgapi as wb
df = wb.data.DataFrame(
['IS.RRS.TOTL.KM', 'IS.AIR.PSGR', 'LP.LPI.OVRL.XQ', 'IS.SHP.GOOD.TU'],
economy=['KEN', 'IND', 'BRA', 'NGA'],
time=range(2015, 2024),
labels=True,
columns='series'
)
Install: pip install wbgapi | Repo: https://github.com/tgherzog/wbgapi
Part 2: Data Catalog — Geospatial Layers
The WDI provides country-level aggregates with no spatial detail. The Data Catalog fills that gap with geospatial datasets covering roads, airports, ports, shipping lanes, and accessibility.
GRIP — Global Roads Inventory Project (2018)
| URL | https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0037825 |
| Coverage | 222 countries, 21M+ km of roads |
| Resolution | 5 arcminutes (~8 km) raster; vector also available |
| Format | Raster (road density) + vector shapefiles |
| Download | https://www.globio.info/download-grip-dataset (external) |
Harmonises ~60 national/regional road datasets into one global layer. Five road types: highways, primary, secondary, tertiary, local. Road density in metres per km².
The only global, open, harmonised road network at this scale. Complements the WDI's IS.ROD.TOTL.KM with actual geometry. Data vintage is 2018 — no traffic volume or road condition attributes.
Global Airports
| URL | https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0038117/global-airports |
| Coverage | 190+ countries, data up to 2019 |
| Format | CSV (138 KB) + ZIP (2.3 MB international flows) + ArcGIS Feature Layer |
Airport locations with seating capacity. Separate international airport flows dataset maps seat capacity between airport pairs (2019). Provides the spatial layer behind IS.AIR.PSGR / IS.AIR.DPRT. Data frozen at 2019 (pre-COVID).
Global International Ports
| URL | https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0038118/global-international-ports |
| Coverage | Global, all major maritime regions |
| Format | GeoJSON (231 KB) + ZIP (0.5 MB port flows) + ArcGIS Feature Service |
Port locations from the UNECE global repository, combined with LPI logistics port flows. Ports showing international trade in Q1 2020 have quarterly deployed capacity in TEU. Enables spatial joins with IMF PortWatch AIS data.
Global Shipping Traffic Density
| URL | https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0037580/global-shipping-traffic-density |
| Coverage | Global oceans, Jan 2015 – Feb 2021 |
| Resolution | ~500m × 500m at equator |
| Format | Raster (ZIP), 6 layers totalling ~1.1 GB |
| Source | IMF World Seaborne Trade Monitoring (hourly AIS positions) |
Six density layers: commercial ships (458 MB), fishing (97 MB), oil & gas platforms (21 MB), passenger (22 MB), leisure (28 MB), global combined (510 MB). Same AIS source as PortWatch but as raster for GIS analysis. Temporal window ends Feb 2021.
Accessibility — Travel Time to Major Cities
| URL | https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0040772 |
| Coverage | Global |
| Format | Raster (ArcGIS map service only — no bulk download) |
| Source | JRC + World Bank DEC (2007-2008 methodology) |
Pixel values = minutes of travel time to nearest major city via road, off-road, or water. Cost-distance algorithm on a raster grid. Core accessibility metric, but methodology is from 2007-2008 — road networks have changed significantly.
Regional Networks
South-East Asia Transport Network — GDP-weighted road/rail for 7 countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam). Each link attributed with GDP per macro-sector. Traffic estimated via NOx emissions proxy. Shapefiles, 44 MB–1.3 GB per country. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0042426/South-East-Asia-transport-network
Central Asia Exposure Dataset (Transport) — Bridge locations + road/rail for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Part of the GFDRR Risk Data Library (disaster risk context). Few global sources map bridge locations — critical for climate resilience. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0064252/Central-Asia-exposure-dataset---Transport
Part 3: Standalone Databases
Rural Access Index (RAI) — SDG 9.1.1
| URL | https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0038250/Rural-Access-Index--RAI- |
| Coverage | Global (national + subnational), 2006–2019 |
| Format | Excel (59 KB) + open-source calculation tools on GitHub |
| SDG | Indicator 9.1.1 |
| Update frequency | No fixed schedule (metadata last updated April 2024) |
Proportion of rural population within 2 km of an all-season road. The single most policy-relevant transport indicator for developing countries — FCDO uses it as a core metric. Methodology changed between original (survey-based, 2006) and revised (geospatial) approaches. Also in Data360 as UN_SDG_SP_ROD_R2KM; the Data Catalog version adds methodology docs and calculation tools.
Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPI)
| URL | https://ppi.worldbank.org/en/ppidata |
| Coverage | 137 LMICs, 1990–2024, 6,400+ projects |
| Sectors | Energy, Transport, Water/Sewerage, ICT, MSW |
| Format | Web query tool + Stata .dta bulk download |
| API | api.worldbank.org/apis/ppiapi (subscription key required) |
Project-level data on private infrastructure investment: 50+ fields per record including country, financial closure, services provided, participation type, capacity, sponsors, debt providers. Transport sub-sectors: toll roads, bridges, tunnels, railway concessions, port terminals, airport management. Complements the Data360 aggregate WB_PPI_TRN_INV with project-level granularity.
Part 4: Programmes & Frameworks
Road Software Tools (HDM-4, RONET)
The Data Catalog hosts 6 road management models. The key ones:
HDM-4 (Highway Development and Management) — the standard global tool for road investment appraisal. The RUC (Road User Costs) model computes vehicle speeds, fuel consumption, operating costs, emissions, and accident costs as a function of road roughness. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0065667/hdm-4-road-user-costs-model-hdm-4-ruc-version-5-0
RONET (Road Network Evaluation Tools) — network-level assessment of road characteristics and future performance under different intervention scenarios. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0065669
Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF)
Multi-donor trust fund (est. 2006) for road safety in LMICs. Outputs: country road safety profiles, 10,000+ km of roads assessed (2010-2019), 65M people given access to safer roads (2018-2023). Works with WHO and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Provides sub-national detail behind the WDI's SH.STA.TRAF.P5 (road traffic mortality). https://www.globalroadsafetyfacility.org/
Global Facility to Decarbonize Transport (GFDT)
Multi-donor trust fund (est. 2021) for transport decarbonisation. In 2024: advisory to 55 government entities across 28 countries, 48 reports in development. Topics: electric mobility, modal shift, urban decarbonisation, freight efficiency. Generating new data on transport emissions and electrification in LMICs — filling gaps that WDI/Data360 only partially cover. https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/global-facility-to-decarbonize-transport
Limitations
Indicator APIs:
- Annual data only — no real-time or sub-annual granularity
- Sparse coverage — many indicators have significant gaps for LMICs (road data can lag 5-10 years)
- Country-level aggregates only (no sub-national)
- LPI published every 2-3 years (latest: 2023)
Geospatial datasets:
- GRIP vintage is 2018; airports/ports frozen at 2019-2020
- Shipping density ends Feb 2021
- Travel time raster methodology from 2007-2008
- Regional networks cover limited geographies
Standalone databases:
- RAI has no fixed update schedule
- PPI API requires subscription key
Integration Notes
- Join key: ISO country codes (
countryiso3code) link to all other datasets - OPSIS: Country indicators contextualise infrastructure-level data; GRIP road geometry enables spatial overlay
- PortWatch:
IS.SHP.GOOD.TUcomplements AIS-derived volumes; Global Ports GeoJSON enables spatial join; shipping density uses the same AIS source - IATI/DAC: Country codes link ODA transport spending to infrastructure outcomes; PPI adds the private investment side