HiRoN-PL: Network of motorways and expressways in Poland attributed with the date of commissioning (1936-2023)

Dataset description

HiRoN-PL (Network of motorways and expressways in Poland attributed with the date of commissioning) is a vector dataset representing the spatial and temporal development of motorways and expressways in Poland from 1936 to 2023.

Road geometry is derived from OpenStreetMap (OSM) data. The road network was extracted by selecting all OSM way objects with highway=* tags corresponding to high-speed road classes, namely: motorway, motorway_link, and selected trunk roads functionally equivalent to expressways. OSM road geometries were further processed to ensure topological continuity at junctions and to align road sections with road crossings and distinct construction or commissioning phases.

Each road section is attributed with the date of commissioning (year, month, day), the road name, the names of the terminal nodes, and the road class (motorway or expressroad). The temporal and descriptive attributes are based on official and public registers, including data from the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA), the authority responsible for national road infrastructure in Poland. Where necessary, temporal information was complemented using verified crowdsourced information.

Original OSM identifiers and highway tags are preserved to ensure traceability. Each road segment has a unique internal identifier, and its length in meters is provided as a derived attribute.

Field name
Description

osm_id
OpenStreetMap identifier

osm_highway
OpenStreetMap highway tag

auth_id
Identifier from authoritative road records

road_name
Road name

road_class
Road class (motorway, expressway)

built_year
Year of commissioning

built_month
Month of commissioning

built_day
Day of commissioning

node1
Name of the starting node

node2
Name of the ending node

length_m
Length of the road section in meters

Data format and reference system

The dataset is provided in GeoPackage (GPKG) format using the Polish national coordinate reference system (ETRS89 / Poland CS92). In addition, a CSV file containing the full attribute table is included to facilitate data access and reuse in non-GIS environments.