Key:ref:GB:the_circuit
 ref:GB:the_circuit
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| Description |
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The identification number of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) within Great Britain in The Circuit database. 
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| Group: emergencies |
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| Status: imported |
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ref:GB:the_circuit=* is a compound key consisting of:
- ref=*: Used for reference numbers or codes.
- *:GB:the_circuit=*: A country specific reference (GB - Great Britain), and a GB specific database - The Circuit.
The assigned value should be a 32-character identification number provided by The Circuit
This is a reference tag used for Automated External Defibrillators (AED) in the United Kingdom. It is an optional tag for use in OpenStreetMap on defibrillators which contains the corresponding UUID on The Circuit database. The Circuit is the national defibrillator network within the UK, and provides the NHS ambulance services with vital information about defibrillators across the UK so they can be accessed quickly to help save lives.
Each AED listed in The Circuit has a 32-character unique reference number in the form of a UUID: XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX. Robert Whittaker obtained permission from the British Heart Foundation to add these numbers to OSM. The use of this tag is useful for matching up data within OpenStreetMap to The Circuit database. A semi-colon separated list of UUIDs can be added to not:ref:GB:the_circuit=* to prevent incorrect matches in the tool.
The Circuit
The Circuit is run by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) on behalf of the UK's ambulance services. The data in The circuit is provided to the ambulance services so they can direct 999 callers to an appropriate location in an emergency. The system provides close to real-time information on AED availability. Most of the AEDs listed in The Circuit are shown on BHF's Defib Finder map, and the full dataset can be downloaded from [1]. (A small number of Defib owners chose to hide their AEDs from this data, but this is discouraged by BHF.)
BHF maintain the system and the database, but the main responsibility for managing the data rests with the Ambulance Services. They in turn rely on the individual operators -- referred to as "guardians" -- of each AED to register them in The Circuit and keep their data up to date. This means that if we notice any errors or omissions in The Circuit, the best place to report these to is the Guardian of the AED in question. Information about the Guardians is not published, but it is often fairly easy to guess a business/organisation from where the AED is located.
Data in The Circuit is not licensed for use in OSM, but Robert Whittaker has obtained permission for us to add the UUID reference numbers to OSM objects to facilitate matching between the datasets. Progress can be tracked on this map.