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All across the Great Western territory => Buses and other ways to travel => Topic started by: Chris from Nailsea on June 27, 2010, 18:55:37



Title: Live train map for the London Underground
Post by: Chris from Nailsea on June 27, 2010, 18:55:37
From the Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1289533/Going-Underground-The-live-Tube-map-shows-train-network.html):

Quote
Going Underground: The live Tube map that shows you where every train is on the network

A live map which shows exactly where all the trains on the London Underground are at any given moment has been developed.
The website uses a combination of Google Maps and live transport data to show a map that illustrates the exact movements of every train on the Tube^s 11 different lines.
The map uses Tfl's live departure board information to calculate the positions of the trains. It knows when a train is any number of minutes away  and when it arrives at a station.
Web developer Matthew Somerville came up with the idea after Transport for London (Tfl) removed its restrictions on commercial use of its travel data last week.
The live Tube map shows where every train on the network is moving along London's network of tunnels
Tfl released a number of sets of data for the public to access for free including to information on planned weekend Tube works, the location of stations, taxis, and eve Oyster card top-up points.
A few years ago, Mr Somerville had developed a similar site which showed where each train from a selected few National Rail stations was at any given moment
Attending a free weekend event called Science Hack Day, Mr Somerville decided to adapt his existing code to work with TfL's data feed.
His innovative new site was an instant success, with more than 250,00 hits since its launch on Monday this week.
He said: ^It wasn't very hard; harder was coping with the demand on Monday which involved me setting up a separate web server just to serve the static content.^
He added: I'm not entirely sure it is useful, but that wasn't really a aim, and it's certainly mesmerizing. Things could certainly be added to make it more useful, such as notices of closed stations or lines, or marking delays.'
Viewers who watch it for a while will notice that the site occasionally behaves rather erratically with trains taking odd detours or suddenly speeding up or slowing down
Mr Somerville has now released the source code so other we developers can contribute if they wish.
By the end of June developers will also be able to find Tfl information on bus routes and bus stops. Mr Somerville has already ear-marked this for a future project.
He said: ^Buses are certainly an area where this sort of thing would be great, and I know various areas are doing this - being able to look up live bus information on your phone would help at bus stops or knowing when to leave to catch your bus.^
You can try the map for yourself at http://traintimes.org.uk:81/map/tube/


Title: Re: Live train map for the London Underground
Post by: eightf48544 on June 28, 2010, 08:25:03
Wow, what a website. Just shows what can be done with clever data grabbing and a bit of fancy programing.

Hopefully they will be able to get the Circle and H&C WEst of Padd as well.

There is also a National rail version http://traintimes.org.uk/map/ (http://traintimes.org.uk/map/) which at the moment seems to be based on mainly on Cross Country.





Title: Re: Live train map for the London Underground
Post by: Mookiemoo on June 28, 2010, 08:26:03
Saved this as a favourite


Title: Re: Live train map for the London Underground
Post by: JaminBob on July 05, 2010, 09:03:31
This is fantastic! It really contrasts to how hard travel information is to find around Bristol, the trains are OK, as long as you like national rail, but bus and just generally its terrible.

If that sort of thing is possible elsewhere, we must be able to get something better in Briz :/


Title: Re: Live train map for the London Underground
Post by: Phil on July 05, 2010, 09:52:15
The link times out whenever I try to access it. I can only imagine it's been more sucessful in terms of "hits" than the author bargained for. Fabulous idea though - would love to see more of this kind of thing.


Title: Re: Live train map for the London Underground
Post by: grahame on July 05, 2010, 10:14:50
The link times out whenever I try to access it. I can only imagine it's been more sucessful in terms of "hits" than the author bargained for. Fabulous idea though - would love to see more of this kind of thing.

On the tube one, it looks as if the TfL feed is a victim of its own success - see
http://data.london.gov.uk/blog/tube-feed-update

For public transport in general, live information such as this would be so valuable - and integrated back to timetables too.  Much of the technology is there but piecemeal in its connection - and while we still have the even quite major busstops in some town without any timetable information at all, or information on just selected services, let alone a live feed, you'll find that passenger numbers are going to be reduced because people simply don't know / won't risk.



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