[HN Gopher] Real-Time Tokyo Subway Map
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Real-Time Tokyo Subway Map
Author : bane
Score : 585 points
Date : 2022-01-02 03:18 UTC (19 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (minitokyo3d.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (minitokyo3d.com)
| wolframhempel wrote:
| Could you share the datasource for this?
| WaffleIronMaker wrote:
| Take a look at the GitHub ReadMe:
|
| https://github.com/nagix/mini-tokyo-3d#about-data
| wolframhempel wrote:
| Awesome, thanks
| scary-size wrote:
| That's cool, especially like that the parallel lanes don't
| overlap. I did something similar, but simpler, a few years ago
| for Hamburg's public transit "hvv" [1]. Described my approach in
| a blog post [2]. Hasn't been updated in three year, so probably
| some lines are broken.
|
| [1]: https://hvv.live
|
| [2]: https://franz.hamburg/writing/the-moving-city.html
| felixguendling wrote:
| Nice! We also did something similar:
|
| Demo: https://europe.motis-project.de/
|
| Project site: https://motis-project.de
|
| Source: https://github.com/motis-project/motis
| cheeaun wrote:
| Ubilabs did a 3D version here https://demos.ubilabs.com/moving-
| hamburg/
|
| Tweet: https://twitter.com/ubilabs/status/1448271663041220613
|
| Article: https://ubilabs.com/en/insights/potential-of-digital-
| twins-f...
| fersarr wrote:
| Pretty cool! But this is not live right?
| cheeaun wrote:
| hmm yeah, not live. Still looks cool tho'
| benburwell wrote:
| I also made something similar for Boston:
| https://mbta.benburwell.com
|
| Mine doesn't show the routes. Originally it did, but it was too
| visually busy. I like the way you did it where the route shows
| up when you select a vehicle!
| cheeaun wrote:
| Following the author on Twitter [1] has been a treat for me. Even
| right now, he's building a 3D visualisation of runners for Hakone
| Ekiden [2]
|
| [1] https://twitter.com/nagix
|
| [2] https://nagix.github.io/hakone-ekiden/
| thrdbndndn wrote:
| Holy shit he's the author of NS-SHAFT? I played that game
| countless hours in my childhood.
| cinntaile wrote:
| At that point I feel like they should recreate the track using
| photogrammetry instead of using wonky satellite images. [0]
| https://www.gtplanet.net/assetto-corsa-modder-photogrammetry...
| metters wrote:
| Another good example why more governmental data should be open...
| ctime wrote:
| I miss Japan.
| layer8 wrote:
| I noticed a dark-blue train shrinking in length and then growing
| again, and finally splitting, which is when I realized that it
| was actually two trains passing each other.
| phnofive wrote:
| Previously:
|
| Oct 2019, 50 comments,
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21188767
| leeoniya wrote:
| mapbox-gl is an engineering marvel. unforunately no longer OSS,
| but there's a fork [0]. not sure how actively the fork will be
| further developed aside from bugfixes.
|
| [0] https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-gl-js
| tiagod wrote:
| I attempted to do something like this for Lisbon's metro but
| unfortunately never managed to get it working well enough (due to
| my own skill shortcomings).
|
| The data available is the waiting time for each train ID per
| station, with infrequent updates and very non linear behaviour.
| If anyone has tips to turn this into a linear movement along a
| line I'd be very interested.
| proggy wrote:
| The amount of detail in this map is absolutely incredible. Pretty
| much every conceivable rail service is present. I especially like
| the route planning feature. It's no Hyperdia [1], that thing is a
| monster, but it's super duper cool for local trips. As someone
| who's messed around with Tokyo transit apps as half-baked
| personal projects, color me impressed!
|
| [1] https://www.hyperdia.com/
| zaik wrote:
| I tried to search for some routes on Hyperdia. I'd say I still
| prefer transit.yahoo.co.jp in both results and UI.
| mef wrote:
| Mapbox is looking really nice these days.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| It's very cool!
|
| I used to use the Tokyo train system all the time. It's a true
| marvel.
|
| I noticed that the Musashino line was running 15 minutes late,
| this morning.
|
| On Long Island, that would be annoying, but in Tokyo, that's a
| train engineer, looking at a firing.
|
| The one thing that always has annoyed me about the Tokyo rail
| system, is that the various lines are all run by different
| companies, and it can be hard to find "integrated" maps and
| schedules. I think that's improving.
|
| It looks like this map is integrated. Having information about
| what company runs each line, in the callouts, would be useful.
| dirtyid wrote:
| Envious no trains seems more than 1 minute late. For some reason
| covid understaffing issues has messed with live reporting of
| fleet location for my transit agency. Which I thought wouldn't be
| affected since I assume it would be automated. With general
| unreliability, makes planning transit trips huge PIA during
| winter.
| monarchwadia wrote:
| Nice
| monarchwadia wrote:
| Mapbox has done so much work in the recent past. Much respect to
| the team.
| lqet wrote:
| While not 3D (and only real-time where real-time data is
| available, for example Switzerland and the Netherlands is RT), a
| similar project has been around for some years:
| https://travic.app/
| danhor wrote:
| Includes mainline Trains, Trams, Subways, Busses for many
| systems around the world.
|
| Also time-traveling & fast forward, all based on GTFS data
| provided by the transit systems (one of the most useful
| standards to come from google).
| stemlord wrote:
| Really cool but I'm not sure what's to be gained by it being 3d?
| If I were to use this as a daily utility it'd happen on my phone
| while out and about, so I imagine all the rendering could be a
| critical loss of performance for such a use case. Also seems like
| an overly complicated way to organize such a dense amount of
| information? At least a toggle between 2d/3d would be good
| nivekkevin wrote:
| one thing I find to be a nice touch is how the virtual 3D
| camera view tries to mimic the real-world camera view angle and
| position
| animal_spirits wrote:
| The 3d effect for me makes it look like a little toy train set.
| For me it is much more engaging because it resembles something
| I can imagine being really tangible
| numpad0 wrote:
| Interfaces used in train operation facilities[1] quite
| different from this but are similar across systems, and this
| one is more or less just a visualization.
|
| At personal levels, you either type in (time, origin, goal)
| into a map or a route finder app and get on trains in sequence
| as the app says, or do a rudimentary graph search in your
| head[2] and hope you don't hit 10 minute gaps between trains,
| which happens, but it's 10 minutes tops anyway.
|
| 1: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/corp-trains-
| il...
|
| 2: This shows hub and spoke model works for trains, but why not
| for air travel?
| bobthepanda wrote:
| For air travel, the stops (airports) are the congested nodes
| but the way between them (air) has much more possibility.
|
| Trains are limited onto tracks and cannot merge out of the
| way, so point to point more quickly exhausts route capacity.
| Stations are less of a constraint.
|
| Trains also lower the cost of transferring; airplane
| transferring is at best a hassle and at worst an ordeal.
| Meanwhile, trains can literally stop across the same platform
| across from each other so you walk a few meters at most.
| Japan does this a lot, where trains are timed to facilitate
| such quick connections.
| Ftuuky wrote:
| It does show airplanes as well.
| keraf wrote:
| Looks like there's a 2d version[0] but the map doesn't load
| (expired API key?) and it doesn't show as many lines. Can maybe
| be revived or adapted for your city by checking out the source
| [1].
|
| [0] https://nagix.github.io/mini-tokyo/ [1]
| https://github.com/nagix/mini-tokyo
| Naracion wrote:
| Looking at the speed at which the trains are moving on that
| map, I don't think it's real-time though.
|
| Probably an early prototype.
| mgaunard wrote:
| That's so much better.
| [deleted]
| pmontra wrote:
| It looks like the map of the game Tokyo Metro from a player's
| perspective. It's a big game that surprisingly fits in small
| box with a large map and so many pieces.
|
| https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/235344/tokyo-metro
|
| But yes, 2D would probably be easier to navigate. 3D is more
| fun. Maybe that's the point, and the challenge of building it.
| boppo1 wrote:
| A switch with user preference cookie might be a good idea.
| Markoff wrote:
| agreed, not very usable on phone, just tried, seems you can't
| change angle
| notimetorelax wrote:
| Two finger swipe up changed the angle for me.
| Markoff wrote:
| thanks
| supernova87a wrote:
| I can't quite tell whether it even shows where lines go
| under/over one another and knows that exactly, but regardless,
| it's a wonderful visualization! I wonder at what level the train
| positions are known exactly versus approximated?
|
| Is there a simple flat / non-3D version of it?
| bellyfullofbac wrote:
| Having the subways be the appropriate depth under the surface
| would be amazing, it's probably surprising how deep some subway
| stations go under ground...
| MarkSweep wrote:
| Check out the " Major railway and Subway Route Map:
| Metropolitan Area" here:
|
| https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/downloads/index.html
| squarefoot wrote:
| Simple and beautiful on many levels. Also, train and cameras are
| closely synced with a max lag of 3-5 seconds, with the video
| trailing a bit. If you zoom out it shows the entire earth map
| along with rain visualization; it could mean it has been built on
| top of a weather map. Very nice!
| mgaunard wrote:
| Can you remove the perspective and just have a top view?
|
| That's pretty much a requirement for me.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| I agree. Good old 2D would be perfect.
| vagabund wrote:
| shift + down arrow
| jimmygraham wrote:
| Or two finger scroll on a touchscreen.
| vernie wrote:
| Ah you need to go to minitokyo2d.com for that
| Ftuuky wrote:
| Anyone knows if there's something like this for London? In the
| thread I've found some links for Switzerland and Paris so it's
| worth the shot.
| archielc wrote:
| Just found this one (didn't know it exists!):
| https://traintimes.org.uk/map/tube/
| bellyfullofbac wrote:
| Hah, nice "Skyfall" mode (presumably inspired by one
| "tactical" screen in that James Bond movie)
| Ftuuky wrote:
| Thank you, that looks great!
| fersarr wrote:
| I would like one for london too! Is the live location data
| publicly available?
| volkl48 wrote:
| Possibly of interest to some - NYC actually has an official live
| map in beta. https://map.mta.info/
|
| I don't like some of the UI decisions with where it's currently
| at, primarily not showing the trains and their directions very
| prominently (the trains are there if you zoom in, but they're
| just unlabeled rectangles moving on the lines), but it's a start.
|
| It does do a pretty decent job at showing what services are
| actually operating right now and what stops they're serving,
| though.
| feupan wrote:
| Literally unusable on Safari on an i9. One frame every few
| seconds, I wonder what they're doing so wrong since OP's more
| detailed Tokyo demo is pretty fast.
| kortilla wrote:
| Gah, every map move pushes onto the history stack, terrible.
| incompleteCode wrote:
| It seems even unrelated to map move. Just loading up the page
| injected 10 items onto the stack.
| Reventlov wrote:
| Reminds me of this real time map of trains in France (including
| subways, in Paris at least) :
| https://carto.graou.info/48.6/3/7/0/0
| jamespwilliams wrote:
| Cool, but breaks the back button because it pushes to the
| history stack on each scroll
| pjerem wrote:
| Oh nice ! Thank you :)
|
| For subways, it looks like it's limited to Paris but trains
| seems to be shown all across the country.
| mikotodomo wrote:
| Weird, how come the train on the video stream left about a minute
| after it moved on the map?
| ClearAndPresent wrote:
| The live webcam at Kaihinmakuhari is tearing up the decks with
| rightous electrojungle at the moment.
| joelbondurant1 wrote:
| rmujica wrote:
| it even has planes arriving! at Haneda airport. this is awesome
| MayeulC wrote:
| Where are 3D buildings sourced from? Is it just building
| footprints from OSM extruded to the height tag value?
|
| Is there an open service (OSM-like) where to upload 3D geometry
| for buildings? I know wikidata has some, but I wonder if it would
| be possible to build more recognizable maps with that.
| executive wrote:
| is using Mapbox for this feature.
|
| > https://docs.mapbox.com/mapbox-gl-js/example/3d-buildings/
| boban_dj wrote:
| wonderfull
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| Pretty old. Guy's been tweeting about it constantly for years.
| (2019) maybe?
|
| Some previous discussion:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21188767
| devortel wrote:
| I really like the live web cam feeds. They give some action movie
| hacker vibes!
| asiachick wrote:
| Very cool, but FYI, this is not a "subway" map. It is a
| transportation map. Trains, Planes, Monorails. The page's title
| is "Mini Tokyo 3D" not "Real-Time Tokyo Subway Map"
| poglet wrote:
| Does it only include JR lines, it looks to be missing other
| lines? Edit: I was wrong, I see private lines.
| burgerrito wrote:
| Childhood me would love this so much. Thank you!
| melling wrote:
| Mass transit becomes much more useful if all that waiting could
| be reduced.
|
| Especially when a transfer or two is needed.
| lom wrote:
| Frequency is freedom
|
| - transit advocates
| fermentation wrote:
| yep, the Seattle light rail has a much less convenient route
| for me than the busses, but the the train is so much more
| frequent (and usually isn't 20 minutes late) that I always go
| for the train
| mulmen wrote:
| I live in West Seattle so the light rail rarely works for
| me, even to the airport. Recently I met some friends in the
| U District and the train was actually a viable option. I
| was floored by how convenient it was. I can't wait for the
| network to expand further. Would be nice if the SoDo
| station had any kind of weather shelter...
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| There used to be an express route straight from the
| junction to SeaTac, but it looks like you have to take
| line c, transfer, and it takes an hour now. It is too
| bad, since west Seattle is really close to the airport by
| car.
|
| I live in Ballard, and we are both waiting until the late
| 2030s for light rail (at least according to the current
| schedule).
| mulmen wrote:
| I used to live in the Alaska Junction so that was easier
| to get around the city. Now I live in Alki so I have to
| take the 50 to the Junction. I can take the 50 direct to
| the SoDo rail station so I don't bother with a transfer
| to the C if I want to catch a train. The train is fine on
| the way _to_ the airport but I never trust the bus to be
| there on the way home. The SoDO station has no weather
| protection so I end up hiring a car every time.
|
| In the summer when the weather is nice I can ride my
| motorcycle to SeaTac and get free parking, assuming I am
| only traveling with a backpack.
|
| I think the West Seattle light rail is scheduled to open
| in 2032 so "only" a decade away. I guess the East Link
| opens next (this?!) year which will make Bellevue closer
| but I'm not sure that will do anything for me.
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| The bus that goes from west Seattle to SeaTac also goes
| to downtown Bellevue (via Renton), it still might
| actually be faster than the east link. It's one of those
| weird routes I've had to rely on since my aunt has lived
| near the junction since the late 80s (though the 560
| started in the 00s) and I stayed at hotels in Bellevue
| when working for Microsoft.
| mulmen wrote:
| Weird, I'll keep that in mind. I almost never need to go
| to Bellevue anymore and when I do I just drive.
|
| When I worked over there my office was in Mercer Slough
| so it was easy to drive. Maybe next week I will take the
| bus over there and have lunch at one of the old
| favorites.
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| Ya, there isn't really a lot of demand for a bus between
| west Seattle and Bellevue, which makes the route so
| strange, probably just one of coincidence (both Bellevue
| and west Seattle need airport routes, and combining them
| makes for a nice half circle).
| hinoki wrote:
| If you watch stations with transfers, like Naka-meguro, you'll
| see that departures are synchronised, especially for express
| trains. That transfer looks like this [0] with the Hibiya
| (grey) line on the left, and Toyoko line on the right. You just
| need to cross the platform, so the transfer doesn't take any
| longer than a regular train stop.
|
| [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Naka-
| Meguro_Station_Pla...
| mulmen wrote:
| My first day commuting on the Tokyo subway the train stopped
| two stations short of my destination. _Everyone_ got off the
| train and it was clearly being taken out of service so I also
| got off. I didn 't know why the train was out of service so I
| went to the map to see what my options were. By the time I
| figured out that my line ended and I needed to transfer to
| the train across the platform it was pulling away. I was the
| only one left on a platform that seconds earlier had what
| seemed like a thousand people. A few minutes later I caught
| the next train but it was a briefly terrifying experience.
|
| ...and now I want to go back to Japan.
| xvedejas wrote:
| One of my favorite counter-intuitive things about mass transit
| is that well-designed transfers tend to reduce overall travel
| time for everyone, even without timed transfers:
|
| https://humantransit.org/2009/04/why-transferring-is-good-fo...
| TulliusCicero wrote:
| People still hate them though, because of the mental effort
| involved in needing to manage multiple trips with handoff
| friction.
| dustintrex wrote:
| The key is to have a regular interval timetable, with "pulses"
| to allow easy transfers:
|
| http://sydneyferry.blogspot.com/2017/09/six-benefits-of-regu...
|
| The Swiss are masters of this. I recently had a complicated
| 4-leg journey from Zurich airport, from a mainline InterCity
| train to a rack railway up a mountain, and _every single
| transfer_ was timed at exactly 5 minutes.
| mulmen wrote:
| In Seattle it helps to tell your bus driver you need to make
| a connection so they can honk at the bus in front of you to
| tell them not to pull away.
| innocenat wrote:
| I have never been to Swiss, is every transfer the same
| difficulty? Having all transfer being exactly the same
| doesn't make sense to me.
|
| In Japan there is a predefined minimum transfer time between
| each lines, so the timetable use that to coordinate departure
| (and if incoming train is late, then the designated
| connecting train will wait that predefined time for
| connecting passenger)
| bobthepanda wrote:
| Switzerland does something called the _takt_ , which I
| suppose in English would best translate in cycle.
|
| Swiss timetables are calculated so that trains make stops
| on a very consistent hourly, half hourly, or quarter hour
| cycle. Coordination points are at major hubs; every train
| shows up within the same five minute period, so one can
| walk down the stairs and head to a different platform to
| catch any possible number of trains that have stopped at
| the coordinated time.
| boondaburrah wrote:
| The waiting tends to only be about 5 minutes in my experience
| (10 on the really uncommonly used lines, and only if you just
| managed to miss one). I've been in worse traffic jams.
|
| That and the scheduling is so unbelievably strict that if I
| leave at the same time every day, I can make the transfers in
| my sleep.
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(page generated 2022-01-02 23:01 UTC)