Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities
1–10 of 88 posts
Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities
#2Hi, Sha from Trulia here. I worked on some of the frontend aspects of this visualization and would be happy to answer any questions. We're pulling in OSM road data and published GTFS files for public transit routing. I just linked to SF but you can also search for other cities:
http://www.trulia.com/local#commute/new-york-ny
Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities
#3Hi, Sha from Trulia here. I worked on some of the frontend aspects of this visualization and would be happy to answer any questions. We're pulling in OSM road data and published GTFS files for public transit routing. I just linked to SF but you can also search for other cities: http://www.trulia.com/local#commute/new-york-ny http://www.trulia.com/local#commute/miami-fl http://www.trulia.com/local#commute/austin-tx
Not really applicable to me it seems. I commute across the Twin Cities in Minnesota in about 50 minutes but it wouldn't even calculate my times due to it being "well over 60 minutes" which is the max the filter will apply. How useful can you expect this to be, since commuting times can vary wildly even if you begin your commute 10 minutes earlier?
Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities
#4Hi, Sha from Trulia here. I worked on some of the frontend aspects of this visualization and would be happy to answer any questions. We're pulling in OSM road data and published GTFS files for public transit routing. I just linked to SF but you can also search for other cities: http://www.trulia.com/local#commute/new-york-ny http://www.trulia.com/local#commute/miami-fl http://www.trulia.com/local#commute/austin-tx
This is cool, however I notice that your transit commute times are more optimistic that drive times in some places.
For example, from downtown Kirkland, WA. You have the bus being faster than driving, there is no HOV lane that would explain this, my real commute choice is driving (10-15 minutes) or bus (35-40 minutes) but your heat map pretty much inverts those numbers.
Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities
#5I work in Minneapolis and my commute is about 30-40% (15-20 min) less than what this site says. Neat idea, but certainly needs improvement for broad real-world use.
Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities
#6Hey Sha -- I can't speak for the rest of your cities, but Tampa, FL is VERY wrong. I drug the end point to downtown St. Petersburg and the times given appear to be almost double what it truly takes to commute, over a certain threshold. Under 20 minutes seems to be accurate, but it starts trending towards 30, 40, 60 minutes too quickly.
I'll tell you what, though -- great UX and visualization. Very plain to read and utilize the slider functionality. I suggest modifying the legend to be more explicit about what the color bands mean -- perhaps labeling each color, for instance.
Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities
#7Can't get to it on my android phone. Get a prompt to download the app, then an Oops 404 page not found.
Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities
#8Hi, Sha from Trulia here. I worked on some of the frontend aspects of this visualization and would be happy to answer any questions. We're pulling in OSM road data and published GTFS files for public transit routing. I just linked to SF but you can also search for other cities: http://www.trulia.com/local#commute/new-york-ny http://www.trulia.com/local#commute/miami-fl http://www.trulia.com/local#commute/austin-tx
Is this the absolute worst-case commute times? It never takes me that long to commute into/out of miami, or baltimore, or fort lauderdale. More like half the time.
DC actually seemed like it went the opposite way as it usually takes an hour and a half to get from VA through the beltway into DC while the map showed only an hour for as far out as Dale City. A half hour (or more) from Petworth into Downtown during rush hour is fair, since DC has probably the slowest crappiest drivers in the nation.
Updated theory: these commute times might not be based on actual driver data, it's probably a very rough estimation based on distance, travel time, speed limit, and population. It needs to be weighted based on the curve of traffic based on time and the way locals drive. Boca commuting will probably be slower than Miami commuting on average, unless you're on the highway in which case you're totally screwed in Miami. Not to mention anywhere there's an on-ramp with lots of flow you're going to make a choke point, so times would increase a lot, unless you started after that exit.
tl;dr Traffic is hard.
Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities
#9Question: Is the pointer the start location or the end location of the commute? It wasn't immediately obvious to me and in many areas it makes a huge difference. It seems like it's just pulling worst case "in traffic" drive times right now.
Also is it possible to adjust the time of day that one commutes? (since many may work shifts off rush hour and encounter little/no traffic or strange/intermittent transit schedules)
Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities
#10Great concept, but I think there are a lot of data errors here. (In Seattle, a drive I take about 5 minutes to make was listed as taking an hour!)