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Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities

trulia.com

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Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities

#41

Post by benajnim »

erode wrote: post #3
shashashasha wrote: post #2

Hi, 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?

Seems inaccurate for my commuting times to various points in the metro as well. Looking at Broadway running east-west to the north of downtown, its a major thoroughfare that can take you to several major highways but its not being reflected.

Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities

#44

Post by jarrettcoggin »

peterwwillis wrote: post #8
shashashasha wrote: post #2

Hi, 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…

As far as I can tell, this must be the case. I'm just north of Boca Raton, FL and from where I live to work is about 8-10 minutes, not the 25-30 this is saying.

EDIT: The only time it has taken 30 minutes was when I had to wait on two trains.

Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities

#45

Post by martincmartin »

imcqueen wrote: post #17
peterwwillis wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'm seeing the same thing. It says Bedford to Stamford is 45 minutes, it's actually about 25 minutes.

When do you commute? It says Cambridge to Bedford is about an hour, which is true at the start/end of rush hour. It's usually more than that if I get in my car after 3:30pm or before 6pm.

P.S. Hi from Bedford, MA. :)

Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities

#46

Post by juiceandjuice »

rburhum wrote: post #24

Most people are missing some of the most amazing stuff here. First, how the slider works without refreshing the tiles. They have tiled the travel costs http://tiles.trulia.com/commute/time_map/data/driving/37.774... and are drawing these changes without having to refresh the map. That's cool. Secondly, they have used Openstreetmap for calculating travel time. I cannot imagine OSM having a street segment cost that is…

The physicist in me won't think it's cool until there's some monte carlo simulations of commute times with some additional random walk information for alternate routes and stop light entropy, then a log-likelihood fit to find the best fit commute time.

Just kidding, it's alright, it's kind of off for the SF/PA commute though, by nearly a factor of two for many places in SF, unless you're doing absolute worst case scenario every day of the week.

Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities

#48

Post by dkarl »

shashashasha wrote: post #2

Hi, 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

Times seem inflated in Austin, too. The smaller the time, the greater the error. The ten-minute area should be two or three times larger, but the 45-minute area bears some resemblance to rush-hour reality.

Also, every route seems to be treated the same. In the morning, the road I live on is always empty in one direction and congested in the other. I used to commute against traffic and now go the same way as everybody else, and I could go twice as far in ten minutes as I can now. The numbers will never be accurate until you ground them in real traffic data.

Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities

#49

Post by illumin8 »

shashashasha wrote: post #2

Hi, 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

Great project. Would you please allow the slider to increase to values greater than 60 minutes? Unfortunately some of us poor souls in the Northeast regularly have 2 hour commutes into NYC.

Re: Interactive visualization of commute times for all US cities

#50

Post by ap22213 »

peterwwillis wrote: post #8
shashashasha wrote: post #2

Hi, 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…

Agreed on DC - the places that I plugged in from northern va. (22102, 22213, 22046, etc.) all seemed to be showing the best-case times. Some places that it says are a 5-10 commute are more like 30-45 minutes at rush hour.

Also, not related to the commute times, but the crime rates look strange. At least, it's showing Arlington, VA as almost completely red (very high crime). Maybe the data is right, but that would be surprising for one of the richer, more yuppified areas of the US.

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