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Shinjuku Station in 3D

satoshi7190.github.io

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Re: Shinjuku Station in 3D

#41

Post by al_borland »

ggm wrote: post #29

I've never really had crowd fear, but after a crush event at an agricultural fair underpass, I acquired it. Shinjuku just before rush-hour brought it back on, and I basically ran away and sat under a tree for an hour or so. I've been in Tokyo and Ikebukuro at busy times, but nothing has been like Shinjuku to me. Maybe it's the escalators and a certain ordered-but-relentless ant-army mentality getting to the platforms…

I was lucky to never hit rush hour when visiting Japan. Shinjuku was however the first station I had to navigate after taking the train from the airport. After the long flight, knowing how big it was, and not knowing if I was going the right way, I was losing it. I was just trying to find a way up to the street level, so my GPS would work and I could get my bearings. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a panic attack, but that’s probably the closest I’ve been.

I was very thankful to find my Airbnb, and once I had an anchor point it was better.

Re: Shinjuku Station in 3D

#42

Post by pezezin »

SapporoChris wrote: post #19
figmert wrote: post #8

Now we just need an app that links your location in 3d space so you can finally easily navigate Shinjuku.

Please don't do this. The station is very busy and the commuters do not have time to navigate around people focused on their smartphones. Instead, familiarize yourself with the general layout. There's no need to memorize the entire map, only the portion you will be using. Inside the station there are plenty of signs overhead and even on the floor to help navigate.

How do you expect tourists, including people coming from other regions of Japan, to familiarize themselves with the layout?

Re: Shinjuku Station in 3D

#43

Post by pezezin »

razorbeamz wrote: post #34
ranger_danger wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The signs are incredibly confusing and often will all point to each other from every direction.

No they aren't. People who say this have never spent a significant amount of time there.

Yes they are. Every time I visit Tokyo I try to avoid Shinjuku because it is extremely confusing and I always get lost.

Signs are mostly useful for people who are new to a place, if you need a significant amount of time to familiarize yourself then they are useless.

Re: Shinjuku Station in 3D

#44

Post by artisinal »

ggm wrote: post #29

I've never really had crowd fear, but after a crush event at an agricultural fair underpass, I acquired it. Shinjuku just before rush-hour brought it back on, and I basically ran away and sat under a tree for an hour or so. I've been in Tokyo and Ikebukuro at busy times, but nothing has been like Shinjuku to me. Maybe it's the escalators and a certain ordered-but-relentless ant-army mentality getting to the platforms…

21 people suffocated at the Love Parade event in Duisburg Germany and are no longer with us. 652 injuries in total.

It’s a good thing to be cautious with crowds.

Re: Shinjuku Station in 3D

#45

Post by lkois »

Rendello wrote: post #38
nayuki wrote: post #30

This is an excellent visualization! I would love to see someone adapt this data into a first-person navigation game. The game should put you at some location in the station complex and ask you to navigate to some location. This would be excellent training for people visiting the real-life Shinjuku station for the first time.

I thought the horror game "Exit 8" was going to be like that when I bought it: having to navigate through a labyrinthine nightmare version of Shinjuku or Shibuya station, trying to remember the passageways and —hey wait... was that escalator there before? Turns out is was the opposite since the whole game takes place in a single hallway. It was still a lot of fun though! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exit_8

I wasn't aware of this game until AFTER I saw the movie. Made a lot more sense after that. Watching a guy solve the same puzzle over and over felt like an odd narrative choice.

A labyrinthine Shinjuku would still be way cooler. Shibuya station doesn't have quite the same disorienting featureless repetition to it, but offers a more overwhelming MC Escher-like experience where you can often SEE exactly where you want to go in the near-distance, but every path and every turn brings you into a completely different space, and rarely any closer to your destination.

Re: Shinjuku Station in 3D

#47

Post by razorbeamz »

pezezin wrote: post #43
razorbeamz wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No they aren't. People who say this have never spent a significant amount of time there.

Yes they are. Every time I visit Tokyo I try to avoid Shinjuku because it is extremely confusing and I always get lost. Signs are mostly useful for people who are new to a place, if you need a significant amount of time to familiarize yourself then they are useless.

No, it's incorrect that signs "point to each other."

There are multiple ways to get to various lines' platforms. This is not signs pointing to each other, this is signs in different places pointing to the same destination.

I live in Tokyo and while I do not go through Shinjuku often as I mostly live and work on the east side, I have no issue using the signs to find the platforms and exits I am looking for.

If you pay attention to what the signs have written on them, they will take you where you are trying to go.

Re: Shinjuku Station in 3D

#48

Post by kazinator »

I don't understand some of the pedestrian passages between the levels. They are way too steep to be escalators or stairs, yet Shinjuku does not have elevators with slanted shafts, does it?!

I think this is more of a schematic in the sense that the vertical dimension is not to scale; the levels are farther apart than actually, which exaggerates the slopes. Also, some of the passages may be indicating elevators with opposite exits. I see one which has two rectangular prisms that are directly above each other, but connected by a slanted line which may be indicating that pedestrians enter/exit on one side of the elevator at the vestibule level, and the opposite level at the platform level.

It would be cool for there to be a slider which controls the vertical scaling. Similar to how that guy did the mechanical watch animation where you can control how exploded the view is, from fully integrated to widely spread.

Re: Shinjuku Station in 3D

#49

Post by ragebol »

My wife had a terrible fear of loosing me in this station, afraid she would loose me and never find me back :-) .

It felt like the biggest station we knew before, multiplied by 10 and then molded and warped like a ball of dough.

IIRC there is a multi-level bus terminal at this station too that we had to use to get to Narita airport, which we had never seen before for a bus terminal.

Would love to go to Japan again, but when the kids are a bit older and we don't have to fear loosing them in this station.

Re: Shinjuku Station in 3D

#50

Post by dwaite »

SapporoChris wrote: post #25
ranger_danger wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The signs are incredibly confusing and often will all point to each other from every direction.

Do you have an example? Your comment seems like an exaggeration, I have never seen any signs pointing to each other from every direction. Also, I am curious of the justification. Why would anyone place signs that "... are incredibly confusing and often will all point to each other from every direction."

The problem I would typically have (not just in Shinjuku) was with directions that did not repeat/update as you continued on through junction points. It made navigation more stressful.
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