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OpenTrafficMap

opentrafficmap.org

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Re: OpenTrafficMap

#81

Post by maelito »

yosamino wrote: post #76
maelito wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://cartes.app . Based on OSM of course, but OSM is just a geographical database, with lots of incomplete UIs built on top by the community. Cartes is one of them, we're trying to make it complete and modern :)

That looks pretty cool - sorry to have a complaint immediately: When opening the map on Firefox/Linux zooming to like a France-size view and then not doing anything, the view keeps scrolling up and down relatively slowly, but very annoyingly. Zooming all the way out, it looks like the globe is jiggling back and forth ever so slightly, but continually. I've recently seen this happen on another mapping application ( ca…

Yes, known bug, we've discovered it recently. Here's how to unbreak the map. https://codeberg.org/cartes/web/issues/2095

Re: OpenTrafficMap

#82

Post by antalis »

BigToach wrote: post #36
lucideer wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Personally I assumed the site would be global The only reason you would assume a site would be global is if your definition of "global" is "works in the US" & you never bother to check for support of other countries. I live in the anglosphere outside of the US & I encounter more than enough US-only web projects for that not be to a default assumption I hold. Most sites are not global - it's very odd to assume they…

Another reason could be that calling this OpenTrafficMap gives an impression that it is similar to OpenStreetMap, which is global.

Fun fact: OpenStreetMap started out with maps of only the UK. OpenTrafficMap does support data from all around the world.

Re: OpenTrafficMap

#83

Post by antalis »

MrDrMcCoy wrote: post #73
lucideer wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OSM launched as a London / UK project. Even today, it's a lot more comprehensive in some parts of the world than others. If I got the impression that it was like OSM, that would give me the impression that it is only as global as my contributions to it (which is what lead to OSM becoming global).

Expecting support globally is of course unreasonable. Expecting it to be designed to be somewhat location-agnostic for contributors and including some obvious docs (which could just be "coming soon" or "here's what we need to expand") is pretty reasonable to me. I don't get why there isn't even a stub repo for a mobile app to contribute with. Or am I just not finding it?

The repos are there: https://codeberg.org/opentrafficmap

https://codeberg.org/opentrafficmap/its-g5-receiver: "Current ordering situation

(as of 2026-04-23)

After the talk on Grazer Linuxtage (media.ccc.de, youtube.com) we got many responses from people also wanting to buy this receiver. We fixed a few issues of the first revision and ordered 200pcs of Revision 2.

We expect the 200pcs to arrive in the first week of May, 2026. The cost of one complete receiver (excluding case and mechanical parts) is about 20 €.

If you want to purchase a receiver PCB, please contact us at the email liked in the Imprint/Impressum of opentrafficmap.org"

Re: OpenTrafficMap

#84

Post by klez »

maelito wrote: post #75
xd1936 wrote: post #3

I haven't seen a theme on OSM data look this modern and fresh before. Beautiful color palette and iconography!

Can you try this one ? Though not as flashy, it's a step away from most OSM styles. https://cartes.app/#13.13/47.06727/15.44801

I, for one, do like it. I usually prefer lighter themes, but this one would be more than ok for me.

Re: OpenTrafficMap

#85

Post by MrDrMcCoy »

antalis wrote: post #83
MrDrMcCoy wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Expecting support globally is of course unreasonable. Expecting it to be designed to be somewhat location-agnostic for contributors and including some obvious docs (which could just be "coming soon" or "here's what we need to expand") is pretty reasonable to me. I don't get why there isn't even a stub repo for a mobile app to contribute with. Or am I just not finding it?

The repos are there: https://codeberg.org/opentrafficmap https://codeberg.org/opentrafficmap/its-g5-receiver : "Current ordering situation (as of 2026-04-23) After the talk on Grazer Linuxtage (media.ccc.de, youtube.com) we got many responses from people also wanting to buy this receiver. We fixed a few issues of the first revision and ordered 200pcs of Revision 2. We expect the 200pcs to arrive in the first week of…

That's for a hardware receiver. It does not appear to have mobile app or API doc accompanyment or a doc on what is needed for expansion. I would imagine that there is a minimum critical mass and municipal buy-in for such devices to work. Theoretically, mobile apps would require far less barriers to start being useful.

Re: OpenTrafficMap

#86

Post by maelito »

klez wrote: post #84
maelito wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you try this one ? Though not as flashy, it's a step away from most OSM styles. https://cartes.app/#13.13/47.06727/15.44801

I, for one, do like it. I usually prefer lighter themes, but this one would be more than ok for me.

Cool ! It's fully open source. Quite a complex TS style https://codeberg.org/cartes/web/src/branch/master/app/styles...

And its Tilemaker profile to generate the tiles : https://codeberg.org/cartes/serveur/src/branch/master/tilema...

Re: OpenTrafficMap

#87

Post by vlabakje90 »

jorisboris wrote: post #79
CountGeek wrote: post #64

I recently learned that with smart traffic lights cyclists can change traffic lights - https://nltimes.nl/2026/04/28/new-app-turns-traffic-lights-g...

For a while I tried creating traffic-light-free bicycle routes from my home in the suburbs to my office in Amsterdam center (because intersections, especially with trams, can sometimes take a long time. Unfortunately there was no API with data on which intersections have traffic lights and I had to build these routes manually in Strava using satellite images. I did learn in the process that some traffic light data is…

OpenStreetMap has traffic lights (at least in my municipality in the Netherlands) so it might be usable for this purpose.

Also, https://routeplanner.fietsersbond.nl/ has options for different route types including an option to avoid traffic lights if a reasonable alternative is available.

Re: OpenTrafficMap

#88

Post by brandmeyer »

danelski wrote: post #80
maelito wrote: post #70

We need global open congestion data. At least on the european scale. It's important so that alternatives to Google Maps and Waze (Google) can emerge. To create congestion data, one needs to own an OS with location tracking, or be an international mobile network. Won't happen. [disclaimer : I work on an open source alternative to big tech's maps]

In my experience, the congestion data is not the issue: even with the split across Google / TomTom / Here / Apple / some hyperlocal alternatives, everyone seems to have reasonably good idea where the traffic jams are. Having up to date POIs is a different can of worms only solved by Google, not by some clever algo, but through the sheer brand recognition. They're the only ones that have this data fed to them by POI o…

The vast majority of POI churn information comes from streetview + machine learning object detection + automatic change detection + human verification. There are many clever algorithms in play through the entire pipeline. As moats go, its probably bigger than search.

Re: OpenTrafficMap

#89

Post by maelito »

brandmeyer wrote: post #88
danelski wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, the congestion data is not the issue: even with the split across Google / TomTom / Here / Apple / some hyperlocal alternatives, everyone seems to have reasonably good idea where the traffic jams are. Having up to date POIs is a different can of worms only solved by Google, not by some clever algo, but through the sheer brand recognition. They're the only ones that have this data fed to them by POI o…

The vast majority of POI churn information comes from streetview + machine learning object detection + automatic change detection + human verification. There are many clever algorithms in play through the entire pipeline. As moats go, its probably bigger than search.

You forgot the massive user base of Google. Users through comments are the first to tell Google that the POI changed. And shop owners are often the first users to worry.

Re: OpenTrafficMap

#90

Post by maelito »

cheschire wrote: post #77
maelito wrote: post #70

We need global open congestion data. At least on the european scale. It's important so that alternatives to Google Maps and Waze (Google) can emerge. To create congestion data, one needs to own an OS with location tracking, or be an international mobile network. Won't happen. [disclaimer : I work on an open source alternative to big tech's maps]

How would you overcome the data source trust issue? In open data collection you either fingerprint the data to ensure validity or you anonymize the data to provide security, but striking the balance between the two seems like the biggest of hurdles in an effort like this. The risk of the data being invalid seems as risky as the privacy implications in this case.

Good question. If one strong national actor (map app, for instance) could publish its live dataset, without even mixing with others, this could already be used.

Authorities could pay them for this service.

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