“WoBahn”, derived from the German phrase “Wo ist meine Bahn?” (“Where is my train?”), is a small project meant to visualize the approximate locations of all metro lines in Vienna.
How does it work?
As there is no dataset that provides any geolocations for trains in Vienna, we use the real-time monitor data instead. This dataset gives us a departure countdown (in minutes) for any station we want. When you look at all the stations for a line in order, it’s fairly easy to see where a train should be. If the countdown suddenly drops from one station to another, you can be sure that a train has to be between those two stations; if the countdown is exactly 0, a train is in the station.
Here is an example for the U4 Heiligenstadt line:
Since the dataset also provides us with geo-coordinates for all the stations, we can easily show the approximate location of each train, by either exactly at the coordinates, or between two stations.
This method isn’t perfect, and can sometimes give inaccurate results, especially when there are sudden changes in the intervals, or when a stop doesn’t return departure times (e.g. when the last train of the day departs from a station).
The data used in this project is sourced from Stadt Wien, specifically the Wiener Linien Echtzeitdaten dataset.
Moving forward
This project has been out for about nine months now. Since then, I have completely redesigned it with a mobile-first UI, as it is probably mostly used on mobile phones while on the go. The trains also transition “smoothly” from one station to another, using the departure times to give it a more natural feel.
Pro Tip: You can actually add WoBahn to your phone’s home screen for ease of access! Here is a tutorial for Android and iOS.
Thanks for reading 💖 If you are interested in this project, you can start using WoBahn right away, or look at the GitHub page, since this project is completely open source.