Birbla

Discussion summary

A 3D London train visualization uses 2D paths over buildings, with some comments on realism and source models. Users express interest and curiosity about features and models.

What the discussion says

  • The train paths are drawn on a 2D layer, not matching 3D positions.
  • Some users want more realistic underground effects.
  • Questions about the model source and controls are raised.
“The train paths are drawn on a 2D layer above the buildings.”
— gowld
“I'm curious what the 3D model source is.”
— philipwhiuk

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  • Hacker News
  • It would appear you are missing the High Barnet branch of the Northern line.
    by dmazin
  • And the Reading branch of the Elizabeth line
    by uukelele
  • Looks like many (all?) branches are missing. Central line doesn't have the Ealing Broadway branch.
    by jdswain
  • Very nice, but the map seems to be in the wrong position vs. the trains/3d elements.
    by fredley
  • Interesting but quite buggy. Example: mouse dragging seems trapped in a fairly small area.
    by TheOtherHobbes
  • Ah yeah i tried anchoring to the train with a threshold for panning around i'll try smoothing it. thanks for trying it!
    by mgranados
  • Like on most other digital maps today, what's direly missing is a scale bar.. cool feat though, thanks for showing!
    by eMPee584
  • yeah scales have definitely been modified for theatrical (many landmarks) thank you!
    by mgranados
  • Do I live in London? No. Do I find this fun and therapeutic? Absolutely yes!

    One small thing: clicking between trains causes a jarring jump atleast for me. Felt like if I was going to select a few trains in a row, it might start making me feel disoriented. A smoother eased transition might make it feel a lot less whiplash-y.

    by nmenon10
  • This is scary. I literally just had a dream last night wishing I could see the metro trains from above the ground in order to follow where the tunnels are under the buildings and all that. Wow.
    by Liquidor
  • Accuracy may vary, but it's great to see dreams come true!
    by mgranados
  • This is a fun idea and interesting implementation. I know there's only so much an api can give you, but I'd love to see anything that gives more information or visuals of the surroundings.
    by Pigo
  • thanks! you mean more 3d buildings? I'd love to explore that or more labels on things along the way?
    by mgranados
  • Looking at this gave me a renewed (even if brief) sense of appreciation for our society.

    Even with all of its problems, for this moment in time our society is operating effectively enough that humans can engineer interesting, beautiful, culturally rich landscapes (cities) in quite a significant size scale.

    Cheers to us, in 2026.

    by flockonus
  • 100% cheers
    by mgranados
  • Vast majority of those miles were built over 100 year ago.
    by hdgvhicv
  • The rendering is a bit weird. It's disorienting to have the trains simultaneously underneath the map and occluding it. It also seems like the z-buffer is not being used correctly when rendering the train cars.
    by modeless
  • yeah the trains are meant to feel "underground" maybe the effect needs improving
    by mgranados
  • I'd love to see a view with all/many trains. In London I was constantly wondering what the criss-cross of underground lines looked like.
    by darknavi
  • I saw a project like that here in hn recently for all uk trains even. it'd be pretty cool to extend this to support that, busy stations might be visually confusing, thanks for suggestions
    by mgranados
  • Congratulations, it seems very cool.

    It's not the same, but I've tried to create a free browser-based app to track bus lines where I live (Brazil), but I had to pause this project, as each city uses a different way to track their public transportation, and it would be hard to gather all the info in a way to be usable in the whole country.

    It's nice to see something similar implemented to track the transportation in another country.

    by Rophlock
  • thank you so much! yeah the data comes in many different ways! just here tfl is diff from national rails i've found llms super helpful tho
    by mgranados
  • This is frustratingly close to amazing. Obviously you went through all the trouble of pulling all the data from all the trains and displaying them in 3d, but then lock our view on to just one train or one station while all that interesting information zips around in the periphery. The view port needs to be more free form...less on rails.
    by IIAOPSW
  • I'll have a note on this! Thanks a lot! a free form to browse the trains I think is definitely doable whilst keeping it performant
    by mgranados