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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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

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