Traincoloureur

Preamble

The aim of this little python programme is the colourful visualisation of public transport distances in Berlin and Brandenburg.
It shows distances from a certain station (by default Dabendorf Centralstation) represented by a rainbow scale (customisable).
By using the same input format as for my examples of Berlin, it can also be used for other cities around the world.

Prerequisites

The programme runs on Python 3, using the pygame framework.

python3 -m pip install -U pygame --user

Optional: Load new vbb data

We thankfully use the Generate-vbb-graph javascript framework by derhuerst for obtaining the official VBB station data and distances. The programme already includes those files, there is no need to run those files. If you want newer data than included in the project, you can download them by running the following commands:

Optional: Installing nodejs and generate-vbb-graph

sudo apt install npm
sudo npm install -g generate-vbb-graph
sudo npm install -g vbb-graph

Now, it is possible to obtain the station data by running the following command:

generate-vbb-graph -p suburban,subway,regional,tram,ferry,bus

Please insert the edges.ndjson and nodes.ndjson into the main folder.

Running Traincoloureur

You can run the traincoloureur with the following command:

python3 tools.py 

Custom Flags

It is possible to select a different start station by using the -s flag. It uses abbreviations saved in shortcuts.csv.

Feel free to add more station abbreviations. The station_ids can be obtained from nodes.ndjson, for example 900000193002 for S Adlershof

python3 tools.py -s berlinhbf

python3 tools.py -s ahof

It is possible to change the size of the dots the map. There are three different sizes for regional/local trains (RE/RBB), metros (S/U) and tramway/bus, separated by commas.

python3 tools.py -p 6,5,2

It is possible to change bounding box of the window. The bounding box is rectangular and describes the GPS data which is visible within the programme. By default, this is the area of Berlin. There is also a custom command for the entire VBB-area (Berlin-Brandenburg.)

python tools.py -b brb

python tools.py -b 13.3,13.8,52.5,52.5

Change the height of the programme window. The width gets changed automatically, dependent on the bounding box and the correct proportions.

python3 tools.py -height 1500

It is possible to change the number of iterations around the default rainbow scale. Default 0.8

python3 tools.py -i 2.0

Further customisation

There are some parameters included in the tools.py, which are not available as commandline parameters yet. Feel free to include that functionality!

It possible to change the colour skale which the distance function is dependant from.

Changing the last line changes the colour of the starting station.

if distance_array[i] != 0:
	start = 0  # 102.8 Start colour in Dabendorf, degrees from red
	spectreSize = 0.8  # number of iterations around rainbow, preferibly < 1.0
	hue = ((((distance_array[i] - min)/rangemm) +
		(((start/360)*255)/255)) % 1)*spectreSize

	colours[i] = hsv2rgb(hue, 1.0, 1.0)
else:
	colours[i] = (51, 178, 0)  # DORgreen, 33b200
     

It is of course possible to change the code in a way to not make it dependent from a floating range but if-else conditions.