Any idea why Spain and Portugal have such small isometric zones? An obvious factor is the mountains in the North, but I'm surprised there isn't easier access between the Iberian peninsula and France
For commute visualization, this is great but of course real commutes require more time at either end. The train part of the commute is usually the least awful part - it’s the unreliable transit and pedestrian-unfriendly terrain that grinds your soul to a nub.
I always thought of this visualization type as kind of a gimmick, but recently used this site for planning a vacation. I was visiting one place in the middle of the country and wanted to find some time efficient way to travel to "some coast" as the second part of that journey, inside the UK. The travel time was very much dependent on the specific main lines rather than geographical distance, so that was very helpful.
It would be interesting to layer it with an elevation map.
We can almost make out the contours of the mountain ranges. For example if you look at France, there is like a big hole in the middle of the southern half of the country, that all train lines seem to avoid. That's the Massif Central mountain range, the largest of the country and a sparsely populated area. Same idea with the Apennines in Italy.
Compare to relatively flat countries like Germany and Poland where it is much more uniform.
You could use a population density map too, but if a low population area is flat, express trains tend to go straight through them instead of avoiding them, which give some spotty coverage rather than none at all as it is the case in mountainous areas.
This would be interesting indeed, but I did not see such a discrepancy. I tried a few cities around Massif Central (starting with Clermont Ferrand) and the coverage is not bad.
By not bad I mean that there is a way to reach the places bu choosing cities around the region. I did not say that it is easy :)
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[ 4.5 ms ] story [ 33.4 ms ] threadInteresting that Spain and Portugal seems so disconnected.
I always thought of this visualization type as kind of a gimmick, but recently used this site for planning a vacation. I was visiting one place in the middle of the country and wanted to find some time efficient way to travel to "some coast" as the second part of that journey, inside the UK. The travel time was very much dependent on the specific main lines rather than geographical distance, so that was very helpful.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42530332 8 months ago - 648 points - 412 comments
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32537382 Aug 21, 2022 - 80 points - 42 comments
There is now with a search feature https://www.chronotrains.com/
It states 6:01 for going from my parents to my home, in reality it's over 8 because switching trains is rarely within 10 minutes.
We can almost make out the contours of the mountain ranges. For example if you look at France, there is like a big hole in the middle of the southern half of the country, that all train lines seem to avoid. That's the Massif Central mountain range, the largest of the country and a sparsely populated area. Same idea with the Apennines in Italy.
Compare to relatively flat countries like Germany and Poland where it is much more uniform.
You could use a population density map too, but if a low population area is flat, express trains tend to go straight through them instead of avoiding them, which give some spotty coverage rather than none at all as it is the case in mountainous areas.
By not bad I mean that there is a way to reach the places bu choosing cities around the region. I did not say that it is easy :)