Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Commuting Times on Google Maps


Trulia Local inlcudes an awesome feature that allows users to check out commute times in a number of U.S. cities. Using the map house hunters can check out how long it takes to commute to or from any location by public transit or by car. For example, you can center the map on your place of work and find out all the areas within your choice of commute time.

A slider tool allows the user to adjust the time of the commute and it is possible to select either driving or public transit times. You can drag and drop the map marker to set the center point of your commute time request.


In the UK Locrating has created a nice Google Maps based app that displays the commute times of rail stations to any location.

If you enter a location and the length of time that you are prepared to commute the map displays all the stations that you can commute from. The markers for each station are colour-coded to show how quick the commute would be from each station.

Users can even add properties for sale to the map so that it is possible to search for a new home at a location that is within your preferred commute time zone.


Mapnificent is a Google Maps based application that shows you how far you can travel on public transport for any given length of time, in a number of major cities around the world.

Mapnificent allows users to drop a marker anywhere in a city and adjust a slide control to define a commuting time. The map then displays the commutable area using an isochrone layer on the map. Users can adjust the slide control to show longer or shorter commute time zones. 


The Centre for eCommerce and Communication at the University of Ballarat created this animated Google Map visualisation of 1,000 commuter journeys undertaken by university employees.

The UB Commute Visualisation shows how far staff travel from their home to arrive at their destination campus by 9 am. As the visualisation animates the most used roads become thicker on the map to reflect the increased traffic.

No comments: