Back in June, London’s transit corporation decided to release all of its information about bus and train departures to the public. That way, administrators probably figured, eager developers could use that data to build better transit apps. But the move has also resulted in some pretty interesting creative projects too — like this one, which lets users navigate through a 3D model of the Tube.
On Twitter today, the father of data visualisation himself, Edward Tufte, gave a shout-out to this marvellous experiment by London developer Bruno Imbrizi. Imbrizi built the interactive model using a combination of datasets, including the newly released departure information as well as design data about tube depth and location. Disparate data coalesces to form a serviceable real-time map of the world’s oldest subway system — which we can now pan, zoom and rotate through, thanks to Imbrizi’s talent for code.
There are plenty of other maps based on the same data floating around, and there are surely more to come. But it’s hard to beat this one in terms of sheer mesmerising fun. Now, if only Imbrizi would take on the MTA. [Edward Tufte; TheNextWeb]