Concept
Q: "What does this project aim to do?"
A: Trans Map answers the question:
"Where do people go when commuting to work in Sydney, and how do they get there?"
In a visual map display.
Data Sets
Trans Map combines an audacious mix of the following data sets:
- NSW Bureau of Transport Statistics 2011 "Journey to Work Data"
- Australia Bureau of Statistics Census 2011 Statistical Area 3 (SA3) Boundaries
Technology
Trans Map uses the Python programming language for map pre-rendering, and the Javascript programming language for map animation and effects.
Trans Map is built on the following technology stack:
- Kartograph Data Visualisation/Mapping Framework (kartograph.org)
- Javascript Libraries: jQuery, jqPlot, Raphael
kartograph.org, jquery.org, jqplot.com, raphaeljs.com, python.org, developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/JavaScript
Benefits of TransMap:
- Q: Who benefits?
A: This project will benefit transport and urban planners in quickly gaining an understanding of where and how commuters are travelling.
- Q: How are they benefiting?
A: Planners will benefit from this "instant visual summary" of the travel patterns of employed people in the Sydney metropolitan area. This makes what is a large and complex set of information instantly "understandable", and the data can be easily explored by clicking.
- Q: What value does it add to our society?
A: Planners can use this tool to quickly test ideas and hypotheses, as well as a training aid for upcoming staff to familiarise themselves with the extant patterns that are occurring in commuter transit.
Sydney Commuters Visualised
This map covers the Sydney metropolitan area and surrounds.
Travel Overview
Clicking on the map shows where commuters travelled to, by all modes of transport.
Transport Type Breakdown
Click on the chart to see only one type of transport for the area in context.
Future Work
To extend Trans Map, the next steps would be to add another mode to show all those to travelled "TO" a clicked area, rather than all who travelled "FROM" a given place.
We could also increase the size of the zone covered (although data of this nature has not yet been released to cover all of NSW, or all of Australia -- a good candidate for a new open data release?).