AJAX enabled London Underground route finder

[ezusbo]

Hi

I have implemented this AJAX enabled route finder for getting from A to
B on the London Underground network, with built in Google Maps for each
station along the way. The AJAX piece allows for auto completion of
station names and performs the search itself. The underlying framework
is Ruby on Rails and scriptaculous.

If you live in London, you might find it useful. Let me know of any
useful feedback.

http://public.ok2life.com/tube/routes

Regards
David

 

[sconeek]

great app.

 

[Richard Cornford]

ezusbo wrote:

If you live in London, you might find it useful. Let me know
of any useful feedback.

http://public.ok2life.com/tube/routes

LOL

Waterloo to Monument

Includes the proposed rout->

Waterloo
Southwark
London Bridge
Bermondsey
Canada Water
Canary Wharf
North Greenwich
Canning Town
West Ham
Bromley-By-Bow
Bow Road
Mile End
Stepney Green
Whitechapel
Aldgate East
Tower Hill
Monument

That is all the way east to West Ham before coming back west. A 14+ mile
round trip to end up less than 2 miles north-east of where you started.
The shortest proposed rout is 15 stops, going clock-wise round the
centre of London.

Shorter routs would include 1.) Waterloo, London Bridge, Bank, and then
the 100m walk to Monument, or 2.) Waterloo, Embankment, Temple,
Blackfriars, Mansion House, Cannon Street, Monument (i.e only going
directly north an east).

While Waterloo to Bank proposes a nice direct rout using the Waterloo
and City line, which is going to be closed and unusable for the next
year or so.

At least if you use:-

<URL: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/ >

- you usually get the shortest/quickest routs proposed, an estimate of
how long the journey would take, and an explanation of why there is
little chance of actually being able to make the journey by London
underground.

 

[lofty00]

Hi

I have implemented this AJAX enabled route finder for getting from A to
B on the London Underground network, with built in Google Maps for each
station along the way. The AJAX piece allows for auto completion of
station names and performs the search itself. The underlying framework
is Ruby on Rails and scriptaculous.

If you live in London, you might find it useful. Let me know of any
useful feedback.

http://public.ok2life.com/tube/routes

Regards
David

It didn't find the best (from my POV) route from euston to liverpool
street, which is to walk a block to euston square, then catch a single
train from there

 

[bgulian]

Really nice use of AJAX. Not being a Londoner I typed in some made up
names "Picadilly" to "Herefordshire". I was able to type both in and
hit "Find Routes" before getting any feedback. I got "Application
Error (rails)". You might want to catch that error and put up
something useful to the user.

Then I read the text at the top and started waiting for the feedback
popups when I started typing. Now I know how to get from Temple to
Baker Street.

Bob

 

[news]

Then I read the text at the top and started waiting for the feedback
popups when I started typing. Now I know how to get from Temple to
Baker Street.

Well, now you know an excessively long route between them - for some
reason changing at embankment to the Bakerloo line is completely missed
by the algorithm used...

 

[David Tran]

ezusbo wrote:


LOL

Waterloo to Monument

Includes the proposed rout->

Waterloo
Southwark
London Bridge
Bermondsey
Canada Water
Canary Wharf
North Greenwich
Canning Town
West Ham
Bromley-By-Bow
Bow Road
Mile End
Stepney Green
Whitechapel
Aldgate East
Tower Hill
Monument

That is all the way east to West Ham before coming back west. A 14+ mile
round trip to end up less than 2 miles north-east of where you started.
The shortest proposed rout is 15 stops, going clock-wise round the
centre of London.

Shorter routs would include 1.) Waterloo, London Bridge, Bank, and then
the 100m walk to Monument, or 2.) Waterloo, Embankment, Temple,
Blackfriars, Mansion House, Cannon Street, Monument (i.e only going
directly north an east).

While Waterloo to Bank proposes a nice direct rout using the Waterloo
and City line, which is going to be closed and unusable for the next
year or so.

At least if you use:-

<URL: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/ >

- you usually get the shortest/quickest routs proposed, an estimate of
how long the journey would take, and an explanation of why there is
little chance of actually being able to make the journey by London
underground.

Yes you are right, I have had feedbacks about this on the other forums
too. I will be incorporating this knowledge into the application soon.
People have been helpful in sending me these walkable shortcuts, like
Bank to Monument, Lancaster Gate to Paddington etc. I guess the system
is only as smart as the information it contains, and currently this is
limited to tube stations only.

David

David

 

[David Tran]

Well, now you know an excessively long route between them - for some
reason changing at embankment to the Bakerloo line is completely missed
by the algorithm used...

Will try to do better in the future. Most of the common searches seem
to work OK, as you can see from the link "Today's Searches", but the
application is currently oblivious to walkable shortcuts. I am planning
on adding this in the near future, and also a feedback facility so you
guys can tell me exactly where I went wrong.

Thanks for the feedbacks.

David