> Due to the good public transportation in the Netherlands distance has become irrelevant. We can reach almost any destination by train easily and relatively quick.<p>Well that would be nice, but unfortunately not true. Our public transport is tolerable, but Covid accelerated drastic cuts in the bus lines out in the country that (used to) go where trains don't. This has lead to the creation of 'on call' buses which you can reserve in advance if you want to go to one of the villages affected, but which mean that the projected itinerary can only be achieved in ideal conditions. Normally, if one link in your public transport journey is delayed, you just take the next train or bus, but with these on-call buses you are now missing the last leg of the journey, and have to wait at least on hour for the next opportunity (minimum time between reservation and minibus appearing). These maps don't account for this, because it is focused on train travel and the time-distance to stations.<p>This time-maps are fun, but typical Amsterdam-centric thinking. And don't even bother trying to visit any bucolic place without train stations on a Sunday.<p>On the whole, public transport in the Netherlands, trains included, are not in a very good position¹. Partly due to the after effects of corona, partly due to a car-focused government.<p>1: Relative to neighbouring countries and pre-Covid conditions of course. This is still paradise compared to some countries.
For more info and examples, the term for this is "isochrone map": <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isochrone_map" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isochrone_map</a>
I’m a big fan of <a href="http://commutetimemap.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://commutetimemap.com</a><p>Same concept but using an actual map with time mapped to different modes of transportation from any address.
Isochrone should follow the transport graph and is not just a nested circles (aka buffer) going out of centroid of shape… this article is somewhat misleading and also a bit sensational since people been doing isochrone analysis and maps for decades
Reminded me of this map of france<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/www.isoul.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/scnf-time-distance-map.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://i0.wp.com/www.isoul.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/s...</a>
There are better isochrones out there. I like this one for Boston: <a href="https://www.mapnificent.net/boston/#12/42.3584/-71.0598/2820/42.3584/-71.0598" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.mapnificent.net/boston/#12/42.3584/-71.0598/2820...</a>
In Japan, there exists a similar map created in 1970s by Yasuhira Sugiura (designer). It's not in English, but the image below depicts Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa. The upper part is centered on Tokyo. The lower part is centered on Osaka.<p><a href="http://kousin242.sakura.ne.jp/maruhei/fff/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2015/04/068.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://kousin242.sakura.ne.jp/maruhei/fff/wp-content/uploads...</a>
Good idea. But not easily usable. The map distortion is funny and impressive but not practical. The (arbitrary) colored circles should be distorted to bring information, not the (familiar) map itself. We need the map to stay familiar so people are able to easily use this.
I remember seeing an isochrone map of the time it would take to reach different parts of the world in 1900, with London as a start point. I can't remember the actual times but it took weeks to get to Australia, and then additional weeks to get into the interior (few road and railways at then).<p>It emphasized that travel to a foreign country, let alone emigrating, was massively more complex than today.
I like the idea, but find the color bands a bit distracting since they're obviuusly incorrect - actual travel times are going to be shorter to navigation hubs and longer the further out in the network you get. It'd be more complicated to implement, of course!
Super cool, here is an app I'd like to see:<p>Me and friends are in [Location] and are willing to travel no longer then [Time] to [some activity] - show all recommended places for [some activity] within radius [Time]
Pretty similar idea but for NYC, I also like this one a bit more since it accounts for actual subway stops + walking, etc:<p><a href="https://subwaysheds.com/stop/g34/classon-av" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://subwaysheds.com/stop/g34/classon-av</a>
Heh just yesterday I was trying to work out how to make something like that for myself.<p>Isochrone map and cartogram are interesting terms to lookup if desired.
> Due to the good public transportation in the Netherlands distance has become irrelevant.<p>Is there some kind of global index that measures how good public transportation is in major cities of the world? It'd be interesting to which cities rank at the top.<p>Can I request the well-traveled to share on this thread which cities they found to have the most excellent public transportation?
One thing I noticed when moving from San Diego to Albuquerque as a teen was how normal it was in Southern California to answer the question "How far is X?" with the answer "30 minutes". That was due to freeways and traffic rather than public transit but I definitely get the idea of these kinds of maps.
For generating an isochrone map anywhere in the world, I'm a big fan of this demo page: <a href="https://valhalla.openstreetmap.de/isochrones?profile=bicycle&range=10&interval=10" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://valhalla.openstreetmap.de/isochrones?profile=bicycle...</a>
How would folks recommend implementing visualizations like this? I'm willing to program at a layer or two beneath "make an isochrone graph". My interests are more for visualizing embedding spaces such as those produced by RAVE or other VAEs.