melbourneA new visualization from Flink Labs shows the Melbourne train system over a single operating day.

The day starts and the train network awakens, slowly at first, then increases to peak hour levels around 9am. A steady active state continues through the day, then increases again as school students, then workers, commute home from the city. Finally, the system quietens as the last trains depart at the end of the day.

This project transmogrifies the viewer from the scale of a single train, station, or route, to the level of the city and system as a whole. Through this de-magnification, patterns of movement that were previously hidden become magically visible. The movement of train traffic across the network becomes obvious, and the complexity of the system evident.

See a video of the resulting visualization after the break.

via Flink Labs | Data Visualisation Beyond the Bar Chart | Ebb and Flow of Melbourne Trains.

Ebb and Flow of Melbourne Trains by Flink Labs from Flink Labs on Vimeo.