alt Hacker NewsShow HN: The Official National Train Map Sucked, So I Made My Own
Hi HN,
I’m a junior developer. I wanted to share a side project I’ve been working on.
The national railway carrier (BDZ) has no public API. They have an official map but the UI is quite dated, often lags, and doesn't show the full route context.
I wrote a short write-up about the process here: https://www.pavlinbg.com/posts/bg-train-tracker
I know it's still rough around the edges (I'm still working on it), but I’d love to hear your feedback or suggestions!
Comments
- trains all look to be arriving/departing in hundreds of minutes when you click a random station, even near active trains. Assuming a bug. Regardless, consider changing this to hour/minute display if over 60|90m
- train icon looks like standard metro icon but is easily mistaken for a bus
- train detail panel fixed to bottom is awkward on desktop breakpoints. consider floating or integrating to a single sidebar
- consider having main sidebar fixed to bottom for mobile breakpoints
BDZ is Balgarski Darzhavni Zheleznitsi, Bulgaria's national railway.
Well done! The UI feels incredibly polished. Without really digging into the detail at I'm on mobile, at a glance you've done a great job.
Thanks. I wish we had a map with freight trains too. I have always been a railroad fan and my favourite trains are those long freight trains. I also love watching the operations of marshalling stations too!
no zoom buttons :(
Congrats, it is heartwarming seeing the young doing their own things. :)
PS: Only BG comprehensible joke - be careful with showing BDZ looking bad, they might hide the data MVR style.
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Really polished UI. The real-time train positions are a nice touch.
One UX issue on desktop: the train detail panel being fixed to the bottom feels awkward. Consider making it a floating panel or sidebar that doesn't block the map.
Also the arrival/departure times showing "hundreds of minutes" is confusing. Anything over 90 minutes should probably display as hours:minutes instead.
Great work overall though. I've seen plenty of official government transit sites that look worse than this.