There is a lot of detail in this animation. It's best viewed in high definition with fullscreen mode on. Blog post here: sciblogs.co.nz/seeing-data/2011/08/04/animating-aucklands-public-transport-network-take-two/

This is Version Two of my animated map of Auckland's public transport network. The video is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Contact me on Twitter if you would like a high quality version: twitter.com/#!/fogonwater.

In 2010 Auckland Transport published its Google Transit Feed data on the MAXX website (maxx.co.nz/information/about-maxx/google-transit-feed.html) and I realised it provided the information I needed to make the map I used to daydream about. The data is a series of (large) spreadsheets, each describing a different aspect of the bus, train and ferry network. I downloaded the spreadsheets and wrote some software to transform the data into an animated map. Version One of the animation can be seen here: vimeo.com/18966477

Version Two distinguishes between buses (teal), ferries (blue) and trains (red). I also tidied some of the more obvious errors with the ferry route geometry data. I have yet to tackle the problem where express buses travel across the sea from the North Shore to Auckland CBD.

The animation begins at 3am on a typical Monday morning. A pair of blue squiggles depict the Airport buses shuttling late night travellers between the Downtown Ferry Terminal and Auckland International. From 5am, a skeleton service of local buses begins making trips from the outer suburbs to the inner city and the first ferry departs for Waiheke Island. Over the next few hours the volume and frequency of vehicles steadily increases until we reach peak morning rush hour. By 8am the city's major transportation corridors are clearly delineated by a stream of buses filled with commuters. After 9am the volume of vehicles drops a little and stays steady until the schools get out and the evening commute begins. The animation ends at midnight with just a few night buses moving passengers away from the central city.

Some things to note:

* The steady pulse of the Devonport Ferry.
* The speed at which buses hurtle down the Northern Motorway's new bus lanes.
* The interplay between buses and ferries on Waiheke Island.
* The sheer mind-boggling complexity of the system.