Real Time Public Transit Tracking Map

The DC Metro Real-Time Tracker is designed to provide live train arrival data for metro users. This designed for a metro user who wanted a functional art piece that also helps them predict exactly when to leave their apartment to catch the train. Using the WMATA API, it analyzes which trains have the status "ARR" or "BRD" and displays the real-time train movements, displaying them on a LED strip on the laser printed board.

Laser Printer (Boston College Hatchery Supplied)

17.5 x 17.5 1/8 in Pine Wood Board (Boston College Hatchery Supplied)

Raspberry Pi Pico - W - $10

Bread Board - (Boston College Hatchery Supplied)

Bread Board Wires - (Boston College Hatchery Supplied)

Individually Addressable LED Lights - $11 * 2

WMATA API - Free

While I am not the most experienced coder, my experience in BC's Coding for Business class as well as Physical Computing for Good has been great in supporting me complete this project. My favorite AI assistant chat GPT also played a role in helping me get through the countless errors and bugs within my code. My code gets a little complicated as the raspberry pi can't process importing all of the api data so it does it in steps.

Using Adobe Photoshop and a reference of the DC Metro map, I was able to create a black and white image of the perfect map for my liking. I wanted to highlight my favorite line the Red Line for simplicity sake. In Adobe illustrator it is necessary to add red cut outs for the outline of the entire design and circle cut outs for the neopixel lights. In my case the perfect diameter for the circles was .3 inches. I also added personal touches like my highschool, popular universities in the area, the Zoo, and my dad's office building and company.

I chose the dimensions to be 17.5 x 17.5. This allowed for large room to work with the wiring and the breadboards. I set the diameter of the cut out circles to be .3 inches so the LED lights can fit perfectly through creating the led light effect.

The LED lights need to be soldered to breadboard pins to allow optimal functionality with the raspberry pi. In my case, red is hot, white is ground, and green is the signal cable. In my case, these lights had a thick water-proof coating that were getting in the way of each other, so I also had to saw off this coating for each individual light.