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Zoomable Public Transport (Rail and Bus) map

Posted by (Basel, Switzerland) on

It is virtually impossible to find a good detailed rail map of an area that shows all the lines and stations, that you can use for planning. The so-called rail maps on most websites are laughable, only show a few main lines and giving no useful information to show where lines do and do not go, and which places have stations. Click here for one of the better examples, but which still only shows about 50% of the main lines and no stations. Google maps is even worse, you have to zoom a long way before it will show you rail lines, and it is impossible to get an overview.

I think I have found one: http://www.öpnvkarte.de/
This shows rail lines, métros and buses. The coverage is best for Germany (it is a German site), and the further from Germany the more gaps in the coverage. But, it gives a good overview of where you can get to and by which route.

Note this URL contains the letter 'ö', which in some countries may not be on your computer keyboard. I advise you to either click on the link above, or copy-paste.

Posted by
19274 posts

To make umlauts with a PC, hold down the key and type the following number codes on the numeric keypad:
Ä 0196
ä 0228
Ö 0214
ö 0246
Ü 0220
ü 0252
ß 0223

On an iThing, I think you hold down the letter key and let it cycle through options until it gets to the umlaut character.

However, it is always acceptable, and historically correct, to add an 'e' after the vowel, eg, ae for ä.

Posted by
8889 posts

Thank's Lee. I didn't want to add techie detail to my original post :-) Of course, Linux is different, and Apple is different again. And your trick doesn’t work on a laptop without a numeric keypad.
Putting an extra 'e' in is OK for writing (Österreichische Bundesbahnen = ÖBB = OeBB), but it doesn't work for website addresses unless they have registered that as a second alias. ÖBB have registered both www.öbb.at and www.oebb.at

Posted by
19274 posts

your trick doesn’t work on a laptop without a numeric keypad

Most laptops have a "numeric keypad", you just know how to find it. You access it with the (function) key - 7 is on the 7 key, 4 is on the U key, 1 is on the J key, 0 is on the M key. Hold down both the and key while type in ASCII codes. In fact I wrote that last post, with all the umlauted characters, on a laptop, using that method. However, I was using Windows 8 (which I hate), and somehow it interpreted the 0214 as a control character and went back one page. It was just on Rick's website. I bought up another program and it didn't happen there. I created Ö on it, then cut and pasted it into my post.

If you have a PC and can access the "character map" accessory program, you can also cut and paste umlauted vowels (Gerundete Vorderzungenvokale) as well as a whole bunch of other foreign characters.

At one time, www.füssen.de did not work for the Füssen website, bur www.fuessen.de did. Fortunately, the Bahn website has what I call an ignorance algorithm, and it will figure out what you mean with either fussen, or fuessen, or füssen, and it will accept Cologne, Koeln, Köln, or Koln, or even Keulen (Dutch). It will also accept the insulting Dusseldorf for Düsseldorf.

Posted by
19274 posts

On a different subject, I found the ÖPNV Karte very interesting. If you zoom in close enough it will show most, but not all, bus routes in Germany, as well as trams and U-bahn routes.

Posted by
19274 posts

The very best map for German Rail is the Übersicht für den Personenverkehr which you can buy at an Reisezentrum in Germany. I got one from Rick Steves when I bought my last railpass in 2000. I used it so much it's falling apart at the seams.

I understand it is also available from the Bahn shop.

This Bahn webpage has links to schematic maps for the ICE system in Germany and the IC/EC system. It also has links to schematic maps for all of the track networks in the Länder in Germany.

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