How AÜW makes traffic flows at intersections visible
Allgäuer Überlandwerk uses cameras to record how vehicles turn at intersections. We developed a plugin for Apache Superset that shows these traffic flows as arrows on the map.
- Customer
- Allgäuer Überlandwerk GmbH
- Industry
- Energy supply, Smart City
- Services
- Plugin development, deployment, maintenance
- Technology
- Apache Superset, deck.gl, Mapbox
Starting point
Allgäuer Überlandwerk (AÜW), based in Kempten, is an energy supplier and sees itself as the digitalization partner of the region. For towns and municipalities, it implements smart city applications, including people and traffic counts.
In one project, AÜW uses cameras to record turning movements at intersections: how many vehicles travel from which entry to which exit. The data is analyzed in Apache Superset. With the built-in tools, it could only be displayed as a cross table.
The goal was a visualization that shows the traffic flows at a glance – as arrows on the map.
Implementation
We developed a custom visualization plugin for Apache Superset. It is based on deck.gl and Mapbox and overlays the traffic flows on the map as flow lines.
An arrow leads from every entry to every exit, with the number of trips. The line width follows this number, and each entry has its own color. Each endpoint has its own label and the totals of entries and exits. The number of endpoints is flexible, from a simple junction to an intersection with many arms. The map centers automatically on the intersection and can be hidden.
An extension also shows larger junctions. Filters show and hide individual junctions and flow arrows. We provide Superset with the plugin as a Docker image.
- Flow arrows with line width based on the number of trips
- Labels and totals for each entry and exit
- Delivered as a Docker image
Result
Instead of a cross table, AÜW sees the traffic flows directly on the map. Main flows stand out immediately, even at junctions with many entries and exits.
We keep the plugin compatible with major Superset updates and apply security updates.
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