Netzgrafik-Editor

Flexible level of detail - start with a rough sketch, continuously add more detail.

Applicable across different industries - bus, train, plane.

Scales with your use-case - from hobbyist timetabling to professional planning.

Human-centric - timetable planning is a very complex and creative process. Netzgrafik-Editor supports the user by digitalizing the previously paper-driven process, while providing instant analysis capabilities.

Excellent and intuitive UX - using Netzgrafik-Editor should be as easy and natural as drawing on a whiteboard. No training required. Analysis happens in real time.

Introduction

The Netzgrafik-Editor is a powerful software that enables the creation, modification, and analysis of regular-interval timetable.

Regular-interval timetables were first developed in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century to coordinate urban traffic in large cities such as Berlin.

The regular schedules aim to increase the attractiveness of public transport because they’re easier to memorise for passengers and because the patterns make the planning of resources easier.

Such constant schedules may also improve services during off-peak hours.

The Dutch were in 1970 credited with the first junction system, which then was the basis for the Swiss regular-interval timetable in 1982.

History - The regular-interval timetable

clock-faced schedules

Source

It offers various functions to enhance the efficiency and optimization of the logistics network. Some of the key features include:

• Interactive drawing tool to edit the Netzgrafik: A user-friendly and interactive graphical editor for creating and editing regular-interval timetables. It provides a visual interface to easily visualize and adjust the logistics network.

• Graphic timetable (Streckengrafik): All lines (trainruns) defined in the Netzgrafik can be transferred into a graphical timetable representation (Streckengrafik).

• Perlenkette trainrun editing: Planners can manually draw and edit the trainruns as a chain, allowing them to define crucial aspects of the logistics network and tailor it to specific requirements and constraints.

• Logistical Information Extraction: The software extracts important logistical information from the regular-interval timetable, such as departure and destination stations, departure and arrival times, and train frequency.

• Logistics Network Analysis: Planners can analyze the logistics network based on the timetable representation. The software provides insights into connection coordination, transfer times, and logistical connections, facilitating optimization and efficiency improvement.

• Infrastructure Requirement Estimation: Infrastructure requirements can be estimated based on the entered timetable representation, aiding in infrastructure planning and decision-making.

Origin and Open Source Collaboration

The Netzgrafik-Editor, initially developed as an internal innovation project at the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS). The project started with a clickable prototype. From this early stage of the project, there are still ideas and concepts that have not yet been realised, so it is always worth taking a look at this document. The entire project has now reached a mature stage and evolved into a powerful tool with applications beyond railways. It can now be utilized in any domain that requires regular-interval timetables as a planning basis.

The versatility of the editor makes it suitable for various logistics planning scenarios, enabling efficient timetable creation and analysis. The software's key features can be leveraged in a broader context, such as:

• Public Transportation Systems: Other public transport networks can utilize the editor's flexibility and features to effectively visualize and plan their transportation systems, leading to improved efficiency and better services.

• Educations: The editor's capabilities can be utilized in educational institutions to demonstrate how to create integrated timetables and what properties need to be considered during the planning process in order to enable efficient scheduling

By extending the scope of its application beyond railways, the Netzgrafik-Editor has the potential to become a valuable tool in numerous sectors, providing comprehensive control, optimization, and synchronization of time-based planning.

Due to these diverse applications of the Netzgrafik-Editor and its increasing value in various areas, the decision was made to release it as open source software. This is intended to promote broad use and collaboration at the planning level, as well as actively support the further development of new ideas from different industries so that the editor constantly improves and, in the best case, establishes itself as a standard tool across different public transportation industries.

Community participation and collaboration in the development process is extremely important and desired to ensure that the editor gains diversity and functionality and meets the needs and challenges of different application domains. The openness of the project encourages innovation, expertise from different sectors and continuous improvements to optimize the planning processes.

Roadmap

Get an insight into the plan and future ROADMAP.md.

User Manual

The user manual can be found here USERMANUAL.md

Online Demo

Standalone Demo ( Sample Netzgrafik - How to Import JSON )

Extern: nge.flatland.cloud - powered by Flatland Association

Getting-Started

Development setup

For a working local development setup, you also need to start the backend!

# clone project from https://github.com/SchweizerischeBundesbahnen/netzgrafik-editor-frontend
git clone https://github.com/SchweizerischeBundesbahnen/netzgrafik-editor-frontend.git

# switch into folder
cd netzgrafik-editor-frontend

# install all npm dependencies
npm install

# start ng server (connects to local backend, make sure it is set up and running)
npm run start

The dockerized variant

# install
apt install docker
apt install docker-compose-plugin

# build
docker compose build

# run
docker compose up

Access to Netzgrafik-Editor frontend

open address in browser http://localhost:4200/

Login with username user and password user

Testing

# just run the test once
npm run test

# or run the test in the browser
npm run test -- --browsers Chrome

Backend API code generation

The backend API is specified using OpenAPI ( see api-docs.json). Angular Services for the communication with the backend API are generated based on this specification using openapi-generator and added to the repo (see src/app/api/generated).

Update the API Version

In order to update the API Version start the local backend server. The new spec can then be downloaded at http://localhost:8080/v3/api-docs/.

The new API Service files can be generated using the following command:

npm run generate:api

Documentation

Please consider the following information:

• DATA MODEL

• CODING_STANDARDS.md

• CONTRIBUTING.md

and check the open issues and pull requests.

License

This project is licensed under Apache 2.0.

Contributing

Open-source projects thrive on collaboration and contributions from the community. All contributors are requested to read the CONTRIBUTING.md file as it outlines how to contribute to the project, including how to submit bug reports, feature requests, and pull requests.

Coding Standards

All contributors are requested to read the CODING_STANDARDS.md file that outlines the coding standards that you should follow when contributing to the project.

Code of Conduct

To ensure that the project is a welcoming and an inclusive environment for all contributors, you, it has established a good CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.

Credits

Many thanks to all contributors for their engagement and contribution, without which this project would not have been possible. Thank you for your current and future contribution!

CREDITS.md

Continuous Integration

This repository uses release-please for CHANGELOG generation, the creation of GitHub releases, and version bumps for your projects. See CI.md for details.