A desktop gadget for Windows Vista and Windows 7 displaying live travel news for the London Underground based on data from Transport For London.
Gadgets Repository
I have just realized that Microsoft’s gadget repository at gallery.live.com has been taken down. From now on the gadget, along with its source code, will be available via a BitBucket repository.
Version 1.6.0 — 26 March 2014
- Emergency patch due to changes in the TFL website the data was scraped from.
- Now uses the TFL API feed – should be a much more reliable source, but due to lacking documentation might need some tweaks before it’s working perfectly. Please report any malfunctions.
Version 1.5.2 — 28 April 2013
- Added new status “Service closed”.
Version 1.5.1 — 16 September 2012
- Fixed parsing problems due to changes in the TFL source data.
Version 1.5.0 — 23 April 2012
After a long idle time with no updates I finally got around to fix the error displayed after the computer resumed from sleep or hibernation. Mission status types where also added.
21 Comments
Leave a commentWoo! That HTTP error has been mildly annoying for ages. Thanks for fixing it.
Love the Gadget. Couple of ideas for further improvements…
– Order the lines in Alphabetical order – like http://www.tfl.gov.uk/
– provide an option to reorder to have sever delays or worse to the top of the list (like tfl do too)
– provide a link to get to the Live disruptions map- (like links from home page during disruption) eg http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/tube/default.html#jubilee
thoughts?
@rik: Thanks for the feedback.
The ordering is based on how it was two years ago – with the DLR and Overground at the bottom. I see they changed this now. (Added it to the list.)
Sorting by status – I don’t see anywhere they do this. Good idea though – but do you have a direct link to an example of how TFL does it? (Added it to the list.)
Regarding the map – I wanted to find a way to be able to display the map for each line in it’s flyout when you expand it.
To clarify the status sorting:
my observation is that the list is only sorted for delays from serious up (closed, suspended etc)
This happens only when there are delays, and i believe this happens to both the status component of the tfl home page, and the live travel news page (just need to wait until the weekend when there are closures and suspensions etc).
# just remember if you ‘see future dates’ the map and list update – http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/track.aspx?offset=12
In all honesty – the reason i suggested it as an option is that some people find it annoying (the order of the lines is changed when you’re used to looking in the same place for a particular line).
sadly i can’t point you to the actual source, I have only observed it in those 2 places.
Map – yes, in a fly out would be great – maybe tough in such a small window (solution = big fly out?)
I can imagine this gadget is well placed to get loads of downloads in the run up to the Olympics – keep up the great work!
Rik
I’m writing down the suggestions and I will see if I can get around to add them at some point. Though I cannot promise anything. I don’t live in London any more so it’s not on top of my busy schedule. But I’m tempted to port it into a Windows 8 app – which I then need to rewrite the code to make it more portable – that should bring some updates back to the desktop gadget.
While I don’t live in London any more I do keep the gadget on my desktop to monitor for critical errors.
Going to London in a couple of weeks – so I’ll have good use of it then. :) I expect that when the Olympics kicks in it’ll all be Severe Delay across the board… :p
Hi Thom
Good job mate! Glad to see you’ve updated, just in time to start work on Metro :P
And as Rik says, it’ll be interesting to see whether you get more hits cos of the Olympics. I must admit that I rate the TFL website, in that they’ve got lots of good stuff up there for people travelling in London.
Personally, the best thing they’ve done is allow access to live travel data (e.g. when trains and particularly buses are due).
However, you’ll be pleased to hear (I hope) that I still use your vista gadget, after all these years… so thank you for the update.
Best regards,
Gaz
Not sure if the Olympic will give more hits – at least not so much new users because since Microsoft took down the gadget repository it’s much harder to discover plugins. Before people could just browse it. Besides, I assume that people will be opting to use apps for their smart phones instead.
The primary purpose of this gadget has always just been to provide a quick overview where you could then click yourself through to the detailed description at TFL.
Speaking of apps, I haven’t checked out any smartphone apps for the Underground – will have to see if I can find anything I’m happy with. If not – well I guess it would be time for a new project. :)
Getting the ‘ERROR! COULD NOT EXTRACT LINES.’ message. Have they added more lines!
Yea, I noticed that error today. Not sure what it is, they probably changed the source again. I’ll have a look over the weekend.
Hope you get it fixed – this is my “go-to” app in the mornings :)
Sorted! It was the usual suspect – change in the TFL source data. :(
Just downloaded 1.5.1. Good job on the fix Thomas. Thanks for the continued support for this excellent little tool. Shame TFL keep buggering around with the code.
Hi Thomas
Looks like they’ve changed their website again, hence your gadget is now saying ERROR! COULD NOT LOCATE TUBE DATA.
Any chance of another update to fix this issue if you have time please?
Yea, looks like a new website again. I’m working on it.
And I just discovered that they finally have an API! Which I asked for many years ago but got rejected.
I’ve uploaded an initial patch. But due to poor description of the TFL API I might need to make some additional tweaks. Will be monitoring to see how it goes.
Thanks Thomas for the update. All working for me. Cheers.
Hmm, could someone tell me where to get the latest version from now please?
No worries, found it now, and working great. Thanks again Thomas for such a rapid turn around.
Latest working version available here…
https://bitbucket.org/thomthom/london-underground-travelnews/wiki/Home
Any chance a similar gadget could be made that uses the London bus data feed?
Great Gadget
DLR has been reported as N/A for a while now – any chance of a fix?
See other thread with solutions
http://www.thomthom.net/gallery/gadgets/london-underground-live-travelnews-vista-sidebar/