MMM-PublicTransportLeipzig

MMM-PublicTransportLeipzig is a module for the MagicMirror project by Michael Teeuw.

It shows live public transport information for Leipzig based on LVB (Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe) data.
MMM-PublicTransportLeipzig uses the lvb REST API by juliuste.

Notes

The module is working fine. But there are some known issues. (See Known Issues.)

If you would like a more stable version please check out MMM-PublicTransportHafas. This module uses data from the hafas-client which is much more reliable than the lvb REST API and has live information too. MMM-PublicTransportHafas comes preconfigured for Leipzig.

How it works

After you installed MMM-PublicTransportLeipzig you just configure it to your needs and that’s it. The only config you really need to set is the station you want to display. Everything else is covered by defaults but can be configured by you anyway. For instance you can enter a time you need to get to the station (timeToStation in config). Then the module calculates the next reachable departures and draws a line between reachable and unreachable departures.

For details see the Configuration section.

Screenshot

The screenshot shows departures from Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz where the first two are not reachable due to the timeToStation setting.

Preconditions

• MagicMirror² instance
• Node.js version > 6.0.0
• npm

Installation

Just clone the module into your MagicMirror modules folder and execute npm install in the module’s directory:

git clone https://github.com/raywo/MMM-PublicTransportLeipzig.git
cd MMM-PublicTransportLeipzig
npm install

Update

Just enter your MMM-PublicTransportLeipzig folder in the MagicMirror’s modules folder and execute the following commands in the module’s directory:

git pull
npm install

How to get the stationId

Happy case

You can provide a station name or a station ID to define your departure station. If your station has a stationID it is recommended to use it. If not you can be lucky and get away with just providing the station name. (See Known Issues.)

For your convenience there is a script in the MMM-PublicTransportLeipzig folder you can edit and execute to get the stationID for your station.

Find the file stationID_Query.js and edit the second line and fill in the name of your station:

// Enter your station name here:
const stationName = "Goerdelerring";

Then run the script inside the module folder using

node stationID_Query.js

The result will look like this:

[ { id: '12996',
    type: 'station',
    name: 'Leipzig, Goerdelerring',
    coordinates: { longitude: 12.372838780123, latitude: 51.344361907514 } } ]

The number noted after id is your stationID (in this case 12996).

If this query returns more than one result you have to pick the right station and you must provide the stationID in the config or else the module won’t work.

Unhappy case

For some station names the query will return []. This means the station is not known to the API. The reason may be that you spelled the name wrong or it is known to the API by another name. If you query for “Nonnenstraße” you will get []. If you query for “Nonnenstr.” instead you will get the correct result.

There is a third option: the station name is not known to the API but departures can be queried nevertheless. “Klingerweg” is such an example. The stations query returns [] and therefore there is no stationID for “Klingerweg” but it is still a valid station name for a departure query. You can test that by using the departure_Query.js script provided with this module. Just edit the departureStation value and run the script.

// Enter your station name here:
const departureStation = "Klingerweg";

Run in the modules folder

node departure_Query.js

… and you’ll get a result like this:

[ { line:
     { id: '2',
       name: 'Str    2',
       class: 'StN',
       operator: 'LVB',
       direction: 'Naunhofer Straße' },
    timetable: [ [Object], [Object], [Object], [Object] ] },

*snipped a bit*

  { line:
     { id: '2',
       name: 'Str    2',
       class: 'StN',
       operator: 'LVB',
       direction: 'Meusdorf' },
    timetable: [ [Object], [Object] ] } ]

Congratiulations! If you receive an answer like this your station name is known by the system. If not there is currently no way to make it work.

Configuration

The module quite configurable. These are the possible options:

Option	Description
hidden	Visibility of the module. Type: boolean Default vaule: false
name	The name of the module instance (if you want multiple modules). Type: string
stationName	The name of the station you want the departures to be displayed for. (See How to get the stationId above.) Type: string This value is REQUIRED. Example: "Goerdelerring" Default value: "Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz" Note: If you provide a valid stationId this value is only used as the heading of the module. If you provide 99999 as stationId this name is used to actually query the API for departures from this station.
stationId	The ID of the station. How to get the ID for your station is described above. Type: integer This value is REQUIRED. Default value: "12992" Note: If your station doesn’t have an ID use 99999 here. The module will then use stationName for it’s queries. Make sure this will work (see above).
headerPrefix	The text to be prepended to the station name in the module heading. If you want the module heading to read “start at Goerdelerring” you need to provide “start at” as value for headerPrefix. Type: string. Example: "start at" Default value: "" Note: A blank is always inserted between headerPrefix and stationName.
directions	The directions you want to be displayed. Type: string array Example: [ "Mockau", "Lausen" ] Default value: [] Note: If you are only interested in the departures in a certain direction provide all directions you want to be included. The direction is given as it is displayed on the buses or trams. Keep in mind that some lines can have multiple end stations. For instance the eastbound line of Str 1 can end at “Mockau, Post” or “Schönefeld”. You need to include both values in directions to see both lines. For directions like “Leipzig, Lausen” it’s enough to include “Lausen” in the array.
ignoredLines	The lines you don’t want to be displayed. Add all lines you want to exclude to this array. Type: string array Example: [ "Str 1", "Bus N1" ] Default value: [] Possible values: All valid line names like 'Str 1' (for tram) , 'Bus 89'(for buses), 'S2' (for suburban) , etc.
excludedTransportationTypes	Transportation types to be excluded from appearing on a module instance can be listed here. Type: string Example: [ "StN", "Str" ] (excludes all tram lines) Default vaule: [] Possible values: BuN (buses), StN, Str (trams), s (suburban) Note: If you want to exclude tram lines make sure you list StN and Str since the API uses both values to denote a tram line.
marqueeLongDirections	Displays long direction descriptions as a scrolling text if set to true. If set to false long descriptions are trimmed. Type: boolean Default vaule: true Note: If the rendering of the scrolling text is not smooth (especially on slow hardware like older Raspberry Pis) turn this feature off.
interval	Determines how often the display should be updated. The value is given in seconds. Type: integer Example: 360 (6 minutes) Default value: 120 (2 minutes)
timeToStation	The time in minutes it takes you to get to the specified station. Type: integer Example: 5 Default vaule: 10 (10 minutes)
showColoredLineSymbols	Display the line symbol should with color (as used by the LVB) or not. If set to false the module will display gray labels. Type: boolean Default vaule: true
useColorForRealtimeInfo	Displays the realtime information in colors. Type: boolean Default vaule: true
showTableHeaders	Show the table headers for time, line and direction. Type: boolean Default vaule: true
showTableHeadersAsSymbols	Show the table headers as symbols. Type: boolean Default vaule: true
maxUnreachableDepartures	How many unreachable departures should be shown. Only necessary, of you set timeToStation > 0 Type: integer Example: 2 (Shows two departures althoug they couldn’t be reached according to your setting in timeToStation Default vaule: 3
maxReachableDepartures	How many reachable departures should be shown. If your timeToStation = 0, this is the value for the number of departures you want to see. Type: integer Default vaule: 7
fadeUnreachableDepartures	Activates/deactivates fading for unreachable departures. Type: boolean Default vaule: true
fadeReachableDepartures	Activates/deactivates fading for reachable departures. Type: boolean Default vaule: true
fadePointForReachableDepartures	Fading point for reachable departures. Thìs value is also valid for delay = 0 Type: float Default vaule: 0.5 Possible values: 0.0 - 1.0

Here is an example of an entry in config.js:

{
  module: "MMM-PublicTransportLeipzig",
  position: "bottom_right",
  config: {
    hidden: false,
    stationName: "Wilhem-Leuschner-Platz",
    stationId: "12992",
    directions: [ "Mockau", "Schönefeld", "Naunhofer", "Meusdorf" ],
	 excludedTransportationTypes: [ "s" ], // no suburban trains will be shown
    //ignoredLines: [ "Str 15" ],
    timeToStation: 5,
    interval: 120,
    marqueeLongDirections: true,
    showColoredLineSymbols: true,
    useColorForRealtimeInfo: true,
    showTableHeadersAsSymbols: false,
    maxUnreachableDepartures: 2,
    maxReachableDepartures: 7,
    fadeUnreachableDepartures: true,
    fadeReachableDepartures: true,
    fadePointForReachableDepartures: 0.25
  }
},

Multiple Modules

Multiple instances of this module are possible. Just add another entry of the MMM-PublicTransportLeipzig module to the config.js of your mirror.

Special Thanks

• Michael Teeuw for inspiring me and many others to build a MagicMirror.
• Julius Tens for creating the lvb REST API for the virtually non existent LVB-API. You made my life a lot easier with this!
• The community of magicmirror.builders for help in the development process and all contributors for finding and fixing errors in this module.

Known Issues

The API the LVB (Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe) provides is very basic and has some issues:

• Not all stations have a stationID assigned (for instance “Klingerweg”).
• Some stations are stored with unusal names. For instance “Nonnenstraße” is stored as “Nonnenstr.”
• Most station which are also suburban (S-Bahn) or long distance train stops cannot be queried.
• The API produces quite often errors because of being not reachable or sending data in the wrong format.

Stations without an assigned stationID can be used as starting points for the module as long as a query for their name returns a single result. In the example above “Klingerweg” has no stationID assigned but a stations query for “Klingerweg” returns just one result so it can be used. On the other hand it is not possible to set “Hauptbahnhof” as a starting point for the module. Since “Hauptbahnhof” has no stationID assigned and a station query returns multiple results.

Issues

If you find any problems, bugs or have questions, please open a GitHub issue in this repository.