Transit Delay Soundscape
Mar 10, 2026 · live prototype
A transport network is already a score.
Delay Soundscape makes that visible, and audible.
When a delay appears, a white line flashes along the route path. When delays overlap, those shared segments glow brighter. Cancellations hit like bursts. At the same time, the system turns those events into sine tones mapped to a minor pentatonic palette, so the network slowly becomes a drifting drone made of disruption.
It is not a dashboard. It is an instrument made from civic timing.
Why this exists
Most data projects try to make things cleaner, flatter, more legible.
This one does almost the opposite.
I want to make a public data stream feel physical: tension, density, spillover, friction. Not as numbers in a table, but as a living field where movement and interruption leave traces in space and sound.
A delayed train is a tiny crack in a timetable. Thousands of those cracks, across hours, become weather.
Current state (live prototype)
There is already a working prototype here:
https://www.unusable.ai/delaysoundscape/
What it currently does:
- Fullscreen transparent-style map composition of Denmark on black.
- Delay events draw route paths as white polygonal linework.
- Overlapping activity increases brightness and perceived density.
- Cancellations create burst-like visuals.
- Old events fade away over time.
- A running HUD tracks delay/cancellation counts, active voices, stream mode, and last event.
- Audio layer with long-envelope tones to smooth 5-second cycle perception.
Right now, the visual and sonic behavior is where I want it: detailed, brutal, and alive.
What is missing before true live operation
The missing piece is not concept or rendering. It is reliable realtime source integration.
The target data source is Rejseplanen API 2.0 plus their realtime offerings (including SIRI-ET in the realtime overview).
To run this at the update cadence that makes it visually interesting (around every 5 seconds), we need to move from prototype assumptions to a proper agreement/access setup, including any non-commercial terms and operational limits.
So this post is not “please fund an idea”. It is “please fund the final connection to reality”.
Budget target: EUR 5,000 (one-time)
Funding target: EUR 5,000.
This is a one-time target to get Delay Soundscape properly online. If ongoing costs appear later, that will be a separate post and decision.
Proposed allocation:
1) Data access and agreement costs: ~EUR 2,000
Any fees tied to obtaining compliant, stable access for realtime transit events.
2) Backend relay + infra hardening: ~EUR 1,500
Even with a Cloudflare Pages frontend, we likely need a small server/worker layer for feed handling, normalization, throttling, and resilience.
3) Hosting, monitoring, and operational buffer: ~EUR 1,000
Uptime, logs, alerting, and the boring parts that keep art projects from silently dying.
4) Contingency: ~EUR 500
For integration edge cases, data quirks, and inevitable “this was not in the docs” moments.
Technical direction (simple version)
Frontend can stay where it belongs: Cloudflare Pages.
Likely backend shape:
- A lightweight relay (worker/service) receives and normalizes realtime updates.
- Events are pushed to the browser stream layer.
- Browser handles rendering, fading, overlap glow, counters, and synthesis.
That keeps the public surface simple while avoiding client-side rate-limit chaos.
Why sponsor this
Because public systems are more than logistics.
They have rhythm. Pressure. Micro-failures. Recovery. Choruses.
Delay Soundscape turns that into something you can feel in your chest instead of just reading in an app.
If this resonates with you, sponsor the final stretch and help make the live stream permanent.
Not polished. Not corporate. Just infrastructure becoming atmosphere.