The Best Real-Time Subway Maps

Ubähnchen is a wonderfully smooth animated map of Berlin's subway trains. The map shows all the U-Bahn's trains travelling around Berlin based on the network's timetable.

The neat design of colored blocks for the trains with simple shadows moving on top of a schematic transit map really adds to the captivating appeal of Ubähnchen. You can also click on the 'U' button (top-right) to switch to a map which also shows Berlin's overground trains. Switching between these two modes is also a captivating experience as the transit map tweens into a geographical map (and vice versa).

Mini Tokyo 3D is probably my all time favorite animated transit map. Like Ubähnchen this real-time transit map allows you to switch between an underground and overground view of a city's transit network. The underground mode highlights the city's subway system with colored subway lines shown on top of a dark base map. In this underground mode the overground trains are shown faded out on the map.

On this animated map of Tokyo's huge public-transport network trains are also shown as colored blocks, only this time in 3D. This amazing 3D element is one reason why Mini Tokyo 3D ranks as one of my favorite interactive maps of all time. The amazing attention to detail also really helps. For example, try hovering over a train on the map to reveal details about its next scheduled stop. 

The Live London Underground Map was one of the very first animated transit maps. For that reason alone it deserves to appear in this short round-up of the best real-time subway maps. The Live London Underground Map is at least 13 years old now, which is probably why the visual design of this live transit map is not quite as visually appealing as its Berlin and Tokyo counterparts. 

That isn't to say that Matthew Somerville's map isn't well designed. For example the Live London Underground Map allows you to switch between three different map views: a geographic map, a Harry Beck inspired schematic map view, and a James Bond inspired Skyfall map view.